Graffiti art or blight? Warren homeowner fined for 'art' on home

WARREN, Mich. (WXYZ) — Is graffiti art or blight?

When it comes to murals, should you have the right to put one up on your own property? Some neighbors in Warren say no.

Michael Esser is a graffiti artist and uses the side of his garage wall as a canvas. It started last summer with a mural.

“Nothing is explicit, there is no nudity, no vulgarity,” Esser said.

The homeowner said the city told him he’s in violation of the blight ordinance after a neighbor complained.

“We really cant deface our own property, so this doesn’t apply to us,” Esser said.

He then painted a few more times, facing more fines from the city.

He finally stopped spray painting the wall and instead did his work on a mobile canvas, until his neighbor put up a fence. Now, only a few neighbors can see his work.

“If I were to paint all over the front of my house, I can understand why somebody would have a problem with it,” Esser said.

7 Action News reporter Syma Chowdhry spoke to the next door neighbor.

“Nobody wants to see it and it brings down our property values,” said Joe Cobb.

Cobb is one of the neighbors who complained.

“He spray paints," Cobb said. "I have to close the windows and doors because all that fumes comes in the house."

He says his new fence doesn’t cover up the view.

“It doesn’t matter,” Cobb explained, “I can see it right from my kitchen window or patio and my neighbor across the street can see it.”

Esser had another mural up before being told by the city to cover it. He says he’s spent thousands to fight for his work.

However, he’s read up on ordinances and put these opinion signs up, which apparently are legal. He says his neighbors could have been avoided all of this.

“All you had to do was say something to me and I’m easy to get along with it," Esser said. "It didn’t have to come to this. But I refused to be bullied."

He wanted to continue fighting the city in order to put up more murals.