Ugly billboards and graffiti at Snelling and University must go

Two prominent billboards near the University and Snelling avenues intersection must be cleaned up, the St. Paul City Council decided Aug. 27. The council gave ChiroMed Clinic owner Dr. Jay Cherner until Sept. 1 to clean up the billboards at 1603-1605 University Ave.
It’s one of two actions affecting the beleaguered Snelling-University intersection. On Sept. 30, a legislative hearing is set for the shuttered CVS store at 499 N. Snelling Ave. That hearing will result in some kind of recommendation to remove or repair the vacant store property.
The council approved what is called an emergency summary abatement order for the billboards. While it typically takes beyond the approved date to get action on a wide range of city-issued summary abatement orders, the “emergency” status does add pressure for a property owner to comply.
Cherner was unable to attend the Aug. 27 council meeting, but sent a letter challenging the process used to issue the order. He also asked that the council give him until Nov. 1 to comply.
Cherner in his letter blamed the St. Paul Police Department for the ongoing issues of graffiti vandalism damage to his building and other problems. He has installed security cameras, but vandals continue to damage and deface his property.
He has cleaned trash, feces and syringes around his property on a daily basis and has made more than 100 calls to have people removed from the property. Until crime in the area is addressed, he said, problems are not going to go away.
“I will not even start to explain to you how impossible it is to do business (attending patients) under these circumstances. For the past four years, I had a feeling that the city of St. Paul is trying to get rid of any business at University and Snelling for some reason.”
The city has estimated that it will cost $3,000 to $5,000 to abate the graffiti. The billboards are high and tall. Efforts by contractors to remove graffiti this summer resulted in black paint on parts of the sign faces. That generated more complaints from community members and from adjacent business owners.
Nearby business owners and community members contend that the blight is making it difficult for existing businesses and for property owners to bring in new tenants. The city council had comments from Union Park District Council (UPDC) and the management of Spruce Tree Center about the state of the billboards.
In its letter to the council, Spruce Tree’s Management said their tenants have had to look at graffiti on the billboards and on the side of 1605 University for four years.
Repeated complaints have been documented by Spruce Tree staff. “This ongoing graffiti blight has contributed to a severe and measurable decline in our ability to attract and retain tenants. Our current occupancy rate remains below 55 percent, a historically low figure that we directly attribute in part to the continued presence of the graffiti and the neglected condition of the adjacent structures.”
Prospective tenants have cited the graffiti and the appearance of the surrounding area as deterrents to renting space at Spruce Tree and in nearby new apartment buildings, the letter stated.
The letter added, “The city of St. Paul aggressively enforces its requirements for our building: i.e. elevator inspections, snow removal. Fire marshal/certificate of occupancy inspections, building permit inspections. We request equally aggressive enforcement of the city of St. Paul’s signage ordinances.”
Union Park District Council (UPDC) voted in August to ask that the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections (DSI) get the graffiti cleaned up. The district council is also asking for improved communication and complaint resolution processes from the city.
“Every visitor to the Snelling–University area can clearly see this graffiti. Every potential visitor to the Snelling–University area can clearly see this graffiti in Google Maps’ photos,” said Sarah Dvorak, district council president. “In business as in politics, optics matter. This graffiti gives our neighborhood business community and the city as a whole a black eye.”
The letter goes on to state that the failure to clean up graffiti and remove the billboards in a timely fashion “imperils our commercial tax base.”
Lisa Martin, code enforcement supervisor, said an emergency summary abatement order was issued Aug. 7. The paint used earlier this summer by a contractor hasn’t covered up the graffiti. Finding a contractor who could have access to what are very tall billboards has been challenging.
At the legislative hearing UPDC Executive Director Leah Timberlake Sullivan and Mark Morrow, co-chair of the UPDC land use committee, asked that the graffiti be cleaned up and that the billboard structures be removed. They said the unsightly appearance makes it difficult for businesses to invest in the neighborhood.
Timberlake Sullivan said some businesses have asked for the graffiti cleanup for four years. She questioned what has to be done to get an adequate response from the city.
Citing the large loon sculpture at nearby Allianz Field, Morrow said, “That loon is looking right at those billboards.”