Fall 2020 - 1736 Magazine

property, such as traffic signal boxes and
lightposts, while private property owners
were reminded of a city ordinance requiring
graffiti to be removed or painted in as little
as 21 days. Woodard is advocating the city
shorten the response time to 14 days.
“The reason we jumped on the graffiti
so quickly is that it screams of gangs,” said
Woodard, who is trying to create a graffitiremoval
task force that would rely on paint
contractors to provide in-kind services to
targeted businesses. “We’re just trying to
make it a process so that the quicker they get
it, the quicker they get it removed. Graffiti
artists are like panhandlers – if you don't give
them what they want, they'll go somewhere
else.”
McMahon said murals can go a long way
toward thwarting graffiti and creating a sense
of community cohesion.
“Philadelphia used to have a really bad
graffiti problem,” he said. “Now they have
more murals than any other city in the world.
They even have mural tours.”
One of the biggest challenges authorities
face in dealing with blighted buildings are
out-of-town owners, who often are unaware
their properties have been targeted for graffiti,
vandalism and trespassing. The sheriff's
office’s Lt. Robert Silas tries to work with
absentee owners as best he can.
“When he doesn’t get their cooperation, he
involves code enforcement and they end up
getting charged,” D’Amico said. “We don't
want to have to do that – we would rather
you take care of your own property, because
what ends up happening is that you have the
homeless move in there and when it gets cold
they set fires there to stay warm. One problem
begets another.”
Most downtown property owners cooperate
with code-enforcement officials, but
some do not, requiring the city to enforce the
public nuisance ordinance through municipal
court.
“Some responses from property owners are
good, and some are not-so-good,” Augusta
Code Enforcement Manager Terrence
Wynder said.
Two large, dilapidated downtown buildings
– the former J.C. Penney store at 732
Broad St. and the old Sky City department
BLIGHT continues on 52
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