Encinitas Gathers Its Civic Forces to Erase Graffiti

The new suburban city of Encinitas is fighting an old form of urban blight: graffiti.

The City Council, Sheriff’s Department, Encinitas-Leucadia Chamber of Commerce and local businesses are trying to eradicate spray-painted graffiti--much of it considered the work of youth gangs--that has begun to deface walls, fences and buildings in recent months.

A common graffiti insignia is ENC, the trademark of the Vatos Locos gang. A large retaining wall at Harloff Chevrolet on Encinitas Boulevard was defaced with a multicolored, elaborate design akin to those seen in the New York subways.

Volunteers and Probation Department crews Friday and today were painting over graffiti throughout the city. The city is also considering a graffiti hot line and a sandblasting-painting program so graffiti can be removed within 24 hours of being discovered.

“It’s very much a quality-of-life-related issue,” Councilman Gerald Steel said. “People in Encinitas are very environmentally conscious and having graffiti in their midst is offensive.”

The Sheriff’s Department is investigating the graffiti proliferation and has warned that graffiti culprits can be prosecuted under misdemeanor statutes for malicious mischief.

“Our goal is to erase it as quickly as possible so the people who put it up do not have the satisfaction of seeing it remain,” Steel said. “The problem is that it only takes a few people with spray paint cans to write a lot of graffiti.”