(♪♪ )
[MAYOR HARELL] thanks, everyone,
for being here.
This may be one of our last
press conferences outside,
but we're going to
stretch it here.
So thanks for bearing with us.
We have some exciting news
to share with you
and some exciting speakers
to share their work
and what we're going to do
with respect to graffiti.
I want to make some very
specific things.
Erica White
from across the street.
She was here.
She's doing some shopping.
But I want to thank her and
and Marcus
Leleo, I believe I'm
pronouncing Marcus’s
last name correctly,
who owned the spot
across the street,
the Fat’s Chicken and Waffles
for letting us use their area.
I want to thank Scott Lindsay
from our city attorney's office
and Gregory Spots and A.P.
Diaz,
our new superintendent
of parks.
Gregory Spotts of course
SDOT director,
SPU staff for the work
we're doing
and our community
service officers
and some of the things
that I'll do toward
the end of my remarks
at this place
where we are
today is sort of symbolic
of the center district
and what's happening here.
And that's why we thought it
very appropriate
to start
this kind of work here.
Our partnership
with the community
will describe in graffiti.
I will describe it
sort of as
a paint
and partnership approach.
I do want to say before
I go much further,
I want to again, once again
extend my condolences
to the Piggott family.
We all know we lost Devon
and he was one of our warriors
in our community.
I've spoken
recently with his wife, Kiana,
and we will
do some remembrances.
But I didn't want
a moment
in the Central District
to go without mentioning
the family
and the pain that we
all suffered as a community.
The rise of prolific
graffiti is symbolic
of our
city's
historical neglect of our walls
and our people.
When I took office
in two weeks,
there was a mural defaced
and vandalized
with inflammatory graffiti.
As you
many of you know, they often
they often,
as we've seen in certain
communities, contain
hate speech.
These this is not artwork
in the traditional sense,
but often these are very
mean spirited
and hateful comments as well.
So our approach recognizes
that there could be
that portion,
but that there could also
be a need
for artistic expression.
And so when I described the six
pillars of our approach,
it recognizes that there's
still a need for expression
of the need for art.
And as we work
with those in this industry
and we have some actually
some community leaders
that are passionate
about graffiti abatement
and removal,
but also passion about artwork.
So our very holistic approach
to approaching graffiti
all again,
recognize our six
fold approach.
Our plan that we've
developed, we've done
some internal
analysis of what
the city has done
in historical times
and in recent years.
And quite frankly,
we are rewriting our approach
under our One Seattle vision.
The fact is, we've seen
an increase in graffiti
since the pandemic.
The statistics,
based on
reporting to the city
say a 50% increase
in graffiti since 2019.
That's 20,000.
I'll repeat that number, 20,000
reports of tags
and graffiti, vandalism.
But quite frankly,
you don't need statistics
to see
what's happening in Seattle
with respect to
graffiti.
The truth is
the negative
impacts are tangible.
They're not theoretical
for communities
bombarded with hate speech
like the Jewish
Family Services earlier
this year.
We know that again,
there's been many communities
attacked with this kind of
hate speech
in the form of graffiti.
For residents
who rely on city signage.
We see our city signage
unreadable.
That is unacceptable
for small businesses
and private owners.
They're required in addition
to trying to meet
their bottom line
and serve
customers
and share their expertize.
They're not required
to, of course, repair
their walls
from an unexpected act of
graffiti.
This is unfair to them.
Now,
as mayor, what I believe is
we have
also blank slates in our city
that would be
absolutely perfect
for artistic expression.
We have to recognize
if you live in Seattle,
let's treat it
as a beautiful city.
We are the Emerald City.
Let's treat it as such.
And our investment strategy
and our implementation
and our hearts and our minds
and even our winds
to sing the song
of artistic expression
in a positive way
to treat this Emerald City
the way it should be treated.
So what does this plan entails?
It's around six
sort of key pillars,
and I'll walk through
on somewhat of a high level
the pillars,
and then we'll have
some of the speakers
after myself.
The first pillar
is implementing best practices
to increase investment,
and we have some
volunteers here
that have been doing this work
just personally
for a number of years.
But our plan
will enhance our staffing
and our resources
for Seattle
Public Utilities,
graffiti rangers
to allow them
to more easily remove
graffiti using
specialized equipment
and effectively
discouraging re tagging.
Now, currently,
when we examine what the city
historically does, we
we find out that there are
18 departments
to teach graffiti
in one way or the other.
So in our one Seattle approach,
we looked at how
we can consolidate
and communicate more
effectively, work together
to improve our inter
departmental coordination.
And we have some leaders
within the city
who have
stepped up for that task.
So again,
our first strategy will be
our best practices
in increasing abatement.
And we have the budget
proposed to do that.
The second piece
will be increasing
our assistance
to reduce graffiti
on private property.
You know, we don't want to get
too deep into a payment
ization toward
property owners
when they are, in fact,
the victims
and so under our strategy,
new resources will be offered
to victims of vandalism,
and existing resources
will be made easier
and more equitable
to accept, to access
in addition to an abatement kit
pilot program.
The Office
of Economic Development
New Storefront Repair Fund.
As an example,
our SB
Graffiti Rangers
will proactively offer
abatement services at low
or no cost to eligible
property owners.
And we're very excited
about that kind of partnership.
Thirdly,
we are describing what we are
deploying
as a many hands art initiative
and director royal-alley barnes
to talk
a little bit about that.
But we want to engage
artists and businesses
and volunteers and others
to activate spaces with art.
We want to mitigate and prevent
graffiti through what we say.
Many hands.
Many artists out there.
So through our Seattle
Office of Arts & Culture
we will seek partners
to install new public art.
And perhaps
many of the people
that for one reason
or the other,
like to engage in graffiti.
Perhaps they can
display their talent
and helping us positive fully
activate areas.
We're looking at developing
artist led youth programs
that give young people
a sanctioned, safe
way to pursue an interest
in street art.
And we're very excited
about that.
Fourth,
we're going to enhance
our volunteer programing
and coordination
building on experience
from Anti-Graffiti volunteers.
Our plan will include up
to 1000
graffiti abatement kits.
I believe we have one here
and we have some individuals
that have helped us.
Again, going to the community
to find out people
who are doing this
kind of work,
helping us
develop
what is an effective
tool to use.
And so we have developed
these abatement kits
and we'll demonstrate
how to use them
effectively to those
that want to help.
The city will launch a new days
of caring in each district
starting in 2023.
Each district
have a new Day of
Caring program
and will bring volunteers
and community groups together
toward a common cause
to beautify
their neighborhoods.
We will work closely
with the city council
and neighborhood groups
to bring us together
under our One Seattle vision.
Fifth,
a new approach to enforcement.
So working with our
city attorney's office
and Seattle
Police Department,
we're working
to increase the enforcement
of graffiti offensive offenses.
We will work
with the defense bar.
We will understand
from community leaders
what's going on
with this activity.
Are we enforcing our
laws appropriately and fairly
and constitutionally?
But might they be might they
should we consider changes
to make sure
that we are discouraging
unlawful conduct?
This will include
community service
work, mentorship
programs, alternative avenues
for creative expression.
Do this
to discourage future offenses.
We recognize
that this is not
a crime of violence,
but we also recognize that
we don't want
that kind of activity
to occur on our walls.
And we want to work
with, again,
the defense attorneys
and the prosecutor's
office, the city
attorney's office,
to understand
what's going on here
and how are we going
to discourage that activity.
And our last
pillar of our six
pillars is continued
collaboration
with the Washington State
Department of Transportation.
You've seen
our collaborative effect,
our collaborative relationship
with the state.
Yesterday, I spent
a lot of time
with the governor, Jay Inslee,
and I thank him and his staff
for working
with us collaboratively.
We hope that they see
our energy around this activity
and they continue to help us
with properties
that rightfully
belong to the state
and with that, they control.
So our collaboration
with the Washington State
Department of Transportation
will continue.
And I hope we believe
that the people of Seattle
will see,
particularly with I-5
expansion, joint work
and areas around those
right of way,
as you'll see, continued
and perhaps accelerated
abatement strategies.
So
just like
this is a little challenging
with this win,
by the way, multitasking,
but you hear me
say in
the Herald administration,
we don't make it.
We don't make excuses.
It's like deal with this wind.
Okay.
So I tried to describe
to our six fold strategies
in our pillars
there
some more perhaps
granular comments
on our strategies.
And I'm going to
we're going to have a few folks
speak after me.
And I want to introduce to you
our Seattle Public Utilities
General Manager, Andrew Lee.
Andrew, please
come forward,.
[ANDREW LEE] Hi everyone
Seattle Public
Utilities is known
for providing
essential services
like your drinking water,
your drainage
and wastewater services,
as well as weekly
garbage pickup.
But we have been
actually providing
other critical services
for decades
that enhance our community.
And one of them is
graffiti abatement.
Our graffiti Rangers
team that
the mayor spoke of formed
almost 30 years ago.
It currently consists of six
SPU staff who abate graffiti
in all parts of the city.
Not only do they respond
to graffiti
to reports of graffiti,
they proactively
clean up once a week
and each sector of the city
to ensure that services
are equitably distributed
during the pandemic.
That team
increased their proactive
clean up to five times a week,
visiting
multiple neighborhoods,
including Chinatown,
International District,
Little Saigon,
the Central District
and West Seattle.
We add
we have an app
that launched for our staff
five years ago
that has helped us
to be more efficient
and effective.
But as the mayor mentioned,
despite being responsive
and proactive,
there is still much work
to be done.
As we have noted,
a huge spike in graffiti
reports in the last year.
Additional funding
would provide
more resources
like extra graffiti rangers
and more painting
related equipment
for ask for you to respond,
especially supporting
that second pillar
that the mayor spoke of
abating graffiti
on private property.
With note on that,
we know that there is a burden
when homes or businesses
are defaced by graffiti
against their permission.
They are victims of a crime.
And that's
why SPU
when we lead
enforcement efforts,
we always lead with education.
We also offer
paint and supplies.
And just recently, we're
also offering staff support.
So as the mayor mentioned,
we're going to be proactively
upping our efforts to offer
free staff support, to paint
when when private properties
are impacted by graffiti.
Our assistance is
also going
to proactively offer
abatement services and graffiti
hotspots
to eligible property
owners, including residents,
small businesses,
nonprofits and victims
of hate graffiti.
I'll say
I'm incredibly proud
of the work
that our ASP staff do.
Over the last 12 months,
the graffiti
rangers have actually
removed 100%
reported graffiti
within the right of way areas
that were responsible for
within ten business days.
And more than 98% of
the graffiti
was actually abated within two
two business days.
In 2021,
the mayor cited
the example
of the Jewish Family Center.
There were similarly 28 racist
hate, vulgar
reports on city property,
and all were abated
within 24 hours.
We have programs
like Adopt the Streets,
where we provide volunteers
with materials
and training to remove graffiti
in their neighborhoods.
And we're really excited
to continue to collaborate
with the city on new
and expanded volunteer programs
like The Days of Service,
as he also provides
funding to nine
business improvement
areas throughout the city
to augment
their cleaning services,
including graffiti abatement.
Just like to close
by saying that
with these
additional investments
to SPU
and the other city departments,
we're really confident
that we can
strengthen our efforts
to keep our city beautiful.
Thanks.
[MAYOR HARRELL] Thank you, Andrew.
Thank you very much, Andrew.
Before answering
our next speaker,
I do want to make
two points
that I don't think I made
clear
that we put in our budget
this year
approximately $950,000.
I think we've passed out
a few points on this
matter,
about $950,000
that would go toward
abatement efforts
and support
for our property owners
impacted by graffiti
and enhancing
volunteer opportunities.
Every single opportunity
we have to unite
this city around a common goal
is what we're trying to do.
We believe that the whole city
are asking for
this kind of response
from the city.
And I talked earlier
in another speech on
another occasion about
a core
competency in the city
going back to the basics.
This is something
that the government
should be partnering
with business owners
and community members in doing,
and that's
what our administration is
all about.
I also wanted to thank
some particular members
Adi Emery,
Paul Jackson
and Liz on our team
for really
before we had this
press conference, really
going back to the drawing board
and doing an internal analysis
of what we've been doing
and how we can improve it.
So this strategy was
certainly was not done
overnight.
We looked at best practices
throughout this country,
what we can do,
what partnerships
we need to develop,
and how
we need to change the narrative
once again
to develop generosity
that we're so proud of.
And having said that,
this is a good opportunity to
talk about the artistic
pillar.
Our arts
director, royal alley-barnes
[ROYAL ALLEY-BARNES] Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
You know, a hard act to follow
is the energy that comes
from being joyful
in this municipality
and in the city.
So I want to say it again.
Good afternoon.
I also want to
thank you,
Mayor Harrell, for Roy
for rolling out this innovative
graffiti plan
that is focused on listening
to the many voices
of our communities.
Graffiti abatement
is one strategy
in decreasing
graffiti across the city.
The many hands, Mr.
Mayor, your many hands
art initiative is the other.
It is the other two sides size
one coin
in the bank of Social Cohesion.
The goal of the many Hands
Art Initiative
is to engage
with artists,
businesses, volunteers,
youth and others
in the community
to activate spaces
with art,
mitigating
and preventing graffiti
with the Arts
Hope Corps
Street Art
Request for proposals in RFP.
Artist led cohorts will install
and maintain authentic
community created art
providing opportunities
for creative workers.
Yes, creative workers
in this economy
throughout Seattle
focusing on graffiti
prone community areas.
Arts opened
this pilot
program
as an opportunity earlier
this month.
It will be closing.
I think it opened like October
17th will be closing
November 8th.
We're excited to see
what the call will bring in
and it will support
artist led programs
encouraging youth
and others towards safe,
creative alternatives
to graffiti.
The hopes for many hands
are the initiative.
RFP creates a trance
formative of
equitable, sustainable,
collaborative community spaces
to elevate street
art and nurture new voices.
Approaching this increased
graffiti activity
through a spatial justice lens.
Street art
means creating opportunities
for these new voices
as street artist
to work with community
and create new visual murals
throughout the city.
Murals throughout Seattle.
The Reverend Martin Luther
the sorry
The wind in my face.
It's beautiful,
but it also gets dust
in your eyes.
The Reverend Martin
Luther King Jr.
A mural right behind us
has been a community
icon since 1995
and it was UN Graffiti
for 26 years until recently.
The murals
original artists.
James Kreponal
the community
and this is white.
Other volunteers
and arts work together
to return the work
to its
graffiti
free status
in less than a week.
The artist
and community
response to the street art
call is going to be exciting.
It's going to help
turn the corner
and decrease in graffiti
and it's going to support
a One Seattle of murals.
Thank you so much.
Thank.
[MAYOR HARRELLL] Thank you very much, Royal.
Beautiful.
So in recent years
and some have been doing
the work for decades,
we've had community heroes
almost single handedly
trying to take on graffiti
in their
particular neighborhoods.
And we want to recognize
one particular
individual, Denice Chase,
who will say a few words,
particularly around
the Wallingford Woodland
Park neighborhood area,
who sort of exemplify as
one of our pillars.
And how do we assist and help
those that, again,
want to help beautify the city?
They do this
kind of abatement work
simply
because they want to beautify
their neighborhoods.
And so we thought
it very proper
to hear
from one of our champions
in the city, Denice Chase.
Denice.
[DENICE CHASE] Thank you, Mayor, for
inviting me.
And I.
I just want to say
that I am
only one person
and feel very honored
to represent
all of the volunteers
in the city,
because there is
at least one person
in every single community
that is out there
leading the way
and making a difference
in their communities.
So that is a big honor
for me to be here
representing all
of those people.
I'm really passionate
about this issue,
and it's not
that I'm a real nerd
and that I'm passionate
about graffiti
or picking up litter,
but I am
compassionate about community.
And I think that
when we care for our community,
it really shows in
taking care of the graffiti
and the
litter that's around.
And I've lived here a long time
and I want to be proud
of the city that we live in.
I don't want it to walk down
and have visitors
from other cities
think that
we don't all appreciate
the beauty that we have.
And so that's kind of
how I got started.
I mean, I've lived here
a long time.
I've had dogs forever.
I walk dogs in the park.
It seemed just natural
to pick up the litter.
I was walking by.
And so that's what I did.
And for many years
I could take a grocery bag out
and pick up the litter.
And in recent years, I'm
taking 30 gallon bags out
to pick up litter
in the same area.
And I must say, Mayor,
in the last six months,
I'm back to my grocery bag
in my neighborhood,
and I want to thank you
for that.
It's really a big difference.
I'm starting to see results
of everybody coming together.
And again, more than what
I do is the response I get.
I'm never out there without
having somebody say,
Do you get paid for this?
Are you volunteering
or are you with a group
or are you just doing this?
Are you working off
your community service hours?
And I say, no,
it's just where I live
and I'm proud of where I am
and that's why I'm out here.
And so it's it creates
that sense of community.
Every one of those people
now say, you know,
if you can do this,
I can do it, too.
And then what I did
see is exactly what your
your state of your data shows.
And that's that
the graffiti has grown
and it's everywhere,
and it's
now become the
new litter of our city.
And so I complained about it
and I report it to the city.
And then I realized that
I could be part of the solution
or I could be part
of the problem.
So I started painting out
graffiti and I picked
two areas
that are close to me
because what I saw is the group
that are eight people
in our entire city
trying to keep the graffiti
at hand
and at they couldn't
keep up with it.
They would come and clean
something up and it was tagged
the next day or the next week.
Well,
I walk by that every single day
and I now have my paint
and my rollers,
and when I walk by,
I just get rid of it.
And I have two spots.
And I must say that
they're getting
a little tired of me.
I have a little more time
and a little more paint
than the taggers do.
And so I've been able
to keep those two places clean.
And again,
every time I'm out there,
I've had people say, Can I,
can I buy the paint for you?
Can I give you money
for the paint?
I must say I
when I first started,
I wanted to pick
some really unique color
and have my tag also,
but I decided
that was defeated. The purpose.
So I have paint
that matches the cities
and I paint out the tags.
And unfortunately
some of those tags
have been violent
and anti-Semitic
and I can walk by
and get rid of it immediately.
And so I just really appreciate
your bringing volunteers
and the city together.
So because I'm already
seeing results
and I'm
thrilled to be part of it.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank
[MAYOR HARRELL] Wait Denice
a day
would be wasted
if we didn't recognize.
We want to hand you this.
This is a
our One Seattle Service
Award to Denice Chase.
It's like the
like the key to the city here.
And we want to
if there's one picture
I hope that we capture,
is this one right here?
Because this is
what One Seattle is about
right now.
We realize
we have our
responsibility to do,
but we can't do it alone.
Thank you
for your leadership, Denice.
Thank you very much.
Don't
put that on eBay, by the way.
So our last speaker
sort of symbolizes
our partnership with the state.
This is the Washington
State Department
of Transportation, Northwest
region Maintenance
Communications lead,
James Poling.
And we thought
it very appropriate
being one of our
strongest partners in this work
here to say a few words.
So I invite James
to the microphone.
Thank you
[JAMES POLING] Good afternoon.
Thank you.
To the city for inviting WSDOT
out to speak today.
My name is James Poling
I am the assistant
communications manager
for the northwest
region of Wash Dot.
We have a very large region
Thank you.
We have a very large region
stretching
from the Canadian border
in Bellingham
all the way down to the Pierce
County line in Mount Rainier.
And Seattle is in King
County of the core
of our population centers.
Graffiti remains a tremendous
challenge, as the mayor noted,
as all the speakers have noted.
And that's
especially true
on our right away
in our roadways,
our bridge crews are
our primary
removers of graffiti.
However, our sign
and our tunnel crews
handle their respective areas
and specialties.
We have made
tremendous progress in the past
five years
in improving our efficiency
and removing graffiti.
Some examples of that
are partnering
with our contractors
on major projects
such as Revive I-5
or the Mega Project for 520
and having them remove
graffiti during these closures
during their work
adjacent to these areas.
We've also become
more efficient
at treating tunnel graffiti
during our maintenance time
and closures that happen
quarterly or so, such as I-90
here in the city.
The challenges
that remain
are just the sheer
amount of volume of graffiti.
One challenge
our crews have had
and that revive
I-5 area
is that we've painted
over the same locations
up to seven times this summer.
It's very repetitive,
but we continue to
treat these areas.
Specialized equipment
is a major challenge for us
have take safety risks
that our crews will not take.
It's unsafe for them to take
to paint what they do
and tag what they do.
But it also requires us
to get specialized equipment
to reach these areas
and also
requires potential
lane closures
and delays
to the traveling public.
We also have challenges
in tunnel paint,
which is reflective
to brighten the tunnel
and provide safety
to the traveling public.
When that needs repainting,
that requires
specialized paint as well,
which is
another great challenge
we face.
The last obstacle
we really face
right now
is our maintenance
crews are responsible
for taking care of the graffiti
and we have up to 100 vacancies
right now in staffing shortages
in maintenance.
Right now,
we're grateful for our crews
who are working around
the clock, doing a great job.
And we really
are recruiting hard right now.
We really need additional help
in that regard.
If anyone is interested
in a permanent position,
contributing
to their community,
contributing to their region,
I encourage you
look at these opportunities.
We are actively hiring
and really need assistance
in this matter.
I'm very grateful,
the whole agency's
grateful for our partnerships
with the city,
the community, volunteers
and organizations.
They do a tremendous job.
They are tremendous partners
and we're very grateful
for that.
And we remain aligned
in our mutual goal
of tackling
this challenge head on.
Thank you.
[MAYOR HARRELL] Thank you.
James,
your leadership is
paying dividends for us.
Thank you for your work.
And with that, will entertain
a few questions.
Yes.
Jamie, can you help me direct
questions, please?
[REPORTER] So, Mayor Harrell,
what evidence is there
that beautification actually
improve safety?
I'd imagine it's hard
to measure that correlation.
[MAYOR HARRELL] Yeah, I'll repeat.
The question is,
as I heard it,
what evidence is there that
graffiti removal improves
public safety?
Well, actually,
I think
everyone by now
is sort of familiar
with the broken window
syndrome,
that when you neglect an area
that often bad things happen
and you know,
we look sort of hard at certain
I think it was referred to
as a graffiti
hot zone in certain
areas that, again,
where there are less eyes
and less activity,
less commerce,
less police presence,
that it just again, bad
things happen.
So I'm not going to present you
from a
criminologist standpoint,
the data
that would suggest that.
But I would
suggest there's
a lot of theory out there
that when we neglect areas
and when the black people,
bad things happen
and I don't know if I need data
to suggest that.
I think we have
lived experience,
it would suggest that
and at some point
lived experience
would almost prevail over
hard data.
My lived experience
is that when areas
are neglected
again, bad things happen.
Yeah.
Mayor,
how does this address
the just
chronic every single day
tagging the same place?
Does this move
the needle on that?
And if so, how?
Yeah, it's a good question
about the every day tagging.
And I think James talked
about an area being
tagged seven times and
it's like a cycle.
And quite frankly,
that's
why this new unprecedented
approach tries to address that.
What compels a person
to do that over and over?
What statement are they making?
What who are these people?
And so in our
in looking at the law
and how we treat that,
we also want to look at
who the people are,
who the individuals are.
And under Royal L.A.
Barnes's leadership,
perhaps they do
want artistic expression.
So I think, you know, that
my approach to public safety is
I'm willing
to make the tough decisions,
but I also want to
understand why
people behave the way they do.
So, again, we want to stop
the abatement
graffiti, abatement graffiti.
We want to start
stop that cycle.
And that's
why we are implementing
this new holistic approach
to stop this sort of merry
go round on these issues.
And quite honestly,
we're eve
we even ask the questions in
drawing up the plan or what
what effect did
the pandemic have on people?
What kinds of
antisocial behavior
are occurring in other cities
and throughout this country
because of the pandemic?
So we're trying
to better understand
the cycle,
the psychology
behind this activity,
to make sure
that we're treating
all people fairly
and constitutionally.
Well, we don't want that
that circular process, and
we think this approach
will help us in that regard.
[REPORTER] I was hoping
that you might be able
to help define
the differences
between graffiti art
and vandalism, say.
The differences
between graffiti art vandalism.
[MAYOR HARRELL] So that
I repeat the question
to you tonight in responding to
I think the question was
a definition of
a definition of graffiti,
art and vandalism.
The distinction.
Well, that's
not exactly
in my speaking notes,
so let me wing it
so someone can cringe when I
say this.
Art
is to me.
I might pass on that question
because art, as we all
know,
is in the eye of the beholder.
Right.
So you may see
vandalism and graffiti
or vandalism in art
that may see
something differently.
So let me say what we can
all agree on.
There's hate speech out there
that is not art.
That is hate speech.
And that
that is that is unlawful.
So we're
certainly going after that.
We also believe,
however, I have seen
what some may call graffiti
that actually looks
really nice.
And the question becomes
perhaps with
the state's approval,
are there areas in this city
where we can have art?
And we know
firsthand that we've had areas
where say, here's
a beautiful canvas.
So what we're trying to do
is say, let's encourage art.
But I will tell you,
if you own a restaurant,
you own a small business,
and you come back
and you walls are all sprayed
with something you do not want.
That is not art,
that is graffiti.
So I think that this issue,
this distinction
will resolve itself.
What's most important,
at least for me as the mayor,
is to stop the hate speech,
to stop
our signage destruction,
to help small businesses
remedy that
that they don't
want on their property.
And then we can debate perhaps
whether something is art
or graffiti.
But I think that issue
will resolve itself.
[REPORTER] How can you work
with the Office of Arts
and Culture
to get some of these
graffiti artists
to become our next muralist?
[MAYOR HARRELL] I think the question is,
how can I work
with the arts of culture
to get some of these graffiti,
these people committing
acts of graffiti
to become our next artists?
Well, there
that's a good question.
So there therein lies
the work we're doing.
I don't think anyone's
really approached it
from that standpoint.
And so,
quite frankly,
there are recent articles
written about the typical
profile of someone
doing this kind of work
that it was.
There were
some gender descriptions
and an age description.
Well,
we know one side
doesn't fit all
part of our work.
We'll be going
into the community,
if you will,
understanding their culture,
having a dialog.
I trust that
many people
doing this act and I don't.
One of these strategies
we're openly talking about
is to try to have a dialog
with those doing the work.
Now, why are you doing this?
What are you attempting to
convey?
So that's going to be
the ongoing work
and I want those.
I'm sure the
you know,
there's social media
and there's
communities of people
that are doing
acts of graffiti.
And we want to establish
a partnership.
And we're asking our director
role alley bars
to establish this partnership
with them.
Because if done right,
if done right,
you guys catch that.
Okay. All right.
See that?
They're honking
because they want this
graffiti start strategy work.
What?
We want to have this dialog
because if we do this work
right,
we can beautify this city.
I'll give you
a specific example
and I'm clearly off script.
Perhaps there are some Native
American art in certain areas
that we could talk about
the indigenous culture, right?
Perhaps there's
some cultural art
in certain areas
where they're trying
to keep their culture
and preserve it
and we could beautify
that area.
That's the work
we're going to do.
In addition
to abatement and enforcement.
So we have a great
opportunity here
and this approach is a
one sided approach
and we'll get to know
the graffiti community,
probably
unlike any
other administrations,
have known them before.
Last one.
[REPROTER] So we're buying it.
Was it
$950,000 spent on abatement
last year or moving forward?
[MAYOR HARRELL] Yeah, that $950,000
that I described
was what's in the budget now
that the city council
are now
examining, in addition to,
I think approximately
3 million or so
that was embedded
in the budget.
So it's new funds
to implement the strategy
that I'm describing today.
Okay.
So that.
Yeah, yeah.
All right.
Thanks very much.
Thank you for being here.
One Seattle.