ANAHEIM : City to Debate Billing Parents for Graffiti

Parents would have to pay for the cleanup of their children’s graffiti under an ordinance to be considered by the City Council today.

The ordinance would also make it illegal to carry any pens, spray paint or etching devices with the intent to deface someone else’s property and would require merchants to display spray paint and marking pens out of the reach of customers so the items cannot be shoplifted.

“This is another helpful tool in battling graffiti,” said Carolyn Griebe, coordinator of the city’s anti-graffiti program.

About 130 property owners a week are reporting graffiti damage, which represents a 30% increase in recent months, officials have said. They say only about 25% of all graffiti gets reported to the city.

The city spends $250,000 a year on cleanup, a figure that would be much higher if not for hundreds of volunteers who paint out graffiti, and supplies donated by retailers, Griebe said.

If the ordinance is passed, parents would be charged $800 and more for their children’s graffiti, Griebe said.

Also, Griebe said, Orange County Juvenile Court judges have begun sentencing convicted graffiti vandals--also known as “taggers”--from Anaheim to 180 hours of painting out graffiti. Because it can only afford to assign one city worker to supervise the 40 or more convicted taggers assigned to the eight-hour work detail each Saturday, the city has begun requiring that each juvenile be accompanied by a parent.

Griebe said that while shopkeepers will have to relocate paints and pens, in the long run they will save money.

“All of the taggers that I have spoken to have said they get their supplies by stealing,” Griebe said. “They call it ‘racking.’ ” She noted that it is already illegal for stores to sell markers and spray paint to minors.

The council will review the proposed ordinance at 3 p.m. session and vote on it at its regular 5 p.m. meeting.