WHERE TO CALL

Graffiti seem to be springing up all over the place. You want to stop the scrawling before it gets worse. Here’s a sampling of programs you can call for help:

-- In Glendale, call 507-8974, the number for the Neighborhood Beautification Committee. You’ll get a recorded message instructing you to leave your name and phone number. Someone will call you back to arrange for a full-time city worker to paint or sandblast the graffiti.

-- In Los Angeles, dialing 213-CLEANUP also gives you a recorded message, this one from Mayor Tom Bradley’s Committee for Graffiti Removal and Prevention. It tells you to bring a picture of the graffiti and your driver’s license to 645 E. 60th St. between the hours of 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. There you can get up to 20 gallons of paint, free. The committee’s paint bank has given away 27,000 gallons of paint in the past eight months, enough to cover about 4 million square feet of graffiti.

-- If your cleanup plans are more ambitious, you can call Operation Clean Sweep at (213) 485-1797. That’s a project of the Department of Public Works that is attempting to help community groups to launch their own beautification campaigns.

Gordon Clint, director of Operation Clean Sweep, said the agency works with nearly 100 community groups citywide, providing resources such as tools, speed rollers and paint.

“To really solve the problem, communities have to take responsibility for their own neighborhoods,” Clint said.