Blimp Sails Into Graffiti War on Santa Ana’s Side

The city’s ongoing fight against graffiti may take to the skies tonight, with battle slogans displayed 1,500 feet in the air--on the Goodyear blimp.

The stunt was dreamed up by a former Santa Ana police officer who is trying to involve more residents in preventing spray-paint vandals from staining neighborhoods.

Robert Acosta has persuaded The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. to donate its 192-foot-long airship Eagle for spins over the city and other parts of Orange County. The blimp was scheduled to fly Thursday, but was held up by low clouds, blimp officials said. The ship will also cruise several times in the coming weeks, unless foggy skies prevent the flights.

“This is no different than when Coca-Cola introduces a new product and they promote it,” said Acosta, former community relations officer with the Santa Ana Police Department and now a public relations consultant. “We want to promote stopping graffiti.”

Persuading more people to join the city’s Community Oriented Policing neighborhood watch programs means finding “a different angle, a different hook,” to raise their awareness, Acosta said.

“Stop graffiti. Take back your city! Join your Santa Ana neighborhood COP watch organization,” the blimp is programmed to flash at about 1,500 feet over City Hall and neighborhoods before turning around for the 45-minute trip to its base in Carson.

The flyover tonight would come days before the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce is scheduled to hold a town hall meeting about graffiti prevention and neighborhood improvement, at 6 p.m. Monday in Santa Ana’s City Council chambers.

It’s an encore appearance in Santa Ana for the blimp, which was used to promote Neighborhood Watch in 1975, said Acosta, who said he has the support of Mayor Daniel H. Young and Police Chief Paul M. Walters for the effort.

In the 1975 promotion, Acosta said, he enlisted Angie Dickinson, star of the then-popular TV show “Police Woman,” to help advertise anti-crime programs. This year he is trying to find a star such as Arnold Schwarzenegger to boost publicity.

The new informational campaign geared up after Acosta became frustrated by watching teen-agers repeatedly spray paint a building near his office, he said.

Other informational materials in the works include brochures and billboards, funded by corporate sponsors. No city money will be used for the campaign, Acosta said.