Wheaton tightens graffiti removal rules

Wheaton City Councilman Phil Suess says his vote against changing the ordinance governing graffiti, increasing minimum fines and reducing the length of time homeowners have to remove it, does not mean he completely disagrees with the actual ordinance.

Instead he said the new rules will essentially punish residents for getting tagged by vandals.

“There is an agreement that we want to remove it and quickly,” councilman Phil Suess said after Monday’s city council meeting. “But the issue is we need to be sensitive to the issues of property owners whose properties have been violated.”

The changes, which were approved with Suess as the lone dissenting vote, increase the minimum fine for violating the ordinance from $50 to $200. Additionally, homeowners will now have 10 days to remove the graffiti before they get fined. The ordinance previously gave owners 30 days.

Councilman Tom Mouhelis introduced the amendments last month after what he characterized as a rash of vandalism on the city’s east side.

After consulting with the Chicago Police Department, Mouhelis proposed the changes. At last month’s meeting, Suess asked the council to instead allow homeowners 10 business days to remove graffiti.

That suggestion was quickly rejected.

City officials mistakenly said last month that the city keeps a list of contractors who help remove graffiti. Instead, officials said Monday that the public works department offers removing solvents to help homeowners when requested.

Councilman Howard Levine said the responsibility has always been on homeowners to keep their property clean of graffiti.

“The portion (in the ordinance) of having an owner be responsible for the clean up has existed,” he said. “It is a burden but overall it’s not a huge burden and it helps our community be responsive to this and helps our property values and the perceptions of our community.”

Suess bristled at Mouhelis’ suggestion that Wheaton’s amended ordinance is more than lenient enough because it pales in comparison to Chicago, which Mouhelis said has blasting crews on properties within 48 hours of an incident.

“It’s nice to say they have their blasting crews in Chicago,” he said. “But we are not Chicago. We do not have the graffiti problem Chicago has.”