‘You aren’t Banksy’: Graffiti taggers could be sued by City of Seattle for damages

The City of Seattle is considering suing graffiti taggers for damages caused by their tagging.

Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison proposed the legislation to the city council Tuesday. If passed, taggers would be required to pay for the cost of cleaning it all up, while also being subjected to a fine of up to $1,000.

“What I think is, Seattle City Council, this is a test. Don’t screw it up. Do not screw this up,” KIRO fill-in host Angela Poe Russell said. “This is a no-brainer. This will get you a win. This is a proposal put to the council by Anne Davison, so now it’s in the council’s hands. We have a newer council, and this is one that I think so many people would like to get behind. This is not the time to play soft. We have to take a hard stance. We need to clean this place up.”

Graffiti cleanup has cost the City of Seattle at least $6 million in 2024. That figure does not include what business owners and property managers are spending out of pocket.

“You sound like you feel about graffiti like I do, because I get teased about how I feel so passionately about graffiti and how much I hate it,” Ursula Reutin, co-host of “The Gee and Ursula Show,” said.

“Why is that?” Angela asked. “I’m trying to understand why anyone would tease you for that.”

“I think, in the grand scheme of things, I get it, we’ve got big problems, but I don’t think it’s art,” Ursula responded. I mean, you aren’t Banksy when you’re scribbling this crud everywhere, and I think it makes the city look dirty. And it’s not just the city. Every overpass sign along the freeways. I think when you’re driving through it, you just feel like, ‘Ooh, this is a place that doesn’t take care of itself.'”

More than 8,500 counts of graffiti on I-5

Last year,  KIRO traffic reporter Nate Connors and Charlie Harger, the co-host of “Seattle’s Morning News,” recorded every visible tag along I-5 within the city limits with a clicker-counter. The final tally? 8,555 tags. Specifically, I-5 mainline south to north had 2,232 tags, the I-5 mainline north to south had 3,895 tags, the I-5 collector-distributor lanes had 749 tags, the I-5 express lanes had 1,186 tags, and the Mercer Street tunnel had 493 tags.

“And here’s the thing. I hate to say this, but we do have the World Cup coming up,” Poe Russell said. “So there are high hopes that this will get passed. I would like to think it would get passed no matter what.”

According to Deputy City Attorney Scott Lindsay, many of these folks have jobs, resources, cars, and condos, and are merely doing it for social media reputation.

“A lot of this is for promotion online under their tagger names,” Lindsay told the Seattle City Council’s public safety committee.

“What does Gee always say?” Poe Ruseel asked.

“It’s for the ‘gram,” Ursula answered.

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.