Parents to Get Tagged for Graffiti Costs : Crime: To stem defacement of property, City Council has given initial approval to holding parents responsible for up to $10,000 worth of damage.

Parents whose children deface public or private property with graffiti will be held responsible for up to $10,000 worth of damage, the San Diego City Council voted Monday.

Coupled with a $392,000 program, also approved Monday, to eradicate graffiti throughout the city, the council took its strongest steps yet to battle the painted blight that plagues dozens of neighborhoods.

“I hope the word is out that everybody is accountable for what the children of this community are perpetrating with this graffiti,” Councilman Tom Behr said.

Five council members voted unanimously for the ordinance and the expensive “Graffiti Control Plan,” which includes alternate means of painting and sandblasting graffiti. Four council members were absent. The ordinance is up for final approval in a month.

San Diego will join at least two other California cities--San Francisco and Chula Vista--that have similar laws to make parents responsible for their children’s spray-painting activities. Chula Vista approved its ordinance last summer, and San Francisco enacted its law in 1990.

Several San Diego council members said Monday that they had been urged by constituents to bring parents into the picture. Councilman George Stevens, for example, is particularly interested in notifying parents about any indiscretion involving their children.

The new ordinance would amend the 1989 municipal code, which prohibits graffiti on any public or private property, and would hold a parent or guardian liable for any “act of willful misconduct” by someone under 18 years old. The minor would also held liable.

Finding the lawbreakers has proven difficult, since they must be caught in the act.

If a violator is found, the city would have two options: take the parent and child to civil court or, acting administratively, send a bill that must be paid in 10 days. An appeal could also be made within that time.

Deputy City Atty. Elmer Heap, who helped draft the ordinance, said he doesn’t know how many graffiti violators have been cited under the old ordinance.

“It’s difficult to enforce if there is no one that apprehended the minor in the process of committing the graffiti,” Heap said. “If it comes down to the property owner’s word against the person who committed the act, there may be some problems.”

Even so, City Council members say the new ordinance may act as nothing more than a warning to parents to be aware of their children’s whereabouts and actions.

“It is clear the handwriting is on the wall,” Councilman Bob Filner said. “I think it’s important that this word go out, that we are in fact going to hold parents responsible, that they are going to be involved in this, and that there is a public campaign to let people know.”

Filner suggested that every city school at each grade level be told of the new ordinance and its implications. Such a mass blanketing may be just the deterrent that is needed to control the graffiti, which often is a calling card from one gang to another.

Law enforcement officials say graffiti must be removed quickly, lest it become a communication tool between gangs or a sign that “tagged” property belongs to a gang.

City Manager Jack McGrory said San Diego police take graffiti seriously.

“There has been a lot of emphasis placed on graffiti and trying to catch the gangs or taggers who are responsible,” he said. “They are able to apprehend some juveniles doing it in Linda Vista. They got the judge to order public service, and the juvenile detectives escorted the crews back out in the community to begin cleaning up.”

Two of the offenders are now being forced to paint a community mural “to convert their skills to something positive,” he said.