Vista Approves Anti-Graffiti Law

Carrying a felt-tip marker or a can of spray paint in Vista will be illegal for minors under an anti-graffiti measure passed Tuesday by the City Council.

The new graffiti law also makes parents liable for the cost of removing any graffiti created by their children, but only if the parent “knowingly” allows the youngster to have graffiti tools.

Mayor Gloria McClellan said parents should have to pay even if they don’t know their kids “are out spray-painting the town,” but City Atty. Ron Null said such a condition could not be enforced.

After the meeting, McClellan complained that the section covering parents is “pretty weak” and might torpedo the measure’s overall effectiveness. The only way to truly deal with the problem, she said, is to make parents responsible for their children’s actions.

The Sheriff’s Department has said it won’t enforce the ban on possessing graffiti tools unless a youngster is actually caught using them for vandalism. Otherwise, it would be too hard to prove the person intended to create graffiti, officials said.

A similar law in Chula Vista has never been used to prosecute anyone, according to the city attorney’s office there.

Nonetheless, Vista officials hope that the threat of arrest will discourage graffiti. The penalties include community service and revoking the youth’s driver’s license.

The measure also forbids adults and children to carry spray paint cans, felt markers or glass etching tools on any public property except roads and school classrooms.

Private property owners will be required to remove graffiti within seven days, but the measure allows the city to cover the cost with public funds.

The anti-graffiti law follows seven months of wrangling over the issue by Vista officials.

In March, the City Council rejected the idea, being used in Chula Vista, of requiring stores to keep markers and spray paint under lock and key, calling that an “undue hardship on local merchants.”

Likewise, the council vetoed a suggestion to make retailers purchase a city license to sell spray paint.

With Tuesday’s vote, which will take effect 30 days after a second council hearing on the matter later this month, Vista joins several other San Diego County cities, such as Imperial Beach and Chula Vista, in trying to foil graffiti vandals.

State law already bans the sale of spray paint to minors.