Survey Paints Varied Picture of the Anti-Graffiti War

A $150,000 anti-graffiti pilot campaign appears to have enjoyed spotty success during its first weeks of operation in the San Fernando Valley, city officials said.

And, although some of the graffiti have reappeared almost immediately, residents say they appreciate the city’s efforts and consider the program well worth their tax dollars.

In May, 87 city-owned, graffiti-streaked walls, bridges, underpasses and pedestrian tunnels in the Valley were painted over by a contractor hired by the city. The cleanup is part of a city experiment to determine whether a concerted campaign against graffiti will help deter vandals--or merely provide a fresh canvas to graffiti artists at city expense.

Under the program, approved last summer by the Los Angeles City Council, about 400 locations throughout Los Angeles were targeted for painting, then surveyed once a month for several months to determine the rate at which graffiti return, said Greg Scott, chief coordinator of the Bureau of Street Maintenance, which is coordinating the cleanup.

Report to Council

The results will be presented within six months to the Los Angeles City Council, which will then decide whether to extend the program.

The Hollywood Freeway overpass near Eleanor Zaremba’s North Hollywood home received a new paint job under the campaign, but it is already showing new graffiti. Still, Zaremba is one of uncounted Los Angeles residents who hail the new campaign. At least there are far fewer graffiti now, she said.

“It pulls down the property values and makes it look like this is a bad area when it isn’t,” said Zaremba, 38, a teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary School in Tujunga. “I don’t think anybody likes to see graffiti.”

The first city follow-up survey was conducted the first week of June by street maintenance supervisors. The second survey will begin soon.

So far, the newly painted Valley sites appear to be among the cleanest in the city, said Don Hansen, general superintendent of street maintenance.

A little more than a fifth of the Valley sites were already showing new graffiti within two weeks of being painted, Hansen said. The painting took place from mid-May to late May.

North Hollywood had the highest rate of graffiti return of the Valley. Thirteen of 27 locations there had new graffiti within a month, said Merrill H. Morgan, superintendent for street maintenance in the East Valley district, which also includes parts of West Los Angeles.

Valley Sites Among Cleanest

As of the first week in June, four of five locations painted in Sun Valley remained graffiti-free, and two of five in the San Fernando-Pacoima area and 12 of 14 West Los Angeles locations remained clean, Morgan said.

Studio City and Van Nuys each had two locations painted, both of which were still clean as of June 8, Morgan said.

Originally the city planned to paint 32 other locations in the San Fernando-Pacoima area, one of the most graffiti-covered parts of the Valley. But someone beat the city to the job--possibly a nonprofit community program or a court program under which youthful offenders are sentenced to remove graffiti, Morgan said. Those 32 locations will be monitored by the city, Morgan said.

In the West Valley and Pacific Palisades area, graffiti have recurred in only four of 23 locations painted. Two of those are in Granada Hills and two more are in Reseda. Seven locations in Canoga Park, six in Woodland Hills and three in Pacific Palisades all remained clean as of the first week of June, said Lionel Citizen, superintendent of the street maintenance for the West Valley.

City officials stress that the survey is in no way exhaustive or scientific. Survey results do not measure graffiti coverage, for instance. Some sites surveyed by a reporter contained only one word. In other sites, graffiti were written in very small letters.

“We’re not scientists so it isn’t a scientific survey. We’re trying to get a practical survey,” Scott said.

Officials plan to check the sites several more times to identify “hot spots”--areas in which graffiti recur almost immediately, Scott said. Money left over from the city’s original allocation will be used to paint the sites again.

Too Early to Tell

So far, Scott said, it is too early to tell whether officials will recommend continuing the program.

But several people interviewed said they want the program kept up--even if results are spotty.

Alan Kavanagh, manager of Kinney Shoe Store in Laurel Plaza, which is near several overpasses that were painted over but have already received new graffiti, said the anti-graffiti campaign will help business.

“When customers come in and see a lot of graffiti nearby, they know the person writing it isn’t too far away,” Kavanagh said.

North Hollywood resident Loria Galvez, who lives near the Hollywood Freeway, said she would even be willing to help pay for graffiti eradication.

“We want to have a clean area. Graffiti makes an ugly city,” she said.