Vandalism Etched in Glass

Several California cities are struggling to overcome a new and destructive tactic by graffiti vandals: using acid to scrawl their messages on glass and other surfaces.

Acid-attack graffiti was first spotted during the demonstrations that rocked Seattle in late 1999 during the World Trade Organization meeting and has spread throughout California, said Randy Campbell, executive director of Nograf Network Inc., an anti-graffiti clearinghouse based in Orange County.

“Some kids must have used this stuff in art class and made the connection that it also works for graffiti,” Campbell said. “It’s easy to conceal in a squirt gun or something like that.”

Merchants Have Few Choices

The acid often leaves an indelible mark, leaving business owners with little choice but to replace the windows, sometimes at a cost of thousands of dollars--an added burden for businesses already hit by a softening economy and spiraling utility rates.

In Los Angeles, the Police Department’s 18 plainclothes “ghost unit” officers, who ride city buses watching for graffiti vandals, have made several arrests in acid-graffiti cases.

One vandal, considered responsible for more than $12,000 in damage to businesses in Little Tokyo, was sentenced to four years at the California Youth Authority.

Police have seized acid-etching equipment in homes of known taggers, said Capt. Brad Merritt, the unit commander.

“These guys are very inventive, always looking for something new,” Merritt said.

Los Angeles police have recommended action by the Legislature to place statewide restrictions on the sale of acid-etching materials to minors.

Kent Smith, executive director of the Fashion District, one of several business improvement districts in Los Angeles, said the acid attacks are even more destructive than spray paint because of the expense of replacing glass.

“If you’re trying to revitalize your city, in San Diego, Los Angeles, Hollywood, one of the things you want to do is encourage merchants to be more user-friendly, to have display windows,” Smith said. “The tragedy of this kind of vandalism is it encourages a return to the [metal] roll-down doors.”

In San Francisco, acid vandals defaced dozens of buses and bus shelters, forcing the cash-strapped transit district to increase its graffiti-eradication budget.

Security cameras are being installed in city buses to gather evidence on vandals who sit in the back of the 60-foot vehicles, out of sight of the driver, and smear acid on the back window.

After three dozen businesses in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter and East Village neighborhoods had their windows defaced in recent weeks, business activists began demanding action from the City Council.

A council committee will consider an ordinance against acid-etching next week. Business leaders are also asking a major art supply chain to put voluntary restrictions on the sale of products such as Etch Bath and Armour Etch to keep them away from minors.

“It makes stores look so ugly,” said Karla Hernandez, manager of L.A. Rack, one of the stores that was hit.

Replacing two show windows at the store, which sells women’s clothes to the young and hip, could cost upward of $800.

“We’ve got to jump on this now,” said Marc Wolfsheimer, an official with the Downtown San Diego Partnership, a business group leading the push for an anti-acid ordinance.

Officials at Armour Products of Wyckoff, N.J., makers of Etch Bath and Armour Etch, said the company has gotten numerous calls in recent months from people across the country reporting that their windows have been disfigured.

Their product has been sold for more than two decades for use in decorating glass jars and bottles.

‘It’s not our fault that people are misusing our product,” said Sydney St. James, one of the owners. “Are the knife companies blamed everything somebody gets stabbed? Are chairs outlawed because someone gets hit over the head? Where do you stop?”

The Downtown Partnership wrote to the president of Michael Stores Inc., the Texas-based art supply chain, asking the company to consider voluntary restrictions on the sale of Etch Bath and Armour Etch, possibly requiring buyers to be 18 or older.

The company’s president, Michael Rouleau, has not replied.

A company spokesman did not respond to repeated interview requests.

Although the phenomenon may have begun on the West Coast, it has spread east quickly.

In New York, police stepped up undercover surveillance after boutiques in the chic SoHo district were tagged with acid.

The New York Transportation Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Los Angeles use a filmy shield to guard windows of buses and subway cars from being permanently disfigured by acid. An MTA official calls it a “sacrificial film” that can be peeled off and replaced after being defaced.

Etch Bath contains ammonium bifluoride and sulfuric acid. The jar advises users to wear rubber gloves and goggles and keep contents away from children.

Worse Than Spray Paint

Some vandals mix the etching fluid with white shoe polish and then use a shoe dauber to make distinctive swirls on windows.

In San Diego, some businesses have been hit twice: first by the acid bandits, then by taggers using spray paint.

A City Council committee next week will consider an ordinance that would prohibit sales to minors and require stores to keep Etch Bath and similar products in locked cabinets. Similar restrictions are placed on spray paint sales.

In some cases, the acid-etched marks on glass can be buffed out. But in most cases merchants are opting to pay for replacement panes.

Yick NG Quon, owner of Albert’s Uniforms in downtown San Diego, is buying two new display windows. Cost: $2,250. The idea of living with graffiti on his windows is intolerable to Quon, a reserve sheriff’s captain.

“I don’t want the taggers to have the last say on my life,” Quon said.