The City of Emeryville and PG&E Celebrates 'Junior' and Hundreds of His Friends
Commentary
By Brian Donahue
A couple of months ago a few graffiti tags appeared on the wall of the PG&E building on Holden Street. Citizen complaints were received by the City who is required by statute to let the owner of the building know about it and to remind the owner they are required by law to remove the tags. Despite numerous complaints over many weeks, PG&E refuses to remove the tags and because graffiti is self propagating, one tagger’s efforts are repeated by another and another, now the whole building is covered and it is spreading to neighboring buildings.
This could be a primer in how not to conduct public policy.
For years Emeryville did a pretty good job combatting graffiti (the CVS building notwithstanding) but now the process seems to be broken. We don’t know the precise reason for the dysfunction but the City of Emeryville doesn’t seem capable of handling a problem like graffiti removal anymore. Tellingly, the police report to us that the City has informed PG&E about the problem but they have so far rebuffed any directives from the City to fix the problem. In frustration, we offered to do it ourselves. We said we will voluntarily paint over the tags free of charge but later, the police told us they spoke with PG&E and they said they will sue anybody that tries to paint over the graffiti tags on their building. The police, for their part, say they will arrest anyone who tries to paint over the PG&E graffiti tags if they catch them in the act.
PG&E will not obey Emeryville’s graffiti law and they will not let us do what they refuse to do. That lets us know all we need to know about the lack of community mindedness of this giant corporation in our town.
But then something changed. The police informed PG&E that the Tattler knows about their lawsuit threat. Quickly, PG&E told the police to inform us that they have had a change of heart. Now apparently they will not sue anybody that tries to paint over the graffiti on their building, and they want us to know that.
So now we know PG&E doesn’t care about our laws but they do care about bad press.
City Hall, PG&E and the Police Department: all are here to make sure we can’t have a nice place to live anymore. So we’re expecting more tags…..and more and more and more. Graffiti tags everywhere is what you get with the civic dysfunction that embodies the new Emeryville.
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| This is not the kind of thing that's solvable anymore, says the City of Emeryville. ‘Junior’ wants us to know he was here and who are we to take that away from him? |
What about taking PGE to Small Claims Court ?
ReplyDeleteThe City could fine PG&E but I don't think that would ever happen. We could take the City to court for failure to enforce the laws equitably but I don't think we could win a lawsuit against PG&E for failing to obey Emeryville's laws. Our best option is to email the mayor, David Mourra (david.mourra@emeryville.org) and demand he fix this. He is up for re-election in two years.
DeleteHappy new year everyone! This makes me think its going to be a fun year in Emeryville.
ReplyDeleteEveryone in the inner city USA should know by now the only way to stop taggers is to attack their sites, with a cover over of paint every time they hit. Find out who the taggers are, and make them paint over their tags as community restitution; recruit students to do the repairing (pay them); and keep it up until it stops.
ReplyDeleteBut that would mean going against the wishes of PG&E. Emeryville City Hall doesn't like to upset big businesses in town. The police saying they will arrest any citizens who want to do a community service and paint out the tags for free is the final insult for citizens. The entire elite power structure is allied against neighbors trying to make their neighborhood nicer. I think we're going to just have to learn to love the spray paint.
DeleteJunior's on top for now....until Ed sprays over Junior's tag.
Get used to it; your neighborhood will be next.
This story may seem too precious to some but I agree with the premise of it. Compared with the neighboring cities, Emeryville is over all pretty clean. The lack of grafitti and trash is part of what makes it that way. It would be a shame to have the town give up and become like every other city all around us. I say thanks to Brian for highlighting this. We need to do what we we need to do to keep us from becoming Oakland. The lack of grafitti is part of what sets us apart..
ReplyDeleteGraffiti removal doesn't happen on its own. Public Works can drive by it 10 times and do nothing. Why ? (I guess it's a Union thing). You must report it to: See Click Fix. Then the city sends a letter to the owner or sends PW to cover it up if it's on public land.
ReplyDeleteIt’s true that law in Emeryville is mostly ‘complaint driven’, meaning the City will not enforce a law unless they receive a citizen complaint. This is opposed to a ‘violation driven’ city where the law is enforced without the need for complaints from the citizenry. Complaint driven law enforcement is cheaper than violation driven. If we want the City to enforce the law on their own, we’re going to have to start paying more in taxes I guess.
DeleteAnd then there’s Emeryville where law enforcement is even cheaper than complaint driven. We’re a ‘non-enforced’ town. That’s the cheapest there is.
Brian the "artist" hates real art produced by real people. He only like elitist art.
ReplyDeleteI hate bad art.
DeleteI've never even seen Brian's art. I know his brother's art is around.
DeleteMy art is more elitist than my brother's is.
DeleteCurious do you still live in San Francisco?
ReplyDeleteI've lived in Emeryville continuously for 43 years.
DeleteI learn from you messages and appreciate the work it takes and your values.
DeleteBrian makes good for Emville thanks.
DeleteAll we need to do is tag "FUCK PG&E" and "PG&E IS CORPORATE SCUM" and they will clean it up pronto. And no I don't believe they are completely scum.
ReplyDeleteGood one!
DeleteMaybe I'll try it
ReplyDeleteI emailed the Mayor. And did a See Click Fix, the city’s response was call PGE’s 800 number. Also gave a email address for PGE which didn’t work. Then the city turned off the comments on the post. So you’re right, the city won’t push PGE. I think PGE has the money to send someone out to cover it up and be a Good neighbor.
ReplyDeleteThey definitely have the money. They lack the will. I like the commenter above who's calling for a 'Fuck PG&E' tag to get all of it cleaned up quickly. I'm not suggesting anybody actually do it, mind you...
DeleteAppears the new Mayor doesn’t know about the problem with PGE, and is asking the head of PW about it.
ReplyDelete