One graffiti removal took special effort

It's a no-brainer. As soon as a graffiti vandal leaves his ugly mark, San Jose volunteers paint it over. Discouraged, the vandal eventually moves on. It works.

So why, when vandals hit the highly visible Caltrain overpass on Interstate 280 near Highway 87 in downtown San Jose at the start of March did it take until this week to paint it over?

Both Rick Stanton, the city's anti-graffiti director, and Caltrain's Mark Hennessy say they were aware of the mess the first day it appeared. But getting rid of it was complicated by the location of the overpass, above a busy freeway. Getting painters safely onto the overpass required coordination among the city, Caltrain, Caltrans and the CHP, which had to close lanes beneath the painters. And it took a while to get the cosmetic procedure onto the docket of resource-strapped Caltrans, which had more serious highway repairs to consider.

But the job finally was accomplished Sunday night, and, if all goes well, it might not have to be repeated soon. Additional anti-graffiti barriers were installed. And police say they've arrested one of the suspected vandals and expect the subsequent arrest of members of his crew -- all adults (chronologically, that is; mentally, you have to wonder).

AROUND AND ABOUT: If the crowd downtown over the weekend looked a bit more fit than usual, it may have been because more than 750 fitness industry trainers were in the city for a convention. Or maybe it was the 6,500 runners and walkers taking part in the Mercury News 10K. Not a lot of flab among the beautiful people.

It also may have been because we're sweets-deprived. Marybeth Affleck-Nacey, who directs Mayor Ron Gonzales' Role Model Program for youth, says she grew up in Rhode Island, where eating Italian pastry treats called zeppoles was a big deal on St. Joseph's Day. But when the annual religious holiday rolled around again last week, Affleck-Nacey says she couldn't find anyplace in San Jose to buy zeppoles.

``Shocking,'' she says. ``I had to drive to San Mateo. What's an Italian girl to do in San Jose?''

I'll bet that readers will quickly answer that question. But it is true that San Jose doesn't make as a big deal out of the day honoring its namesake saint as cities do back East. And we should.

CLASS ACTS: Things are better in some of our schools, although not necessarily the things that make headlines. Take Willow Glen High School, for example, where parents are proud that disabled and other special education students are getting a chance to participate in cheerleading. Spirit knows no limits.

Kudos, too, to Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley for getting legislators involved in the classroom during this Arts Education Month. Special praise to Assemblywomen Rebecca Cohn and Sally Lieber for their classroom visits, where others sent staff members in their place.

And give a nod to the ceramics students from Bellarmine College Prep, who won first place in their visual arts division of the annual Olympiad of the Arts. They created place settings honoring women in history they admired -- a healthy focus for guys from an all-boys school.