Are You a Victim of Graffiti? Pay Up

From The Tennessean:

A proposed Metro ordinance would require the property owner to clean up the graffiti within 10 days of being notified by the police or the Metro codes department. The penalty for not doing so would be a $50 fine and $50 a day after that until the graffiti is removed.

Bill sponsor Councilwoman Vivian Wilhoite "says the bill is aimed at absentee landlords who don't respond to city notification about graffiti on their property."

OK. I'm all for putting pressure on absentee landlords, but no matter how you look at it, this bill would punish the victims, not the vandals. Sure, insurance should cover the clean-up effort, but I would rather have a building covered in graffiti than have to deal with an insurance company to get it cleaned up.

I'd also argue that graffiti isn't always bad. Sometimes it livens up an otherwise dull urban environment. Someone tagged the new Costco in West Nashville within weeks of its opening; frankly the unsolicited artwork is an improvement to an otherwise cold and lifeless building.

Image from the University of Illinois, Chicago's Hip Hop website