Los Angeles’ War on Graffiti

Your Jan. 29 editorial endorsing a revival of the war against graffiti could not be more timely. This very week I had planned to request our homeowners association (Franklin Hills) to take an active role against graffiti. In the past six months the area around our neighborhood and in some cases within the neighborhood has seen an onslaught of graffiti, particularly along Hyperion, Fountain and Sunset. We have been advised that much of it is gang-related.

Whatever the cause, the results are clear. Our city is degraded aesthetically and in terms of property values. Graffiti denotes a dangerous neighborhood and gang infestation. It is a spread of ugliness that detracts from the positive. Graffiti is also a crime that damages public and private property. As endorsed by your editorial, we need city leadership to focus on the problem and Police Department recommitment. Los Angeles is being trashed right before our eyes, and I suspect the taggers are laughing. We need action now.

MICHAEL H. MILLER

Los Angeles

* * Your editorial on the explosion of graffiti is long overdue. When is the Police Department going to do something about this blight? The Silver Lake area has been inundated in the past several months, and it just gets worse every day. Where are the police?

Several months ago I saw someone tagging a building, took down the license plate and called the Rampart police station to give them the information--and they had no idea what to do with it. Well, if the police don’t want the information, then what are we to do? Perhaps Chief Bernard Parks should attend a seminar on how to deal with graffiti; that way he could earn his new salary.

RUSTY MILLAR

Los Angeles

* * It’s nice to hear that the City Council is going to crack down on the increasing graffiti.

The real answer is to really crack down on the punishments handed out upon conviction. Right now, a first-time offender or, frequently, a repeat convicted offender gets probation. It’s a joke to them. How about six months’ school suspension, six months’ service on a daily graffiti cleanup crew and a one-year driver’s license suspension for the first conviction? One year in juvenile camp or county jail time, no time off, for repeat offenders. No exceptions.

And how about a $500 reward posted in area junior high and high schools for identification and conviction of a graffiti vandal, posting examples of the vandal’s work with the reward poster so that it may be easily identified. Anonymity, if needed, can be guaranteed. Throwing more and more money at eradication rather than capturing and punishing the offenders will only encourage these antisocial thugs to intensify their defacements.

ALAN V. WEINBERG

Woodland Hills