City’s welcome wall defaced

Greg Risling

COSTA MESA -- A wall that welcomes visitors into the West Side was

defaced Monday night with a derogatory comment apparently directed toward

the city’s growing Latino population.

The culprit of the graffiti hasn’t been found.

In recent months, city officials have taken a proactive approach in

dealing with Latino-related issues by hosting a series of workshops on

the West Side.

Mayor Gary Monahan said the act of vandalism was an attempt to detract

some of that attention.

“Our focus has been on the West Side and there has been some grumbling

from other folks,” he said. “There is no place for that type of thing.

It’s just as bad as gang tagging.”

The granite sign sits atop a hill on Victoria Street near the Santa Ana

River. Authorities are unsure when the graffiti was placed there, but

cleanup crews had painted over it by early Tuesday afternoon.

Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Orange County Human Relations

Commission, said the vandalism may constitute a hate crime.

“It’s a slur against Latinos,” he said. “It may have been motivated by

fear or anxiety about the growing population of Latinos in the area.”

If racial tensions are growing, there are no statistics to prove it. Last

year, there were five race-related incidents reported to the county

commission, none of which were directed at Latinos.

Still, Kennedy said Costa Mesa has historically done a poor job at

addressing the Latino community’s concerns, although relations have

improved over the past couple years.

“The city has reached out to the community and done a better job,” he

said. “But there remains prejudice and intolerance in Costa Mesa. It’s

part of the reality in that city.”