SEATTLE - Business owners in one Seattle neighborhood are battling vandals by taking a page from their playbook. It gives them more of a fear they will be caught and prosecuted for the graffiti."
Business owners on Lower Queen Anne are posting bright yellow flyers around storefronts. The notices warn vandals that Graffiti Watch volunteers will call 911 if they spot something suspicious.
"That doesn't look nice. That looks ugly," says Avinash Kohli from the front of her Salon Image along Mercer Street.
Several times vandals spray painted the front of her store. Another vandal carved letters into her glass front door.
"It doesn't look professional. This is a professional place," said Kohli.
Kohli has owned her business for more than 19 years. She says in recent years the graffiti has gotten worse.
"Those people have fun in their own way but for us, it's not fun for us," she said.
"I really don't like it like this," said Mary Yu outside the alley next to her Obasan Japanese Restaurant.
The business has been open for less than a year. Yu says the alley looks like a graffiti war zone which sends the wrong image to customers "not a safe area."
"It has a snowball effect. If you have one or two pieces of graffiti. It's almost like an open invitaion for a graffiti party," said Mary Chapman, the marketing director of the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber, along with the Uptown Alliance, launched an effort to battle the middle-of-the night painters. Chapman says vandalism is down on buildings that display the Graffiti Watch flyers.
Business owners and the city of Seattle crews work to cover up the graffiti within 72 hours. Call the Graffiti Report Line at (206) 684-7587 to report graffiti for removal on public property, or graffiti that has not been removed from private property.
Call the Seattle Police Department at (206) 625-5011 to file a police report when graffiti appears on your property. Call 911 to report graffiti in progress. Graffiti vandals must be caught in the act to be prosecuted.
Other cities across the nation have enacted bans on spray paint. The city of Seattle is not currently considering such a ban, according to Seattle City Council communications manager Laura Lockard.
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