Troy City Council to vote on method of cleaning up the city's gr - NEWS10 ABC: Albany, New York News, Weather, Sports

Troy City Council to vote on method of cleaning up the city's graffiti

TROY, N.Y. - Troy City Council's Finance Board will vote on proposed graffiti eradication legislation Thursday night.

As of now, the City of Troy does not have anything on the books with respect to how homeowners, businesses, and the city are supposed deal with so-called "gang tags" and graffiti.

Democratic Troy City Councilwoman Nina Nichols has proposed new legislation that would give the police and the city a way to track gang graffiti and clean it up.

Nichols proposes that first, the police would take photos and addresses where graffiti is seen. Then the property owners would have seven days to remove it.

If the property owner can't afford the fix, the city will paint over the offending words or symbols with white exterior house paint.

No paint color matching will be done, as that would be too expensive, Nichols says.

Republican Troy City Councilman Mark McGrath says this has been a bi-partisan effort.

McGrath says he made some amendments to Nichol's proposal and he expects it to pass at Thursday night's meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. The legislation would then go up for a vote to the full city council next month.