Paint matching truck also sets up photo database
By Carly Bartkiewicz
UNION-TRIBUNE
August 26, 2006

CHULA VISTA – City workers used to wipe out graffiti by using a wet paintbrush to spackle cement over tagged sidewalks and drainage channels.

Now the battle has gone high-tech.



JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune
Richard Garcia (left) and Junior Llamas reloaded their van after completing a job painting over graffiti on the side of a furniture store on Broadway in Chula Vista.
The city has begun using a new 17-foot, custom-made truck that uses a computer to generate paint formulas. The truck carries 12 tints of paint that can be combined to match more than 3,000 colors.

The truck, which cost $139,000, arrived just over a month ago as part of a graffiti abatement program started in April 2005 that allows the city to clear graffiti from both public and private property. Before the program, residents were responsible for removing graffiti that appeared on their property.

“People were victimized once with the graffiti,” said Ted Larson, a public works manager. “We didn't want them to have to pay for it.”

The plain white vehicle, which looks like a cross between a large utility van and an RV, is the only one in San Diego County, Larson said. Indio, Riverside County, Rancho Cucamonga, and the city and county of San Francisco are in line to receive similar trucks designed by Dispensing Technology Corp. in Moorpark. Chula Vista paid for its vehicle with community development funds allocated for graffiti maintenance.

“We're trying to beautify the city with this truck,” said Richard Garcia, a maintenance worker specializing in graffiti control.

Garcia and Junior Llamas are the two-person crew for the truck and underwent training to learn its high-tech system. The truck has a spectrophotometer, such as those seen in paint stores, that uses a laser to read the paint's makeup. The information is downloaded to a computer, and a label is printed that displays the proper tint/base combination to match the paint. The mixture is then measured and shaken, and the paint is rolled or sprayed over the graffiti.

“The community is really excited about the colors,” Llamas said.


'It looks just perfect'
A typical job takes about 40 minutes, but if several colors on a building need to be matched it can take longer, Larson said. The leftover gallon is given to the business or homeowner.


JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune
Llamas used a spectrophotometer with a laser to read the paint's makeup. The information is downloaded and a label displays the proper paint formula.
“I don't know if it's a coincidence, but I have a lot less graffiti now,” said Sam Raza, owner of Chula Vista Wholesale Furniture.

Because Raza's store is on a corner, taggers hit his building three to four times a week, he said.

“I used to paint it myself, but sometimes I would be off,” Raza said of his cream-colored wall. “Now it looks just perfect.”

The city's program states that workers will remove graffiti within 48 hours of a report, although it is often removed faster. The city asks owners or occupants to fill out a consent form, but if it doesn't get the form, it still has the authority to remove the graffiti after two days. The consent form has to be filled out only for the first graffiti occurrence and remains on file, said Norma Rodriguez-Espinoza, who coordinates the city's graffiti control.

Larson, who has been part of the city's graffiti battle since it became a major issue in the early '90s, said he thought graffiti turf wars and the whole movement would have ended by now.

But the moment any commercial building becomes vacant or a house is abandoned, graffiti is almost guaranteed to follow. Fences and walls along the city's freeways and trolley line are also prime targets for being tagged.

Some fences and sound walls do not require the mix-and-match capabilities of the new truck. The more mundane “California Tan” “Concrete Gray” or “Oxford Brown” paints erase the tagger's work. In some cases, workers use pressure washing or chemicals to remove graffiti.


Graffiti map
So far, the paint-matching truck has been going out two or three days a week. Global Positioning System software installed inside creates a database of previously tagged locations and can map out the most efficient route for graffiti removal.


At each site, the crew takes a digital picture of the graffiti and sends it to the Chula Vista Police Department. Police can use the photos to identify previous offenders and possibly charge them.
“Graffiti is a crime,” Larson said.

Most of the tagged sites are on the west side of Chula Vista, especially on Broadway, Third Avenue, Hilltop Drive and Fourth Avenue, Larson said. The new parks that opened in the city over the past few months have also been targets.

Taggers are a determined group. They go out early in the morning, often in groups of six or seven, jump fences, and in some cases, Llamas suspects they are using Super Soaker water guns as painting tools.

Llamas and Garcia often get creative themselves to combat graffiti. Using proper safety precautions, they also jump fences, climb on buildings, and end up in ditches and canyons to remove the drawings, initials and slogans of taggers.

“Our best tool is to remove graffiti as soon as it appears,” Larson said.

To report graffiti in Chula Vista, call the Graffiti Hotline at (619) 691-5198.