Countywide : Anti-Graffiti Group Learns From L.A.

A coalition of Orange County groups battling graffiti will adopt both the name and strategy of a similar successful effort in Los Angeles.

The coalition of law enforcement, public works, education and other agencies will call itself MAGIC: Multi-Agency Graffiti Intervention Committee.

“All the Los Angeles agencies really fought an uphill battle to create a viable multi-agency network, and we looked to that when we began putting our group together,” said county graffiti abatement coordinator Chaz Ferguson. “It really gave us substance and form to follow, so we didn’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

While LA MAGIC has been looking for ways to foil and remove graffiti since 1991, the Orange County group formed after the Board of Supervisors in June created the position of graffiti abatement coordinator and named Ferguson to the post.

A loose coalition of educators, police, public works and California Department of Transportation officials, prosecutors, elected officials and others have met each of the past two months. They discuss a problem that costs county agencies more than $4 million a year to combat and cover, Ferguson said.