Park officials annoyed by graffiti along East Race

COMMENTARY

By NANCY J. SULOK
Tribune Columnist

Spring is a time when a young person's fancy turns, unfortunately, to graffiti.

Several spots along South Bend's East Bank Trail have been defaced in recent days by political or social commentary. Other places have suffered the indignity of dirty words.

South Bend Park Department officials report that the problem is worse this year than in the past.

A man called last week who said he works downtown and often walks his dog along the river. The man, who didn't want to give his name, said he was disturbed by graffiti at the east pedestal of the footbridge at Howard Park. It referred to "Fuhrer Bush'' and "the United Police States of Amerikkka.''

The other side of the bridge support contained the blue figure of a person with the question "Where is your voice?"

Across the river at the base of the Jefferson Boulevard bridge, someone has written a message about greed.

Graffiti has defaced the sidewalk and other spots along the trail. Randy Nowacki said some of the graffiti has included nasty words. Nowacki, the park department's director of operations for several facilities, including the East Race, said crews spent three days recently covering up the most offensive vandalism.

Some of the graffiti is in hard-to-reach places that pose a danger for cleanup crews, Nowacki added.

The graffiti is not only a nuisance, it also is a crime. A city ordinance imposes a fine of at least $50 for a first offense; $100 for a second; and $200 for subsequent offenses. The maximum allowable fine is $2,500. The fine can be imposed daily against a property owner until the graffiti is removed.

Phil St. Clair, South Bend parks superintendent, said his crews face a perennial battle against graffiti when the weather warms up.

In past years, he said, the East Race area has not had much graffiti, but this year "it's gotten hit especially hard.''

Pulaski Park, Walker Field and Belleville Park (not at the softball area but in the park) also have been vandalized with graffiti, he said. Usually it's bathrooms and shelters at parks that are hit, he said, because they have large flat surfaces that lend themselves to the illegal artwork.

"It's frustrating,'' St. Clair said. "It's very, very frustrating.''

It's also expensive. The park department uses a pasty paint that looks like concrete to cover up graffiti on concrete surfaces. It costs only about $1,000 for a season's supply, but the significant cost comes from the manpower needed to apply it.

"Our concern is the labor and time that are involved with that," St. Clair said.

He sends out a two- or three-person crew to deal with the graffiti as soon as possible, especially if the words or pictures are obscene or offensive.

What motivates a person to deface property with graffiti?

Dé Bryant, a community psychologist who teaches at IUSB, said that's not a simple question to answer, since not everyone has the same motivation.

For some, she said, graffiti is an art form, a way of expression that uses imagery to communicate ideas. Those are the ones that look like murals, she said.

For others, graffiti is an outlet. A person might feel no one is listening to him or making eye contact on the street, Bryant said, and graffiti is a way to be noticed and heard.

Sometimes graffiti serves as a political statement, with the same purpose as distributing leaflets.

And sometimes, Bryant said, graffiti is just delinquency or destruction of property.

For the political graffitist, like the one(s) who struck along the base of the Howard Park trestle, graffiti is a cheap way to get a message out, Bryant said. It is relatively permanent until someone removes it, and it can be done by anyone who can be out on a dark night .

Although South Bend has tried some anti-graffiti programs, it has had little success in eliminating the problem.

Bryant said communication is the key to developing a successful anti-graffiti program. Neighbors need to talk to each other, and to businesses and agencies. They need to spread the message that even graffiti with a tone of love and peace results in the destruction of someone's property, Bryant said.

Prevention is key to combating graffiti, she said. Creating a city ordinance doesn't stop graffiti and may in fact encourage it. Vandals might see an ordinance as something to rebel against, she said.

St. Clair just wishes the graffitists would find another outlet.

"If they want to make political statements,'' he said, "that's what they have the Voice of the People for.''

Nancy J. Sulok's columns appear on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. You can reach her at nsulok@sbtinfo.com, or by writing c/o South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626, telephone (574) 235-6234.