Neighborhood Protection unit focuses on graffiti (updated)
KHOU-11 posts some good news on the city's worsening graffiti problem -- MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are finally paying attention:
You might have seen it and police confirm it -- graffiti is popping up in more places.
Graffiti is popping up in more places around Houston.
This type of vandalism is exploding in Houston and there is one city department now appointed to erase the writing on the wall.
[snip]
In the past citizens turned to several different agencies for help, but those groups ran out of money. With the resurgence of graffiti, HPD’s Neighborhood Protection will now take on the problem.
“It’s huge,” said Assistant Chief Brian Lumpkin who heads the new unit.
He said his approach to erasing this problem is simple.
“Take some money that the mayor’s anti-gang office had for abatement and we’re going to train our inspectors to supervise probationers and trustees. And we’re going to come out as aggressively and as fast as we can start covering it up,” Lumpkin said.
[snip]
While Lumpkin’s group will target all graffiti, but first on his list are “The ones that are most hateful and the ones that are race related and the most hurtful,” Chief Lumpkin explained.
Chief Lumpkin said an inspector would check out locations two days after receiving a call.
They’ll place a yellow notice and let the owner know that they have 30 days to clean up the criminal mischief.
If an owner who can afford to clean up doesn’t, the city will spray away the problem and a lien will be placed on the property.
“We’re probably going to be hitting some other locations multiple times before we get it under control,” Chief Lumpkin said.
MayorWhiteChiefHurtt haven't wanted to spend money on this problem, but the explosion of graffiti is kind of hard to ignore after a while. It's good that citizen complaints and ongoing media coverage have finally prompted a response, although we'll reserve judgment until we see more in the way of results, and not just PR. Indeed, there's an abandoned building here in midtown that's a graffiti eyesore. I'll be reporting it to the hotline on Monday, and tracking the response.
The KHOU report says graffiti can be reported using the city's 311 number. They also give the Neighborhood Protection number: 713-884-3131.
UPDATE (01-16-2006): I called the last number listed by KHOU. I got someone whose name I didn't recognize at HPD. He told me the number I need is actually 713 525 2525. That number was not functional.
I then called the city's 311 number to report a graffiti problem. I listed the intersection of the problem property. The 311 operator told me the system will not accept an intersection, I must have a physical address. I told the operator that the address has been tagged over, the property is abandoned, and that I can't obtain the physical address or even a nearby address. I suggested that it is across the street from a city park, and perhaps she could obtain the address from that. Nope, she wanted a physical address, otherwise she couldn't report the problem. And she couldn't transfer me to Neighborhood Protection directly because today is a federal holiday.
So, right off the bat, the PR for this program already exceeds the actual functionality of the program, and my time has been wasted. I'll try to email various parties in the city about the incident I want to report as well as the deficiencies in the program, and we'll see if anything happens.
UPDATE (01-16-2006): About 5pm today, someone from 311 answered my email, thanked me for my concerns about the onerous reporting requirements of the phone line, and said my complaint had been entered in the database. I'll try to remember to follow up on the complaint.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/15/06 06:20 PM | Houston Life | Print | Comments (3)
Previous Entry | Home | Next Entry
ADVERTISING
DISCLAIMER
All content © 2004-09, blogHOUSTON and the respective authors.
blogHOUSTON.net is powered by Nucleus.
Site design and Nucleus customization are by Kevin Whited.