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violations, Mr. Silver and Mr. Wright have obtained numerous victories for public entity clients and have handled matters from inception through case disposition. For these services, Silver & Wright proposes a blended rate of $179 per hour for attorneys and $100 per hour for paralegals and law clerks. 3. Graffiti Enforcement and Restitution RATE: $179 per hour. Graffiti is not just an eyesore for communities, it also stifles the sense of safety and cohesion in a neighborhood and acts as a communication mechanism for gangs. Cleaning up graffiti costs cities and taxpayers tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. At Silver & Wright, we recognize that cities should not bear the brunt of these costs, especially in these lean economic times when funds and personnel are limited. As such, our attorneys have developed and successfully implemented cutting -edge ordinances that allow cities to comprehensively attack graffiti, recover their costs and deter graffiti in the future. Our strategy involves maximizing a city's graffiti fighting powers under State law. We create tools for cities to recover their clean up and investigation costs, then penalize the taggers, and if a minor, the parents as well. In the last six months alone, we have obtained over $50,000 in judgments against taggers and their parents — cost recovery that otherwise would have been lost. Moteover, unlike juvenile court restitution, our cost recovery process does not stop when the juvenile's probation ends. This means cities have at least a 10 year window for recovery instead of just a few months or a year. This approach leads to reduced graffiti, more parental responsibility and supervision over their ininors, and allows the city to maintain a source of revenue to clean up graffiti. One city reported a 50% decrease in graffiti expenses following these successful efforts. At the very least, this strategy sends a strong message to taggers and gang members that their conduct will not be tolerated. We would assist City staff in developing and implementing this program by drafting appropriate ordinances, working with enforcement officials to obtain the necessary evidence, prepare and issue demand letters to taggers and parents, conducting settlement negotiations, pursuing civil litigation to recover the city's costs and impose penalties, and helping the City enforce the judgment and recover its award. For these specialized and unique services, Silver & Wright proposes a blended hourly rate of $179 per hour for attorneys and $100 per hour for paralegals and law clerks. 4. Administrative Cost Recovery, Appeals and Nuisance Hearings RATE: $179 per hour. Mr. Silver and Mr. Wright have tremendous experience in administrative proceedings, including cost recovery hearings, appeals of administrative fines and actions, and nuisance abatement hearings.