Cleaning up after vandals can
be costly, time-consuming
06:39 PM CDT on Saturday, May 1, 2004
Vandals struck Floyd and Cynthia Houck's home in broad daylight and were gone
in a flash. But they left their mark behind. A large brick wall on the couple's North
Dallas home was spray painted with graffiti. "They must have done it in the morning," Mrs. Houck said. "We
were just sick." Although graffiti doesn't rank high in the hierarchy of crimes, it's a costly
and time-consuming nuisance that's on the rise in the Dallas and Richardson
areas. "We saw a spike in it about 18 months ago," said Dallas police Sgt.
Mark Langford, who supervises the department's gang unit. Richardson police took into custody last week two girls who they believe are
responsible for nine of 19 graffiti reports in southwest Richardson, said Capt.
Kevin Hughes. The penalty for those convicted of vandalism depends on the amount
of damage. Graffiti reports are up, police records show. Richardson logged 43 graffiti
complaints in 2003, up from 20 in 2002. This year, 23 property owners have
reported graffiti to the police. Last month, graffiti vandals struck throughout the city. They hit southwest
Richardson and the Canyon Creek neighborhoods, Richardson West Junior High
School Visual Arts and Technology Magnet, Richardson Masonic Lodge and
businesses along Central Expressway, police reports show. Dallas' graffiti statistics were not available, but Sgt. Langford said
numbers don't show the true extent of the crime. "You're not going to get
an accurate picture, because most people don't report it," he said. Even when victims call police, it's hard to catch the vandals. "They can
tag a wall in five seconds," Sgt. Langford said. "The hard part is
finding out who it is." The damage can be expensive to repair. Graffiti cleanup costs $8 billion a year in the United States, according to
Graffiti Hurts, a nonprofit graffiti prevention program affiliated with Keep
America Beautiful. Left unchecked, graffiti attracts other forms of crime; undermines residents'
feeling of safety; and drains tax dollars that could be used for schools, roads
and other improvement projects, according to the group. Quick removal is a key to preventing a repeat. "Graffiti vandals get their big thrills by having it seen. That's one of
their primary motivations," said Conni Kunzler, a Graffiti Hurts
spokeswoman. "If you remove it rapidly, it takes away that
motivation." But removing graffiti isn't always easy. Several homes were spray painted
last month in the Canyon Creek neighborhood. "The whole street got hit," said Chris Farrell, whose garage door
and windows were defaced. She and her husband spent four or five hours removing the paint from the
garage door. Mr. and Mrs. Houck are having a much harder time removing the graffiti from
their home. Fearing that sandblasting or power washing will damage the adobe brick, Mr.
Houck has tried to remove the graffiti by scrubbing it with a wire brush. The
tedious technique has obscured the writing, but it hasn't removed it. To make matters worse, Mr. and Mrs. Houck got a notice from the city of
Dallas saying that they have until May 14 to clean up the wall. "I don't know what we're going to do," said Mrs. Houck, who plans
to try to match the shades of the brick and daub paint over the lettering. "I don't know if it's even going to look right," she said. "We
may have to plant something to grow over the wall." Ryan and Katie Bangert didn't realize that a shed behind their home had been
spray painted until they got a notice from the city. Although Mrs. Bangert is the crime victim, she feels as if she's being
penalized by the city. "It's not like we put the graffiti there," said
Mrs. Bangert, whose home was one of a number hit last month in southwest
Richardson. Property owners are generally given 10 days to remove the graffiti or face a
fine, but that period can be extended "if a resident lets us know they're
working to abate a violation," said Don Magner, Richardson's manager of
neighborhood services. Mr. Magner, who has noted an increase in graffiti reports, sympathizes with
homeowners. "We will work with victims of graffiti," he said. "But in the
end, they are the property owners, and they are responsible for the
violations." Grand Prairie is one of the few local cities that helps private property
owners remove graffiti. Graffiti Busters will do the cleanup at no cost to residents who sign release
forms. The program, which was started in 1997, tackles about 500 jobs a year and
costs the city an average of $70,000 annually. The program was started because officials wanted to keep the city free of the
eyesores, and they recognized that many residents didn't have the equipment or
materials to do the job, said Kurt Benson, manager of facilities services. The city tries to remove graffiti from public and private property within 24
hours. Although quick cleanup is viewed as a key to prevention, it hasn't eliminated
graffiti in Grand Prairie. In 2002, Graffiti Busters removed graffiti from 629 properties – almost
twice the number of jobs it tackled when the program was started seven years
ago. Though graffiti is proving to be difficult to rub out, Mr. Benson is
convinced that Graffiti Busters is a deterrent. "It helps a lot," he said. "It slows them down if they know
... [the graffiti] is not going to be there for long." E-mail whundley@dallasnews.com or call 469-330-1615