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Graffiti A Growing Problem For Brick Businesses
By Catherine Galioto
Property owners who let graffiti remain sprayed on walls and signs may find a code officer and an official letter to greet them.
Councilwoman Ruthanne Scaturro announced the township is stepping up its response to graffiti and tagging, addressing a problem she said is growing more rampant in Brick
"We are starting to give out violation notices to some of the folks around the town," Scaturro said.
The township fines businesses and merchants who do not upkeep their property and do not remove graffiti in a reasonable amount of time, Scaturro said.
"We are enforcing what we said we are going to by asking them for the cost of removal," she said. "We mean business."
At Brick council meetings this spring and summer, officials discussed what they saw as increased graffiti, including the vandalizing of townshipowned gazebos. That could discourage residents from using the facilities, officials said.
For weeks or months, the graffiti would remain, giving what the council feared would be a rundown look to the area. Others worried the presence of graffiti and tagging could lead to gang activity and other crime. In a township named the safest among communities with more than 75,000 residents, according to the Morgan Quitno Press' 2005 rankings, that is a big concern.
Scaturro said the effect graffiti has on businesses is more than an eyesore.
"Brick Township doesn't need to look like the inner city," she said.
The problem is one that may never go away, but that doesn't mean you have to let vandalism remain, she said.
"I know it's difficult, certainly difficult for our township to keep up with this," Scaturro said. "But it's something we need to do to keep our township looking pretty."
The system in place now is if merchants fail to clean up graffiti on their property, they can be fined. If the township removes the graffiti, the merchant would have to reimburse the township.
"We need to make sure all our residents are saved from the likes of the buildings that have all the tagging and graffiti on it," Scaturro said.
She added that Brick doesn't have a major problem with merchants not keeping their businesses looking beautiful, it's just the few that don't who are the issue.
Scaturro would like to see a system that encourages businesses to do better, preventing graffiti through better property maintenance.
If Brick and an agency like the chamber of commerce could work together to reward businesses that go the extra mile to keep their facilities looking nice, it could be an incentive to those merchants, she said. "It could be a sort of 'pride in our town' awards," Scaturro said.
She noted that many merchants and businesses already go the extra mile in Brick Township.
"Maybe if we do some positive reinforcement, it would benefit everyone," she said.
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