CANOGA PARK : Cutbacks Hurt Agency’s Fight Against Graffiti

An anti-graffiti effort in the west San Fernando Valley was cut in half this week after Los Angeles County officials facing a grim budget situation failed to renew a $40,000 contract for the program.

Two of the four staff members in charge of the anti-graffiti campaign at El Centro de Amistad in Canoga Park were laid off Wednesday, the day the $40,000 county contract expired, said Norma Solis, who runs the program.

As a result, one of the two vans that daily took volunteers and court-referred workers to paint over graffiti was grounded, she said. The program has been lauded by West Valley police officials as the community’s most effective anti-graffiti effort.

“The graffiti will probably take over more and more,” Solis said. “It’s like putting your finger in a dike that’s about to burst. We’re going to keep trying, but I don’t know what we can do.”

Two staff members in the agency’s parent counseling and homeless service programs, funded, in part, with $50,000 from the county, also were laid off, Solis said.

Joel Bellman, press deputy for Supervisor Ed Edelman, said that although funds for the myriad lower-budget programs sponsored by the county have not been rejected outright, contract services may be hardest hit as the Board of Supervisors works on the budget this month.

“The budget process is not finished yet, so the situation is not hopeless for anyone,” Bellman said. “But we’re going to be closing county offices . . . so, on the whole, any county contractor these days has to be very concerned about continuing.”

A $60,000 contract with the city of Los Angeles for the other half of El Centro’s anti-graffiti program, plus some administrative costs, has been renewed, Solis said.

Fund-raisers for the largest service agency for Latinos in the West Valley, with an annual budget of about $600,000, will seek private donations to make up for the $90,000 loss from the county, Solis said.