US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

 
    § 10-117.3 Remedies  for  failure  to  remove  graffiti  from  certain
  premises.
    a. Definitions. For purposes of  this  section,  the  following  terms
  shall have the following meanings:
    1.  "Graffiti"  means  any letter, word, name, number, symbol, slogan,
  message, drawing, picture, writing or other mark of any kind visible  to
  the  public  from  a  public  place  that  is  drawn, painted, chiseled,
  scratched, or etched on a commercial building or  residential  building,
  or  any  portion thereof, including fencing, that is not consented to by
  the owner of the commercial  building  or  residential  building.  There
  shall  be a rebuttable presumption that such letter, word, name, number,
  symbol, slogan, message, drawing, picture, writing or other mark of  any
  kind  is not consented to by the owner. Such presumption may be rebutted
  in any proceeding pursuant to this section.
    2. "Commercial building" means any  building  that  is  used,  or  any
  building  a  portion  of which is used, for buying, selling or otherwise
  providing goods or services, or for other lawful  business,  commercial,
  professional services or manufacturing activities.
    3.  "Residential  building"  means any building containing one or more
  dwelling units.
    4. "Public place" means a place to which the public or  a  substantial
  group  of persons has access including, but not limited to, any highway,
  street, road, sidewalk, parking area, plaza,  shopping  area,  place  of
  amusement, playground, park, beach or transportation facility.
    b.  Duty  to  keep  property  free  of  graffiti.  The  owner of every
  commercial building and residential building shall keep and cause to  be
  kept such building free of all graffiti.
    c.  Availability  of  city  funds;  graffiti  removal  through written
  consent.   Subject to the availability  of  annual  appropriations,  the
  mayor,  through  the  community  assistance unit, shall provide graffiti
  removal  services  to  abate  graffiti  on  commercial   buildings   and
  residential  buildings  without  charge  to  the  property  owner if the
  property owner  first  executes  a  written  consent  and  a  waiver  of
  liability in the form prescribed by the mayor.
    d. Failure to remove graffiti from property. Notice to remove graffiti
  from  a  commercial or residential building shall be served by an agency
  designated by the mayor in the manner prescribed  in  paragraph  two  of
  subdivision d of section 1404 of the charter. Such written notice shall,
  at a minimum: (1) describe the city's graffiti abatement program and the
  resources  available  to  the  property  owner  to  abate  graffiti; (2)
  indicate that if the owner of a commercial or residential building fails
  to remove such graffiti within sixty days of  receipt  of  such  notice,
  then  the  city  may  cause  such  graffiti to be removed; and (3) for a
  written notice involving residential buildings containing  six  or  more
  dwelling  units  or  commercial  buildings,  further  indicate  that the
  failure to remove the graffiti within  sixty  days  of  receipt  of  the
  notice  shall  result  in  the  imposition  of  a  fine  as set forth in
  subdivision e of this section.
    e. Penalty for failure to remove graffiti from  residential  buildings
  containing six or more dwelling units or commercial buildings. The owner
  of  a residential building of six or more units or a commercial building
  who has been given written notice to remove graffiti from such building,
  and who fails to remove such graffiti within sixty days  of  receipt  of
  such  notice,  shall  be liable for a civil penalty of not less than one
  hundred fifty dollars nor more than three hundred  dollars.  Such  civil
  penalty  may  be  recovered  in  a  proceeding  before the environmental
  control board. The owner of a residential  building  containing  six  or
  more  dwelling  units or a commercial building shall not be liable for a

  civil penalty if, within sixty days of  receipt  of  such  notice,  such
  owner can demonstrate that the owner has contacted the mayor's community
  assistance  unit,  through  a  call  to  311,  with  regard to providing
  graffiti  removal  services  with  respect  to the graffiti that was the
  subject of the notice, and has executed a written consent and  a  waiver
  of  liability  in  the form prescribed by the mayor with respect to such
  graffiti. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a property shall not  be  fined
  more  than  once  in  any  six-month  period, and summonses shall not be
  issued between November 1 and March 31.
    f. Removal  of  graffiti  from  property  through  nuisance  abatement
  proceedings.
    1.  Whenever  the  owner  of  a  commercial  building or a residential
  building fails to accept the city's graffiti removal services after  the
  city  has attempted in good faith to obtain written consent and a waiver
  of liability from the owner for such services, and  the  property  owner
  fails to remove such graffiti within sixty days of receiving a notice to
  remove  the  graffiti,  the  city  may serve the owner of the commercial
  building or residential building a notice  of  nuisance  abatement.  The
  notice shall be served on the owner by an agency designated by the mayor
  in  the  manner  prescribed in paragraph two of subdivision d of section
  1404 of the charter. The  notice,  at  a  minimum,  shall  indicate  the
  following:
    (a)  That  the  city  of New York has determined that the property has
  become a nuisance because of graffiti on the property.
    (b) The address of the property and the location on the property  that
  has become a nuisance.
    (c)  That  unless  the  property  owner  removes the graffiti, files a
  written consent and waiver of liability consenting to  receive,  without
  charge,  graffiti removal services from the city, or submits to the city
  a written request for a hearing  to  contest  the  city's  determination
  within  thirty  days  of  the  date of the service of notice of nuisance
  abatement, the property owner will be deemed to have given permission to
  the city to enter or access the property and use the means it determines
  appropriate to remove or conceal the graffiti at the specified location.
    (d) That if a property owner requests a hearing,  the  property  owner
  may contest the determination that the property has become a nuisance.
    (e)  That  this  notice  shall  be  deemed  to  provide  the city with
  authority to work on as much of the property as necessary to  remove  or
  conceal  the graffiti, and that the city is not responsible for removing
  or concealing the graffiti to the property owner's satisfaction.
    2. Upon the property owner's failure to remove the graffiti, to file a
  written consent and a waiver of liability consenting to receive, without
  charge, graffiti removal services from the city, or  to  submit  to  the
  city  a  written request for a hearing to dispute the determination that
  the property identified in the notice has become a nuisance  because  of
  graffiti  within thirty days of the date of the service of the notice of
  nuisance abatement, the city may enter or access the property  specified
  in  the  notice  and  abate  the  nuisance by removing or concealing the
  graffiti.
    3. Upon receipt of a timely request for a hearing, a hearing shall  be
  held  before  the  environmental  control  board  within  thirty days of
  receiving the request.
    4. Upon a finding of a hearing officer of  the  environmental  control
  board  that  the  property has become a nuisance because of graffiti the
  city may enter or access the property specified in the notice and  abate
  the nuisance by removing or concealing the graffiti.
    5.  In  no  case shall the city be required to clean, paint, or repair
  any area more extensive than where the graffiti is located.