01:00 AM EDT on Monday, July 12, 2004

BY BARBARA POLICHETTI
Journal Staff Writer

CRANSTON -- Mayor Stephen P. Laffey is going to war.

Tired of graffiti that is scarring buildings, walls and signs in different areas throughout the city, Laffey is launching a "Fight Blight" campaign.

The effort will start Wednesday in the Eden Park neighborhood, where city employees will replace graffiti-marred traffic signs, sweep streets and trim branches.

"As you are well aware, the charm of our neighborhood has suffered as a result of excessive graffiti and vandalism," Laffey wrote in a letter distributed to Eden Park residents last week.

In an interview, he said he got tired of seeing attractive neighborhoods -- particularly some of the older ones in the center of the city -- taking a hit from graffiti artists and other vandals.

"I just hate graffiti," Laffey, who lives in Eden Park, said Friday. Wednesday's clean-up effort will extend from Myrtle Avenue to Auburn Street. While the campaign is starting in the mayor's backyard, it will be continued in many other neighborhoods, he said.

Many people don't know, Laffey said, how much time and money the city spends trying to eradicate the handiwork of graffiti artists.

He noted that a wall alongside the basketball court next to the Budlong Pool has been painted numerous times this year to cover graffiti and that Recreation Director Robert Clarkin spends a lot of time making sure that playgrounds are scrubbed clean of spray paint.

According to Laffey, conversations with police indicate that some graffiti is the work of gang members who want to leave a signature mark, but that most of the "tagging" is just the random handiwork of teenagers.

Cleaning up neighborhoods and keeping them clean will succeed only if residents help, Laffey said, and the city is urging people to remove graffitias soon as they see it or to quickly contact the city.

Laffey said he will be joining city crews in the Eden Park neighborhood on Wednesday and hopes to run into some area youths so he can talk to them.

"I want to tell them that this is their neighborhood so they need to have pride in it, and tell other kids not to put up graffiti," he said. "They've got to learn that graffiti is not something that's fun, it's something that hurts neighborhoods."