Fed up with graffiti vandals
Vallejo hopes stricter punishments color more decisions
By Chris G. Denina/Times-Herald, Vallejo
Article Launched:12/11/2006 06:40:30 AM PST


By the time we arrive, they've cleared out, rushing to leave the scene of their latest work of graffiti.
They've left their tools - open cans of house paint, a 5-foot roller brush, two backpacks stuffed with spray paint cans - and a snack: Water bottles and a still-warm burrito.

They were just here.

"Here" is a 6 million-gallon water tank, one of nearly a dozen that supply Vallejo with drinking water. The "we" include a reporter, a photo-grapher and a couple of city maintenance workers.

What makes this tank special is that it's probably the most marked up piece of public property in Vallejo. A 45-foot-tall mural of the slain Vallejo rapper Mac Dre on one side of the tank. The other side is graced by an image of the Piet , a 1499 marble statue of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus Christ by Michelangelo.

Between the two artistic works - on the tank walls and on the pavement - a tapestry of visual pollution, ranging from colorful lettering to crudely spray-painted curse words and shout outs.

The vandals, as police call them, are gone by the time we pass through two locked gates and travel a short path to this secluded area, supposedly off limits to the public by virtue of a chain-link fence.

One part of the fence has been slit. The opening is propped open by a Y-shaped branch.
On the wall by the paint supplies and someone's snack, the fly-by-night crew has begun rough scrawls of another batch of graffiti.

"We're fed up ..." says Michael Schreiner, our tour guide from Vallejo's Public Works Department. He's one of a platoon of maintenance workers fighting the war on graffiti in Vallejo.

"This isn't art," he says. "It's vandalism."

So far, the vandals are winning, he says. The city spends more than $100,000 a year in supplies and staff time to combat the problem. With only one day set aside each month to clean up city property, they're struggling to get a handle on the problem.

"We're never gonna catch up," Schreiner says.

Thanks to a newly signed state law, providing stricter punishments for convicted vandals, they may stand a chance. Get caught and your driver's license could be suspended two years, double the old punishment.

Too young to drive? It doesn't matter. The new law says you'll just have to wait at least a year once you're old enough to drive. That means teens can't get a license until they're 17 or in some cases 20.

Government officials hope the threat of having to take the bus or hitch a ride will be enough to get taggers to stay home. The motto of the new law is: You spray, you pay.

The goal of anti-graffiti bill AB 2923 is to protect communities and prevent cities from degrading, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement. "Criminals who deface our neighborhoods do not deserve the same privileges as law-abiding Californians," he said.

Graffiti is usually done by three different groups - artists, taggers and gang members, said Lt. Reggie Garcia, a 32-year Vallejo police veteran.

The artists view graffiti as an outlet for self-expression. Taggers may be kids still in school who get a kick out of writing their tagger name on a wall. And gang members write their signs to promote their group.

Gang members account for about 70 percent of Vallejo's graffiti, Garcia said. One gang may throw up its slogan or tag on a building, only to see a rival cross it out and write its own, he said.

"A crossoff is grounds for a fight for sure," Garcia said.

To combat graffiti, police document pieces they find around town, Garcia said. Once they catch someone, they can match their style with their work, he said. Most of the time, students are responsible for graffiti. The city's eight school resources officers can often read and identify offenders, he said.

"It's really hard to prevent," Garcia said of the visual vandalism. "You tell them it's illegal and they could suffer illegal consequences and get caught. That's about it."

Under current law, vandalism is a misdemeanor offense for property damage as high as $1,000, while pricier damage is a felony, Garcia said. And the cost to clean up graffiti can reach more than $1,000 quickly, considering the cost of supplies and staff time, he added. Parents are responsible for up to $10,000 per criminal instance, he said.