Scope of Proposed Anti-Graffiti Law Fuels Debate in Moorpark : Vandalism: Ordinance would criminalize the possession of paints, markers and etching tools.

An attempt by the Moorpark City Council to combat graffiti through a proposed ordinance has spawned a political battle in which one official called the law idiotic.

The council on Wednesday will consider the ordinance, which is aimed at reducing the city’s graffiti problem by criminalizing the possession of paints, markers and etching tools used to apply graffiti. The law would also force property owners to quickly remove the vandalism or be billed by the city for the work.

“This is a reasonable tool to provide our law enforcement agencies with the ability to help abate graffiti,” Councilman Bernardo Perez said Monday. “I have the degree of comfort now that I can agree to support this measure.”

But Councilman Scott Montgomery opposes the restrictions and is leading a fight to redraft the entire ordinance.

“It’s a stupid law,” Montgomery said. “I cannot walk out on my sidewalk to pick up my mail if I happen to have a marking pen with me. That’s the law, that’s the way the law’s written. It’s idiotic.”

Montgomery said that instead of cracking down on those who are actually out on the streets committing graffiti vandalism, the proposed law makes criminals out of anyone who happens to be in possession of something as innocuous as a marking pen--regardless of their intent to commit unlawful acts.

The broad scope of the law invites selective enforcement, Montgomery said.

Under terms of the ordinance, it is illegal for any person--child or adult--to have in their possession any graffiti implement on any public street, park, playground or other public place. The law also makes it illegal for any minor to possess a graffiti implement on public or private property without the consent of the property owner.

The law would also require retail businesses to store paints, markers and etching tools used in the application of graffiti in areas where they are inaccessible to the public without the help of a store employee.

Montgomery said that, generally, he supports a graffiti ordinance.

“We all want to be hard on graffiti,” Montgomery said. “The question is, have we gone well beyond a reasonable attacking of the graffiti problem? We passed a no-smoking ordinance. What we didn’t do is make possession of a smoking instrument unlawful by an adult in a public place. Yet when we approach graffiti, that’s what we’re doing.”

Several other Ventura County cities, including Simi Valley and Ventura, have approved ordinances aimed at cracking down on graffiti.

The Moorpark council will vote on the proposed law at its meeting beginning at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 799 Moorpark Ave.

Councilman Pat Hunter, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, said he recently rode along with Ventura County sheriff’s deputies assigned to Moorpark and feels the current ordinance is an appropriate response to the city’s graffiti problem.

“I feel even more confident after that ride that this ordinance is not going to be abused,” Hunter said. “This will not be abused by deputies.”