©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| Mayor, Commission Take on Graffiti |
Galesburg Mayor Sal Garza says he's trying to make something clear: he doesn't like graffiti dotting the downtown area or anywhere else for that matter.
The mayor and a few members of the city's Community Relations Commission painted over some recent graffiti on the back of the former Cornerstone Building at Main and Seminary Streets Saturday morning. Garza says he hopes to use the effort as a test of a proposed new ordinance dealing with ridding the city of graffiti.
Garza tells WGIL the ordinance would provide businesses help if they needed it cleaning up.
"The hope is that we can continue to grow this volunteer program, where the city will end up picking the costs up for the supplies, but the volunteers will provide the sweat equity in cooperation with the property owners," Garza said.
Garza says the city doesn't want to send a message saying essentially "paint over your graffiti or else", but wanted to provide help if needed for whatever reason.
e also says perhaps those who paint such graffiti will see the strength in numbers cleaning up as a deterrent, to say nothing of potential fines starting at $500 and going as high as $5,000 if they're caught.
The city council will look at the ordinance Monday night, but no action is scheduled for another two weeks.
(Mayor Sal Garza and Community Relations Commission member Joel Ward watch as volunteers and commission members prepare to paint over graffiti at the Cornerstone Building in Galesburg.)
(WGIL News Story and Photos by Will Stevenson.) |
|
| 07 31 11 by Newsroom |
Click here for the WGIL News Archive
Click here for national news
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.
