Graffiti fighting couple improving neighborhood image
San Antonio,TX,USA
Web Posted: 08/02/2004 12:00 AM CDT
While San Antonio's West Side is in deep slumber, R.D. and Rosie Garcia are
hard at work.
Only those awake at 6 a.m. Sundays can catch a glimpse of the husband-wife
duo as they round a two-mile perimeter for signs of graffiti. With a roller and
bucket of paint in hand, R.D. gets out of the truck when he and Rosie spot the
markings. "She drives and I sit in the bed of the pickup truck," R.D. says.
"We both keep our eyes open for the graffiti." It all started four years ago when Art Delgado, president of the Memorial
Heights Neighborhood Association, invited them to join and help change the West
Side's negative image. Gangs reigned over the neighborhood at the time, and
graffiti had become the norm. R.D., a social worker, and Rosie, a kindergarten teacher, say people started
to complain about the problem, but no one was taking the initiative to do
anything. "It's fine to have complaints, but it is also our responsibility to
change things," R.D. says. "Since we were tired of seeing the
graffiti, we decided to do something about it." The neighborhood group and the couple teamed up, and the Garcias' weekend
tradition began. The Garcias, who have lived in the neighborhood for 21 years,
have noticed a difference. "It is not as bad as it used to be," Rosie says. The gang members
and taggers "are finally getting the message that their graffiti is not
going to stay." The Garcias have never been criticized or disturbed during their
anti-graffiti work, but R.D. says he likes to make city police aware of what
they are doing. He also doesn't want their son, Matthew, in any danger. "We sometimes bring our son with us because we want him to take pride in
his community," Rosie says. "We want him to be part of this and to
start learning about his responsibility toward the community." They mostly paint over public property such as bridge walls or signs, but
every once in a while, home and business owners ask them to paint over their
fences or walls. The neighborhood association's Delgado says the city has provided his group
with 850 gallons of paint in the last four years. As for the Garcias, "I
would like to have 15 others just like them because they are always the first to
step up to the plate," he says. Cleaning up graffiti is not the only effort that keeps the couple occupied.
They also play host to politicians and city leaders. "They have pan de dulce and coffee at our house and sometimes ask us for
support," R.D. says. "They ask what's important to us and our
community, and we tell them." The Garcias say they periodically call city offices to report ordinance
violations such as junked cars in yards and high grass and weeds. They say the
city has been supportive and quick to respond. In five years, the Garcias hope to see more involvement. They want their
neighbors to stay active in community events and recognize the importance of
voting. "Our neighbors help us out from time to time, but many of them don't
know how to get involved," R.D. says. They would also like to see the city do more street repair work in their
neighborhood. "We are telling politicians that if they fix our streets we will do what
we have to do to get the streets named after them," R.D. says, with a
slight smile. Meanwhile, they plan to continue painting over graffiti. "It feels like we are part of the Spider-Man movie," R.D. says.
"Sometimes we hear people say, 'There isn't that much graffiti anymore
because as soon it goes up it is getting cleaned up,' and we just smile, agree
and pretend we don't know who is doing it."