Graffiti Removal

This letter is in response to the recent letter from Rick Matson of Laguna Hills (“Further Steps in the War on Graffiti,” May 24) on the involvement of Eric Wersching in graffiti removal in the city of Huntington Beach.

Although Eric is to be highly commended for his time and efforts and the resulting awareness he has brought to this blight on our neighborhoods, the fact is that this problem is and has been taken care of by a program that has been in effect for at least 10 years.

This program has been expanded and improved each year by the purchase of specialized equipment, materials and by more efficient methods of removal. A graffiti removal ordinance was recommended and successfully established in 1989 and a graffiti hot line was introduced in 1990 and published in two editions of the Neighborhood Watch newsletter and the Huntington Beach Sands magazine and shown on Channel 3, Community Television.

Computerized records show that since 1987, there has been a 300% increase in time expended and a 1,500% increase in actual graffiti removed. The program has brought relatively graffiti-free neighborhoods at a very low cost when compared to surrounding cities.

So, although Eric Wersching is to be congratulated for his civic pride and admirable sense of responsibility in one so young, I wish to assure the citizens of Huntington Beach that they are being served by efficient and professional employees and that it did not take the effort of a 15-year-old freshman to install, execute and monitor a graffiti program.

LOUIS F. SANDOVAL, Director of Public Works, City of Huntington Beach