Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Search for Graffiti : Volunteers Will Clean It Up--If They Can Find Any

Here’s a problem other cities would certainly like to have: too little graffiti.

Organizers of Santa Clarita’s fourth annual Teen Spring Clean are struggling to find enough graffiti to keep volunteers busy for a few hours Saturday morning.

Although activities have been planned for the afternoon--planting 20 Australian willow trees along Soledad Canyon Road between Whites Canyon Road and Crossglade Avenue in Canyon Country--there may not be enough markings to occupy the 60 or so youths who’ve pledged to help remove them.

“It’s great for the city,” said Jonathan Skinner, city recreation coordinator planning the beautification effort. “It sort of makes graffiti cleanup an iffy type of thing.”

Skinner said his co-workers have jokingly asked him and fellow organizer Kevin Tonoian if they are going to be out Friday night with spray cans of their own to make work for the event.

Skinner attributes his dilemma to Santa Clarita’s Pride Committee, a squad of local volunteers who are vigilant about removing graffiti before most citizens here ever see it. The city sometimes provides the paint, but expenses are often covered--just like the markings--by committee members themselves.

The situation prompts a smile from Capt. Mike Quinn of the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff’s station. “I think (the lack of graffiti) says exactly what we want to be said about the city,” said Quinn. “The citizens here are so aware of the problem they’re taking the steps to get rid of it.”

Untended graffiti leads to the “broken window syndrome,” in which evidence of vandalism draws more vandalism, he said.

“I could not overemphasize the importance of removing graffiti the minute it appears,” Quinn said.

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City officials are pleased that volunteers have made graffiti scarce here, but believe the problem still lurks around the corner.

“I hesitate to say we’re winning the war, but I do think it means the program is effective,” said Mayor George Pederson, who plans to address volunteers at the start of Saturday’s cleanup. “One piece of graffiti is too much.”

There’s also concern about a backlash of vandalism if anyone starts bragging about the city’s cleanliness.

If graffiti isn’t discovered in enough city nooks and crannies before Saturday morning, volunteers will be put to work painting a flood control channel--covering mismatched paint blotches used to hide earlier graffiti--and picking up litter.

“We’re prepared for rain. We’re prepared for a lack of graffiti,” said Skinner. “We’ve got plenty of trees for them to plant.”