RAINIER VALLEY - SouthEast Effective Development (SEED) in collaboration with King County Superior Court Community Programs (KCSC) and Seattle Public Utilities is launching the Paint-it-Out graffiti removal program for business and property owners in Southeast Seattle.
The goal of the Paint-It-Out program is to help eliminate graffiti in South Seattle by painting it out as soon as it goes up. Graffiti clean up alone costs United States cities tens of thousands of dollars each year. These are funds that could be used for art programs, schools, roads, parks, and other community improvements.
Graffiti sends the signal to our community that nobody cares, which can attract other forms of crime and street delinquency. Graffiti also decreases a resident's feeling of safety, states the "Graffiti Hurts" website. The program's goals are to provide business and property owners with a valuable and constructive resource while educating the South Seattle community about the negative impact of graffiti.
To launch the program, SEED will distribute flyers and send out a letter and promotional magnet to a selection of 500 business and property owners in South Seattle informing them of the graffiti removal service as well as the 24-hour Graffiti Hotline: (206) 760-4285. Business owners will then be responsible for notifying SEED's Public Art Program about graffiti on their properties, at which point SEED will arrange for a supervised crew of juvenile probation youth from the King County Superior Courts Community Programs (KCSC) to paint out the graffiti.
This program will involve five-20 youth from the King County Superior Court Community Program, as well as an adult supervisor. Some of the stated youth goals for the program include:
- Providing a vehicle for young people to restore and enhance the beauty and livability of their neighborhoods
- Increasing youth competencies in positive work behaviors
- Increasing restitution payments to victims
- Increasing opportunities for youth to complete court ordered community restitution
- Improving employability skills of area youth and increase their skills and opportunities
The Paint-It-Out program will provide basic painting materials, including brushes, rollers, drop cloths, and cleaners. It will also supply latex paints in three colors: beige, white, and grey. If a building requires special colors or treatment, the business owner will be responsible for informing the program directors prior to teams coming out and/or providing them with the paint. Program teams will not remove any graffiti without prior consent from the business owner.
The Paint-It-Out program will be a free service to business and property owners, however a $15 or larger donation is suggested, to benefit SEED's Public Art Workshop. Public Art Workshop creates site-specific, culturally relevant art in public spaces by partnering professional artists with at-risk youth from underserved Southeast Seattle communities to design, fabricate and install public art projects in their own neighborhoods.
The Paint-It-Out program will be an ongoing effort provided by SEED and KCSC that will serve the entire South Seattle community, consisting of over 108,000 residents and thousands of businesses and property owners. Boundaries for the Paint-It-Out program include I-90 to the north, Lake Washington to the East, the Seattle city limits to the South, and I-5 to the West.
Graffiti that isn't attended to can be reported and property owners can be fined. Additional resources on graffiti removal can be obtained by contacting: Seattle Public Utilities Anti-Graffiti Program at 684-7587.
For further information, please visit the Paint-It-Out information page online at www.seedseattle.org/graffiti.html or contact Abbey Norris, Public Art Manager, 760-4289 or anorris@seedseattle.org.[[In-content Ad]]
