FULLERTON : Full-Time Graffiti Remover Considered

Gang markers, names, racial epithets and pornographic phrases sprayed on walls, overpasses and elsewhere have become a $5,000-a-month headache in Fullerton.

The cost has increased so much recently that the city would save money by hiring a full-time worker to remove graffiti rather than continue contracting with a company to do it, Community Services Director Ronald E. Hagan said.

“We (used to) have the contractor come out once every week or once every two weeks,” Hagan said. “Now we’re having them come out two or three times a week, at a minimum, and we’re still getting a backlog.”

Tonight the City Council will consider Hagan’s request to hire a worker and to buy a truck and other equipment for the graffiti-removal effort. That should cost about $34,000 for the remaining six months of the city’s fiscal year. The projected annual cost is $52,000, or about $4,300 a month.

The city employee should be able to remove graffiti within two days after it is reported, rather than the current seven to 10 days, Hagan said.

The city also plans to open a hot line for city residents to report graffiti and to introduce an anti-graffiti program at local schools and community centers, he said.