Mugging of Art : Students’ Anti-Graffiti Posters Defaced During Display

Pacoima children who painted posters wistfully depicting their low-income neighborhood free of gangs and graffiti were shocked when their artwork was chosen for display at the Van Nuys City Hall and at the downtown Children’s Museum.

Not because of the honor.

They were shocked because gang-style graffiti were scrawled on the posters after they were hung outside the city attorney’s office at the San Fernando Valley municipal center.

And because the suspects fingered as the vandals turned out to be a pair of affluent Valley boys--one of whom is the nephew of a deputy city attorney.

The attack sent children from Haddon Avenue Elementary School and Mary Immaculate Catholic School scurrying to repaint the damaged posters so they could be exhibited Friday at the Children’s Museum.

“I felt disappointed. It’s really depressing,” said 13-year-old Nariha Serano, an eighth-grader at Mary Immaculate. “It was very upsetting.”

Nariha’s damaged poster had a before-and-after theme. One side had present-day views of graffiti-sprayed walls, dangerous gangs and decrepit playgrounds. The other had idealized, graffiti-free views of the same places in 2000.

But gang names were scrawled across the “future” side of Nariha’s poster.

“I couldn’t believe it could happen at City Hall,” said classmate Robert Davila, 13, whose park scene painting was also vandalized.

A dozen other posters depicting a modern and clean Pacoima filled with up-to-date services and friendly residents were marred by graffiti.

The exhibit, called “Pacoima Pride,” was organized by operators of the community’s only bank branch, TransWorld Bank. Thirty-five posters were chosen from drawings by 400 children.

“The whole theme of the program is anti-gang, anti-graffiti,” said John Gallarza, the branch manager. “I was livid.”

So was Rick Schmidt, acting supervisor of the city attorney’s office in Van Nuys.

“It was mortifying,” Schmidt said of the graffiti. “It was a rotten kind of irony.”

Schmidt said he identified the vandals after remembering that two boys had visited one of his deputies shortly before the damage was discovered in April. The deputy called his nephew and the boy “admitted his culpability,” Schmidt said.

The damaged posters were returned to youngsters to be redone for the Children’s Museum exhibit, which was scheduled to open May 1. However, the opening was delayed until this week by the riots, said museum manager Frank Pittarese.

Haddon third-grader Blanca Orozco, 8, “was a little stunned” when Assistant Principal Nancy Oda handed back her vandalized poster that had depicted a clean and sparkling community.

“I told her I was very sorry it happened, that it was a very beautiful piece of art that showed the good side of Pacoima,” Oda said.

Mary Arvey, principal at Mary Immaculate, said she did not tell her children immediately about the vandalism.

“Being a victim is a hard thing to learn,” Arvey said. “But it’s a fact of life, unfortunately.”

Bank Vice President Elizabeth A. Nielsen said her company has not decided whether to pursue criminal charges against the vandals--Van Nuys residents who authorities said are not gang members.

If the bank does not, his office will insist that the boys’ families punish them, Schmidt said.