Schabarum Threatens to Go Into AIDS Fund to Clean Up Graffiti

Frustrated by rising vandalism to Los Angeles County buildings, Supervisor Pete Schabarum threatened Tuesday to tap the funds of existing AIDS programs to pay the cost of cleaning up the spray-painted graffiti.

The suggestion, which drew immediate protests from AIDS activists, came after five county buildings were splattered Tuesday with painted slogans denouncing the county AIDS effort and calling for the ouster of Health Director Robert Gates.

The incidents marked the third time in three weeks that vandals had spray-painted county buildings in protest against Gates and the failure to complete a special AIDS ward at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. A 20-bed ward is slated to open in September, but AIDS activists have accused the county of delays in completing the facility--and punctuated that stance with escalating vandalism.

Schabarum, whose own field office in Whittier was among the latest targets, blamed misguided activists for the hit-and-run tactics.

“There are a lot of folks involved in the AIDS field that are terribly responsible and appropriate,” Schabarum said Tuesday. “But there are some jerks out there who are making some asses out of themselves and doing great violence and harm to the whole effort trying to deal with this difficult issue.”

In suggesting that the county AIDS budget could pay for the cleanup costs, Schabarum said such a move could help pressure those in the AIDS community to do something about the vandalism.

“Maybe some of the AIDS folks who are responsible will kindly jump on the irrational weirdos and see what can be done to get their attention,” Schabarum said.

But members of AIDS organizations sharply criticized the idea.

“Any discussion of using scarce AIDS resources to pay for the cleanup of graffiti is patently absurd and would punish the very people--those with AIDS--who are most harmed by the violent tactics of a few people,” said Dave Johnson, executive director of Being Alive and co-chairman of the United AIDS Coalition, an umbrella group representing 35 organizations.

Mark Kostopoulos of ACT-UP/LA, a more-militant group, also denounced Schabarum’s proposal but said he sympathizes with those who have carried out the vandalism. “People are doing what they are doing because the crisis is so serious and so many of their friends are dying,” he said.

The latest graffiti were discovered early Tuesday on county courthouses in Inglewood, Santa Monica and Pasadena where supervisorial field offices are located, as well as the individual district offices of Schabarum and board Chairman Ed Edelman.

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, who represents the Inglewood area, said the courthouse in his district is located across the street from a police station. “How they could get away with that is beyond me,” he said of the vandals.

No one has been arrested in the incidents, but Thane Durst, deputy director for the county’s Internal Services Department, said security has been beefed up at downtown buildings where the first graffiti were found.

County officials, meanwhile, estimated that it will cost about $25,000 to clean up the damage. Schabarum asked Chief Administrative Officer Richard B. Dixon to explore whether the costs should be absorbed by the county’s AIDS budget.

Some of his board colleagues, however, expressed reluctance to go along with such a proposal.

Edelman, who defended the county’s AIDS effort, called the vandalism “totally out of line and irresponsible,” but he said it would be unfair to penalize the AIDS program. “I think it would be counterproductive,” he said of the Schabarum suggestion.