TO THE WALLS PARENTS TO CLEAN UP KIDS' GRAFFITI MESSES?

Byline: Ryan Oliver Staff Writer

As county officials prepare for a summit today aimed at stopping graffiti, Sheriff Lee Baca said he will fight to hold parents responsible for teen vandals by requiring them to clean walls and property defaced by their kids.

The tough talk on taggers came on the eve of L.A. County's Graffiti Summit, where officials plan to coordinate efforts on tackling the crime today.

Baca said he would like to see legislation making parents far more liable for their children's vandalism - beyond simply paying for cleanup costs.

``My belief is that parents are really not supervising their children properly,'' Baca said. ``We need to see if we can get a new model that holds parents to the fire.''

Once considered an inevitable part of urban life, graffiti has been an increasing focus of law enforcement over the past decade. It is often the most visible of the nuisance crimes, which authorities say lead to the destruction of neighborhoods and more violent crimes down the road.

In fiscal year 2002-2003, city officials received 25,000 reports of graffiti and cleaned up 29 million square feet of defaced property. In 2003, the LAPD arrested 589 people for graffiti vandalism, compared to 862 people in 2002. In the San Fernando Valley, 221 people were arrested in 2003, exactly the same number that were taken into custody in 2002.

Baca said most young taggers operate at night, under the cover of darkness, when they should be at home. The only way to ensure they're home is for parents to do their job, he said.

If a child under 18 is arrested for graffiti vandalism, Baca wants their parents to be required to take a parenting class at their own expense. On the second offense, the parents should have to clean graffiti sites, he said.

``The minute a child who is a graffiti perpetrator is responsible for their parents going out and cleaning walls, I can assure you that child will be under a tremendous amount of pressure to never do that again,'' Baca said.

Friday's graffiti summit, held at the County Department of Public Works building in Alhambra, is expected to draw 400 participants with speeches by Baca, District Attorney Steve Cooley, Los Angeles Board of Supervisors Chairman Don Knabe and other officials.

The city of Los Angeles is now spending over $6 million a year to clean up graffiti from public sites, compared with only $500,000 back in 1993.

Delphia Jones, director of Operation Clean Sweep for the city's Department of Public Works, said it's not that there was less graffiti back then. Rather, the city decided at some point that cleaning graffiti was a bigger priority.

``As the budget increased we were able to remove more graffiti,'' Jones said, noting the city removes 10 times more square footage of graffiti a year than it did 10 years ago. ``I think the public also has become more aware of the problem.''

In the past three years, the number of graffiti complaints phoned in to the city has increased from 13,000 to 25,000. But Jones said she believed the level of tagging activity has remained level over that time.

``There's a large correlation between the level of gang activity and the level of graffiti. Once we get a handle on the gang problem, then we'll see less graffiti,'' she said.

In addition to holding the the summit, the county has declared today ``Totally Against Graffiti Day'' in recognition of the success and importance of the county's graffiti education program, dubbed T.A.G.

T.A.G., now in its third year, teaches elementary school children about the costs and consequences of graffiti vandalism, and rewards schools whose students have made efforts to report graffiti for cleanup.

``Graffiti is not a simple problem and there is no simple solution,'' said Valerie Hill, the county's graffiti abatement program manager. ``It's not just writing on the wall. ... It is an indicator of urban decay and crime.''

Ryan Oliver, [phone]

ryan.oliver(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Paul Dalmada of Tujunga paints over a wall Thursday with Sun Valley Graffiti Busters.

(2) William Wargner of North Hollywood uses a roller to help get a vandalized wall ready for repainting on Thursday.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer