Mid-Valley Chamber Gets a Deal on Van

After a grueling fund-raising season, the Mid-Valley Chamber of Commerce finally collected enough money to purchase a van from the City Council--for $1.

The fund-raising season may have been more akin to finding loose change in the chamber’s seat cushions--but the chamber succeeded in getting the van that will be used by the Mid-Valley/Panorama City Graffiti Buster program.

“It’s a big deal for us,” said Nancy Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the chamber.

“We’ve needed a van for so long, the city really came through for us.”

Hoffman and others said they have Candace Campbell to thank for serving as a liaison between the chamber and the city.

Campbell, field deputy for Councilman Joel Wachs, made sure the deal was completed.

“If it wasn’t for her, this probably wouldn’t have happened so fast,” Hoffman said.

For several years the Graffiti Busters had been in need of a van to carry volunteers and supplies, and previously had requested help from the city. Bureaucracy, however, slowed the process until Campbell came along and made it her personal issue.

The used van, which had been part of the city’s fleet, will join two pickup trucks now used by Graffiti Busters.

“We needed a van because you can’t put people in the back of a truck,” Hoffman said.

The Graffiti Busters patrol the mid-Valley area and respond to calls on the graffiti hotline at (818) 594-1828.

The program began as a one-day-a-year community cleanup. The annual cleanup day is still held in June.