Anti-Graffiti Project Underway In Yardley

YARDLEY, PA —The borough, like other towns in Lower Bucks County and throughout the region, has a graffiti problem.

So Councilman David Appelbaum decided to do something about it.

Appelbaum teamed up recently with resident and community advocate Dawn Perlmutter to identify graffiti throughout the borough and find a cost-effective way to remove it.

At a prior meeting, Appelbaum informed the Borough Council about the potential project and that he and Perlmutter had identified at least 50 graffiti items.

The councilman said he has reached out to an organization called Towns Against Graffiti that pays for a team to remove the graffiti and that he was seeking a $1,500 redevelopment grant.

"I don't want it to cost taxpayers money," said Appelbaum, adding that once he secured the grant, he would need a unified ordinance.

Appelbaum said that Bensalem Township had success with the program, which includes a collaborative police component, power washing, and litter removal.

"I'm not asking for anything," he said at the time. "I'm just informing."

Fellow council members Don Carlson, Uri Feiner, and Council President Caroline Thompson commended Appelbaum for his efforts with Carlson saying it "seems like a good way to go" and Feiner thanking Appelbaum and Perlmutter for tackling the problem.

Thompson also told Appelbaum that Borough Manager Paula Johnson could assist him with finding other municipalities that have anti-graffiti ordinances.

At the council's recent meeting, Appelbaum provided an update.

He told Patch Tuesday that he's "doing due diligence" and has collected several versions of ordinances from surrounding municipalities that are also participating in the program.

"I need to craft an ordinance with the help of various individuals in Borough Hall, including the solicitor," before putting an ordinance before the council, Appelbaum said.

For Perlmutter, the process to get an anti-graffiti ordinance hasn't been as fast as she hoped.

She recently sent borough council members an email —which was also sent to Patch — to get a proposed anti-graffiti ordinance on the Yardley Borough Council agenda "before another year goes by."

Perlmutter said last year that she proposed the anti-graffiti project to the Yardley Borough Community Outreach Committee for the borough to become a member of T.A.G., a public partnership between nine municipalities in Lower Bucks County that removes graffiti.

She said T.A.G. would remove existing and future graffiti from public and private property in the borough. T.A.G. is funded by donations that pay for a truck, a high-pressure washer, and a removal crew.

The T.A.G. program also allows residents to report instances of graffiti via T.A.G.'s hotline number, Perlmutter added.

She said that all nine participating municipalities have uniform anti-graffiti legislation requiring the removal of graffiti in place and that to become a member, the borough would need an anti-graffiti ordinance on the books.

The municipalities in the program include Bristol, Tullytown, Penndel and Bensalem, Bristol, Falls, Lower Makefield, Lower Southampton, and Middletown townships.

Perlmutter said she put together a presentation for the council after documenting locations of graffiti in the borough.

"Graffiti removal is not just a clean-up project," Perlmutter said. "It is indicative of a blight problem and can be indicative of other illegal activity in the area. While photographing, there were needles and other drug paraphernalia located near the graffiti in several locations in Yardley Borough."

Perlmutter said she has support from Appelbaum, Feiner, and Carlson on the project.

"It is time to set aside partisan politics and personal animosities and do what is best for the community," she said.