Writing on the wall for graffiti taggers

The city has doubled its resources to fight a 250% growth in graffiti in the last year that is worrying city officials and council members.

This year, the city received 260 service calls for graffiti removal, 166 of which were on public property such as parks and light poles, 21 on private property and 72 on utility boxes, according to Jim Jones, city operations manager.

There were only about 10 calls for graffiti in 2005.

“People are more aware of graffiti than they were last year,” Jones said, to explain the tremendous increase in calls. “It’s got more notoriety and become more visible.”

Almost all of the graffiti in the city can be attributed to taggers and is not gang-related, Police Chief Ken Small said.

Police have made about 55 arrests related to graffiti painting in the city, 48 of which were juveniles, Small said.

Mayor Gil Coerper has made it a high priority to fight graffiti and is working on a proposal to reward $500 to citizens who call in a graffiti painter.

“We are trying to show the public that we are taking it very seriously and getting the community involved,” Coerper said. “With all the cellphones we have in the world, there’s no reason why you can’t call your police department to report graffiti.”

Fountain Valley has a similar program of rewarding residents and it’s worked for them, Coerper said.

The city has two full-time employees in charge of painting over graffiti and a couple of contractors.

“It’s all over the community not just in one area,” Jones said. According to Small, North Huntington Beach has had more of a problem with graffiti than the south.

Graffiti is appearing in both high-income and low-income neighborhoods according to Jones. “It’s a social problem that all communities are facing.”

Huntington Beach had very little of graffiti in the past so residents are very concerned when they it cropping up more often, Small said.

“If graffiti is removed quickly, the less likely it will be to come back,” he said.

Not only does it lower the real estate value of a neighborhood, it deteriorates the appearance of a community, Coerper said.

Huntington Beach police are working with schools to identify suspects, many of whom are juveniles.

“Once taggers develop their tag or symbol, they will use it all the time,” Small said. Schools would recognize the tag and identify the suspects for the police, he said.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

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