Who's responsible for getting rid of graffiti at Metra station?

A racial slur spray-painted onto a light pole at Schaumburg's Metra station apparently has remained there for more than a month amid confusion over who's responsible for cleaning it up.

Robert Frolick of Roselle said he's seen the graffiti on his daily commute to Chicago for weeks, but was unsure whether Schaumburg, Roselle or Metra had jurisdiction over the property.

Frolick said he's occasionally seen both Roselle and Metra police officers in the area, but the graffiti hasn't disappeared.

The train station is in Schaumburg but right on Roselle's border. The parking area straddles both villages.

Both Schaumburg Village Manager Ken Fritz and Roselle Village Administrator Jeffrey O'Dell were unaware of the graffiti until Wednesday. They later established that the light pole is on Roselle's side of the parking lot.

Unlike the parking on the Schaumburg side, though, Metra handles maintenance on the Roselle side.

Fritz said that if Metra had any difficulty removing the graffiti, Schaumburg would be able to do so on its behalf.

But the village would first have to receive a request from Metra or confirmation Metra would handle the clean-up itself.

"You don't want to do it once and have it be your job for life," Fritz said.

Metra spokesman Patrick Waldron said he hadn't heard any previous reports of the graffiti but that officials would visit the station today to iron out the jurisdictional questions.

Schaumburg does have maintenance responsibility for its own part of the Metra property. A village ordinance prohibits graffiti from remaining anywhere in the village for more than seven days, whether on public or private property, Fritz said.