Graffiti summit draws crowd

By Daniel J. ChacC3n, Rocky Mountain News
October 19, 2006
A barrage of graffiti vandalism in Denver has spawned a crusade intent on stopping the destruction.
Dozens of residents, business owners and others who attended Mayor John Hickenlooper's graffiti summit Wednesday signed up for subcommittees that will develop strategies for abatement, enforcement and prevention.

The three subcommittees will make recommendations for an -anti-graffiti plan that will be presented to the mayor in about six months.

"We'll consider every solution," Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez, who will chair the mayor's new Graffiti Task Force, told the more than 200 summit participants.

The city, which spends more than $1 million annually to clean up graffiti, invited experts from California, New Mexico and Pennsylvania to share what's worked for them.

Rob Boyles, volunteer coordinator for the anti-graffiti program in San Jose, Calif., presented a list of 10 steps that helped reduce San Jose's graffiti by 97 percent in six years.

However, he emphasized that it was political will and volunteers who have easy access to graffiti-removal supplies that boosted the city's success.

San Jose, the 10th-largest city in the nation, had 124 volunteers in 1997 and now has more than 2,800 volunteers.

"Those volunteers have made such a difference in the city because they became our eyes and our hands, and they work like crazy," he said.

Like San Jose, the Albuquerque model promotes partnerships among elected officials and residents.

But Albuquerque is applying a tougher approach, which some Denver City Council members showed interest in.

Stella Candelaria, an associate director for Albuquerque's Solid Waste Management division, said the city sues the parents of graffiti vandals.

Of the 171 civil lawsuits the city has filed in the past three years, 132 involved parents as defendants - a statement that drew applause.

Officials from Philadelphia's -anti- graffiti mural program were unable to attend the summit. But event participants saw a video presentation about that program, which promotes mural-making.

Capitol Hill resident Jerry Baack, 53, said Denver needs to figure out how to address its growing graffiti problem.

Baack said he's so fed up with the vandalism that he sleeps in his garage at least once a week to try to catch graffiti vandals in the act.