Riordan OKs $1,000 Penalty for Tagging : Legislation: Mayor signs law providing civil sanctions. City attorney would have to ask court to impose the fine.

Richard Riordan on Thursday returned to the most popular icon of the Los Angeles mayoral campaign--a graffiti-splattered wall--but this time he was back as mayor to sign into law a measure establishing civil penalties of up to $1,000 for graffiti taggers.

“Graffiti is an example of the type of thing that destroys the spirit of our city,” Riordan said as he signed the measure in front of the scrawlings outside a downtown watch shop.

The law allows the city attorney, for the first time, to seek civil penalties of up to $1,000 from taggers for every incident of graffiti to city buildings or private property where the city has incurred cleanup costs. The civil penalties are in addition to criminal penalties of up to $50,000 and one year in jail that can already be imposed on taggers.

Fines will be deposited in a fund used to pay $500 rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of taggers.

But it was not immediately clear whether, in a time of shrinking budgets, the city would actually be able to mount an aggressive anti-graffiti effort in the civil courts.

City Atty. James K. Hahn said that he supports the law but cannot say how successful his office will be in implementing it without knowing the workload.

“This is a new strategy,” he said. Citing staff shortages in his office, Hahn added, “If we don’t have huge numbers of cases, we’ll be able to handle it.”

But another potential problem, Hahn acknowledged, could be collecting from taggers.

The measure, written by San Fernando Valley Councilman Hal Bernson, was unanimously approved by the City Council in late June, before Riordan took office.

But it helps to fulfill a campaign pledge by Riordan to crack down on graffiti.

During the primary campaign, Riordan and just about every other candidate posed in front of graffiti-marred walls in TV ads and mailers. Before the April primary, unsuccessful mayoral candidate Councilman Joel Wachs only half-jokingly told a group of homeowners that a proper punishment for tagging would be to “chop a few fingers off.”

As a candidate, Riordan called graffiti a “constant assault on the psyche of Angelenos.” He pledged to institute a mandatory $1,000 fine for convicted graffiti vandals and to hold parents responsible for their children’s vandalism.

As mayor, Riordan offered little explanation of the new ordinance Thursday other than to say it “imposes a $1,000 fine on anybody caught putting graffiti on property.”

But actually, the fine is anything but automatic, Deputy City Atty. Henry Morris later explained. The city attorney must go to court to impose the fine. And the amount imposed is up to a judge’s discretion.

In addition, the fine can only be sought in connection with graffiti on city property and private property where the city has incurred clean-up costs or paid a reward for apprehension of the tagger, Morris said.

For now, the city plans to seek to impose the $1,000 fine only on taggers, but Hahn said he is considering looking into the possibility of going after their parents.

Riordan aides said they chose the graffiti-splattered wall at the downtown watch shop at random. But Riordan invited shop owner Billy Young to join him at the news conference. Young said he has been painting out graffiti once a month since opening five years ago.

“The day we clean up, the next day they come back,” he said. “You just can’t stop it. They just keep coming back constantly.”

The mayor said the new anti-graffiti law marks an important step in “turning the city around and making it safe.” But the city must do more, he said.

“We need a quick, efficient way of punishing people who do get caught,” Riordan said. “And I think a month in boot camp for a first offense, with tough physical training, is the kind of thing we need.”