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FridayNovember202009



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Graffiti sparks ire among city, residents
4/11/2008 6:31 PM
By: Kendra Mendez

Just above one of Austin's treasures, Lady Bird Lake, resides a less than popular piece of scenery tattooed across a Union Pacific train trestle.

Grafitti on the Union Pacific bridge violates Austin City Code.  
"It takes away from your view, it takes away from the beauty of Austin," resident Sherri Williams said. "I don't know why they just couldn't just come in here and paint it."

Williams and others who come here often agree that it's time for somebody to get rid of the graffiti plaguing their views.

Whether you mind the graffiti or not, the City of Austin said they'd like to see the graffiti gone, but they say it's not that simple.

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Railroad Grafitti

News 8 Austin's Kendra Mendez shows us why cleaning it up is messier than it looks.



"Union Pacific owns that bridge and so that is pretty much the reason why we can't get up there and do that, and there's safety issues involved," Travis County Health and Human Services Spokeswoman Carole Barasch said.

On March 12, the city addressed a letter to Union Pacific, warning that graffiti on the Union Pacific bridge violates Austin's City Code. The letter indicates the city will give Union Pacific until April 12 to clean it up or face fines up to $500 per day.

"We don't want the Graffiti on our trestle, any more than the city wants the graffiti as a nuisance, or an eyesore in the park," Union Pacific Spokesman James Barnes said. "So we both have a strong vested interest to work together and resolve it, and that's what we plan to do."

The City of Austin gave Union Pacific until April 12 to clean up the grafitti, but extended that deadline.  
The city said Union Pacific is now cooperating, and they will offer them a little more time than indicated in the March 12 letter.

The next step involves a series of meetings to talk about clean-up and how to prevent such a mess from occurring again.

"It diminishes the beauty of the city," Barasch said.



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News 8's Jenna Hiller explored the troubled waters in Central Texas and traveled down the Colorado River in search of information. Click on the links to watch, read and interact.

Part 1: Regional cooperation drying out
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Part 3: Security of supply saturates perception
Part 4: Bad news travels near and far
Part 5: Bad news travels near and far

Where does your water come from?

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