Preliminary graffiti ordinance in place

July 20, 2012

Mono County now has a graffiti ordinance in the preliminary stages, after an incident near Crowley Lake sparked the area’s county supervisor, Hap Hazard, to push for one.

The ordinance still has to pass through a second and third reading to become law. A few changes were made to an original ordinance proposed by county staff, mostly to protect property owners from too much liability and to protect minors that might be using or carrying a spray paint can for non-graffiti uses.

In the Crowley Lake incident, someone or a group spray painted an abandoned building near the McGee Creek exit. The graffiti was quickly covered up by community members with grey paint, but the incident prompted Hazard to call for a way to punish those caught defacing property in Mono County with graffiti.