TEENS HELP REMOVE GRAFFITI CITY-LED GROUP SEEKS VOLUNTEERS.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- One gang of teens prowling graffitied sites around town is not spray-painting monikers -- it's removing them.

As participants in a city-sponsored program, the volunteers, mostly high-schoolers, help obliterate the rash of tags, which number about 30 a day.

``One of the reasons we target the schools' Key Clubs is so as a group, they can go out and experience removing the graffiti. It gives you a really different perspective on taggers,'' said Adele Macpherson, the city's superintendent of community services. ``If these kids get an idea how time-consuming graffiti removal is, they will maybe be part of the solution and persuade people they know tagging is not a good thing.''

City workers remove graffiti on public property at a cost of about $400,000 a year. Alleys and washes are popular targets.

Most who join TAG -- Teens Against Graffiti -- belong to youth, school or religious groups, but some volunteer on their own. City workers supervise participants, who are ages 13 to 18.

The program began a few years ago and has attracted about 200 participants in the past couple of years. A new January-to-June cycle has just begun.

The helpers paint over monikers and use environmentally safe graffiti wipes. Often they use a technique called ``soda blasting,'' in which they shoot a baking soda mixture on painted surfaces with a pressure washer.

Sheriff's deputies arrested about 75 taggers in 2006, and the majority of graffiti reported in Santa Clarita is attributed to tagging crews, not gangs, Detective Dan Finn said. The vandalism has increased steadily during the past two years.

``Tagging has gotten to the extent the city is just trying to keep up with (it) in public views and public right-of-ways,'' he said. ``In some of the washes, the city can't keep up with it.''

While the program was not designed to reform taggers, it might have helped one former vandal. He was arrested on suspicion of tagging and performs community service to fulfill his sentence.

``When he first came out there, he had a different attitude than he has now, after removing graffiti for 15 hours,'' said Hope Horner, the city's community services administrator. ``The staff that works with him have taken the young man under their wing, they've taken time to listen to his problems in a mentorship way. He sees a face now, he thinks of who's out there doing this work.''

Teens wanting to join TAG should provide contact information on the city's hotline at [phone]. The program operates the third Saturday of the month, but special arrangements can be made for groups.

Those who wish to report graffiti should call the hotline or file a report online at www.santa-clarita.com and follow the e-service link, selecting graffiti removal. The information is kept confidential, but $500 rewards are given by the city for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of taggers.

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