Brazen graffiti at rush hour
Highway 99 tag underscores S.J.'s growing problem


By Christian Burkin
Record Staff Writer
December 15, 2006 6:00 AM
STOCKTON - It was the ultimate vulgarity, according to one of the men who claim to be its author.

It took $15 and 20 minutes to spray paint three words across a freeway median wall visible to southbound drivers near Wilson Way and Highway 99. Block letters 4 feet tall, shaded in black, it taunted the occupants of the 90,000 vehicles estimated to pass by daily.

And by Thursday morning, it was gone.

Editor’s note
Stockton has a long-standing problem with gang graffiti, and the city attorney is in the process of drafting a tough anti-graffiti ordinance, which the City Council is likely to pass.

Some of the most brazen graffiti in Stockton has occurred recently, including incidents mentioned in this story, where the painting was done on a busy highway at rush hour.

We do not intend to glorify the use of graffiti by interviewing one of the “artists,” publishing photos and placing the story on Page 1.

Our purpose is to bring into focus the seriousness of the issues involved.

Its appearance on a freeway near the center of Stockton is no surprise.

Stockton officials are so irked by graffiti that they are considering a ban on spray-paint sales as well as increased penalties for vandals and their parents. Stockton spends an estimated $500,000 annually on graffiti removal. But when vandals target freeways, the state Department of Transportation pays to remove it, said agency spokeswoman Zelie Nogueira. And those bills are getting bigger.

In its past fiscal year, which ended June 30, Caltrans spent $17,912 to scrub graffiti from San Joaquin County freeways. Just halfway through this fiscal year, the bill has reached $17,589.

Thursday morning's clean-up cost nearly $1,200, including materials and labor, Nogueira said.

A 22-year-old Stockton man who calls himself "Hesh" claims to be a member of a three-man crew responsible for the graffiti. The group calls itself FYM - an acronym of the same phrase sprayed on the median.

These initials appear prominently at many points around the city.

Hesh said he and the other two members of FYM, "Barf" and "Meze," ran across Highway 99 around 6 p.m. Monday.

They worked in full view of oncoming traffic, Hesh said. But he was more worried about police than getting hit by speeding cars.

"If it wasn't dangerous, it wouldn't be any fun," he said.

The group chose its moniker and catch phrase, Hesh said, because it is the "ultimate insult" and elicits different responses from those who read it.

"People drive by and see it, and either they get hella mad or they start laughing," he said.

But he knew it wouldn't last long.

"Because of the vulgarity of it," he said. "I knew it was going to get buffed before any other graffiti out there."

That is exactly how Caltrans sets cleanup priorities, said the agency's Nogueira. The typical time line for removal is one to three weeks, but anything of a "vulgar nature" is taken down in days, she said.

Still, taking care of traffic comes first.

"If it comes down to filling a pothole or removing the graffiti, the pothole wins," she said.

Hesh says FYM follows its own code of ethics, one common to those who consider themselves graffiti artists.

"We would never spray a house or a church," he said. "We do have our limits."

Contact reporter Christian Burkin at (209) 239-6606 or cburkin@recordnet.com