Sounding Off:

Costa Mesa Planning Commissioner Colin McCarthy recently wrote a commentary on these pages in which he states the obvious — that Costa Mesa has a graffiti problem and it needs to be solved (“Costa Mesa needs cure for graffiti,” Feb. 20).

This is not news. This very same sentiment has been postulated by many others for more than a decade.

McCarthy, a possible candidate for City Council in the fall, provided us with three solutions — enforcement, prevention and planning — none of which are new either.

He wants Costa Mesa to mimic Santa Ana’s graffiti ordinance, which throws the book at taggers’ parents, which is fine, except my sources tell me that ordinance has not really affected the proliferation of graffiti.

He mentions prevention, but doesn’t mention intervention, which, according to all credible experts in the field, must be a cornerstone of any effective graffiti-abatement program. Unfortunately, the Costa Mesa City Council has already addressed the issue — the Mansoor-led majority has rejected intervention and wants to focus strictly on enforcement. That narrow thinking perpetuates the graffiti problem.

McCarthy also suggests that better planning will resolve graffiti problems.

By that he means we should reverse the ratio of apartment dwellers to owner-occupied homes in this city, which is top heavy with apartments. Again, this is not a new subject.

This issue has been addressed over and over for years by some folks who speak frequently before the council.

Each time, it has been pointed out that the city has no funds to acquire what some refer to as “slums” and turn them into parkland.

In addition to the land costs, the city would be responsible for providing relocation assistance to those residents ousted from their apartments.

In fact, the demand for apartments continues to grow due to the economic crisis. Thinning out the “slums,” or “draining the swamp,” as one wag frequently puts it, will not happen as long as demand is high and apartment owners associations continue to be large contributors to local political campaigns, as is now the case.

With that in mind, I suggest we tighten up enforcement, even if the draconian ordinance McCarthy has in mind is not passed, and work with the school district to increase intervention efforts to provide more positive creative outlets for potential young taggers.

GEOFF WEST lives in Costa Mesa.