Ojai Municipal Code Art. 1 Declaration of Policy

Section 53069.3 of the Government Code authorizes the City to provide for the removal of graffiti or other inscribed material from public or privately owned permanent structures located on public or privately owned real property located within the City. The City Council finds that graffiti, on public and private properties, is a blighting factor on the neighborhood, encourages other acts of malicious vandalism, causes an increase in crime and depreciates the value of the adjacent and surrounding properties.

The Council further finds and determines that graffiti is obnoxious, is inconsistent with the City's property maintenance goals, aesthetic standards and unless it is quickly removed from public and private properties, other properties soon become the target of graffiti. Such defacement of property is most often committed by persons under the age of 18 years using aerosol or pressurized containers of paint, indelible markers and pens and done in connection with gang activities.

(§ 1, Ord. 701, eff. November 26, 1993, as renumbered by § 2, Ord. 800, eff. August 8, 2008)