Council and mayor approve graffiti plan

]By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO -- A new anti-graffiti team will be be hired to clean up vandalism across town following the City Council's decision to adopt a new clean up plan.

Mayor Pat Morris broke a 3-3 tie among the City Council on Monday to allow the Public Services Department hire a five-person team to clean up graffiti. The move diminishes the role of Los Padrinos Youth Services, a contractor that City Hall has entrusted for the past several years with anti-graffiti efforts.

Los Padrinos takes in youthful offenders who have been sentenced to community service and puts them to work cleaning up graffiti. Although city officials want to continue their relationship with Los Padrinos after taking graffiti cleanup in-house, Los Padrinos director Max Alonso said losing the graffiti contract will kill his organization.

"Dec. 31, we've got to close the doors and go out of business," Alonso said in a telephone interview before Monday's meeting.
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The new anti-graffiti team can begin work in January.

City Hall is willing to offer Los Padrinos a contract to clear away weeds and perform similar beautification services, but Alonso said the proposed $125,000 deal for the first six months of 2009 won't be sufficient to cover his costs.

City officials would be willing to double that amount to $250,000 if Los Padrinos would be able to do beautification work in the 2009-10 budget year. However, 7th Ward Councilwoman Wendy McCammack was sympathic to Los Padrinos' position that City Hall is not offering enought money to keep the organization alive.

"The math doesn't work," said McCammack, who voted against the new anti-graffiti plan.
Los Padrinos has worked with San Bernardino since 1992 and about 1,200 "troubled kids" have worked with the organization since then.

But 5th Ward Councilman Chas Kelley, one of three members of the counci's police committee who recommended the new plan, countered that the public's money would be better spent if the city took over clean up work.

"We pay nearly $49,000 a month," he said during the meeting. "And nearly everywhere you drive in this city you see graffiti."

In addition to eliminating graffiti, Los Padrinos' current $588,000 contract requires the organization to board up abandoned buildings. Los Padrinos has reported to the city that they cannot afford to complete all necessary board-ups and city officials are also not confident that Los Padrinos adequately keeps records of their anti-graffiti efforts.

The new city-run plan is expected to cost $679,000 for the first six months of 2009 and $995,000 for the subsequent fiscal year.

Alonso has put forth his own proposal for a $755,000 per year contract that would allow Los Padrinos to have more people put to work against graffiti.

Interim City Manager Mark Weinberg said during Monday's meeting that he had received a letter from Alonso regarding the latter's expectation that the city's move could force Los Padrinos to close down.

Weinberg maintained that taking graffiti removal in-house would be more efficient than relying on Los Padrinos. However, he, Morris and the council generally agreed that they want Los Padrinos to remain a viable organization in the city.

"They provide a very important social service in the community," said 3rd Ward Councilman Tobin Brinker, who voted for the new plan.