HUNTINGTON BEACH : Restrictions Urged on Seawall Art Program

A citizens’ group has proposed tighter controls on the city’s controversial seawall art program.

The program, launched last year, allows people to get free permits to paint on seawalls facing the beach between Golden West and 17th streets. Spray-can painting and “graffiti art” are allowed.

In recent weeks, many people, including police, have criticized the seawall art program and say it has led to increased graffiti throughout the city.

Naida Osline, a city art official, has said that the attacks are unjustified and that no one has demonstrated a link between illegal graffiti and the seawall program.

Community Forum-Huntington Beach held a meeting last month on the overall graffiti problem. Tom Duchene, a founder of the citizens group, told the City Council this week that the consensus of the meeting was that City Hall should impose more controls on the seawall art.

“Many people think there is a connection between the increase in graffiti in other parts of the city and the city’s seawall program,” Duchene said. “We are not opposed to the seawall art, but we think the city needs to modify it in order to allay the fears of citizens.”

Duchene told the council that Community Forum-Huntington Beach recommends the following regarding the seawall art program:

* That a fee be charged for permits.

* That the permits carry a 30-day time limit (they currently are open-ended).

* That each permit define the portion of the wall it covers.

* That some type of city supervisor be present when the artists are working.

* That painting be limited to daylight hours.

Citizen concerns about the seawall program include the subsidizing with city tax dollars of “an art program that attracts mostly people from outside Huntington Beach,” said Duchene, pointing out that more than 80% of the permits for seawall painting go to non-residents.

The City Council has a subcommittee studying the city’s growing graffiti problem. Council members have said the committee’s recommendations probably will involve the seawall program.

At Monday night’s council meeting, Councilman Ralph Bauer said the city needs to toughen its laws on graffiti, noting that neighboring cities already have passed new laws or taken other steps to crack down on graffiti.

“If Huntington Beach waits much longer, we’re going to be the hole in the doughnut--the one place that hasn’t acted,” Bauer said.