Graffiti a top concern for San Bernardino
By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO -- Pastor John Frederick of Faith Bible Church is all too familiar with the scourge of graffiti.
The church, visible from the 259 Freeway, has been a repeat target for attention-seeking vandals.
"They hit us," Frederick said, describing but one recent incident. "They kicked in the doors to the back of our activity building ... took paint cans and splashed it all over."
Frederick thinks San Bernardino's graffiti clean-up crew has been fairly responsive to vandalism, but there could be too much graffiti for the team to keep up.
Graffiti is both a policy and a political issue for San Bernardino. On the policy side, city officials are working on a new ordinance intended to address how best to punish taggers and their parents, if the offenders are juveniles.
On the political side, everyone running for office in the year's mayoral and council races has had something to say about the problem.
There appears to be general agreement that vandals need to make some form of restitution and that parents should have to pay a price.
"Inn order to hold juvenile taggers responsible, we have to get their parents involved," said Joe Arnett, the challenger in the 4th Ward City Council race.
Arnett's opponent, Fred Shorett, also supports penalties for juvenile taggers' parents.
There is a broader range of views regarding whether San Bernardino has adopted the right enforcement and clean-up strategies.
City council incumbent Esther Estrada, who represents the 1st Ward, wants judges to take away taggers' driving privileges.
"It's a question of enforcement," she said. "If you don't have enforcement, you don't have diddly squat."
Convicted taggers can lose their driver's licenses for two years. If they do not yet have a license, they can lose their ability to get one for up to three years, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Karen Bell, chief deputy district attorney in charge of juvenile cases, said the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office does not have records readily available on how often this penalty has been imposed.
In the mayoral race, incumbent Pat Morris got a jump on the issue in August when he announced his demand for the Police Department and City Manager's office to craft a new "you spray, you pay" law that would impose a penalty on underage vandals' parents.
Morris said he has discussed driver's license related penalties with prosecuting and judicial authorities, however, he considers community service to be a superior deterrent.
"They (young vandals) don't drive. They don't have a license. They don't have cars. What they do have is time," Morris said.
Morris has also championed the past year's creation of a city-run graffiti clean up squad within the Public Services Department.
One of his opponents, City Attorney James F. Penman, thinks the city took the wrong route when it severed its relationship with Los Padrinos Youth Services, a nonprofit that enlisted troubled youngsters to clean up tags.
Penman, who said he would lobby local authorities to take away taggers' licenses, also said that if elected, he may still keep graffiti removal as an in-house service but would blend the program with job training services.
"These are things that employers complain about all the time. That we don't have a well-trained workforce in San Bernardino," Penman said.
Penman's office is also working on plans to seek injunctions against known tagging crews.
Other candidates running are contractor Rick Avila, running for mayor, 1st Ward challenger Virginia Marquez, 2nd Ward incumbent Dennis Baxter and 2nd Ward incumbent Jason Desjardins.
Avila is calling for a Los Padrinos-style entity to take care of aesthetic problems related to foreclosed homes, and Marquez wants neighborhood clean-up groups and increased anti-vandalism education in local schools.
Baxter supports Morris' "you spray, you pay approach" whereas Desjardins has said police need more enforcement tools to catch taggers.
Desjardins has said one of his priorities would be to seek funding for surveillance equipment that can detect tagging and send text messages to patrol officers.
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The Mayor thinks that taggers are too young to drive or have licenses and cars? I have seen many taggers with cars. Maybe not too many licenses since we are talking about San Bernardino. But, lets put as many sharp teeth as we can into the punishment, so what if you can't always affect someone with a certain part of the punishment, if you put enough into it, there will be parts that will affect anyone.
I commend Jason Desjardins for his innovative idea to employ technology against taggers. That's the kind of fresh thinking that's needed on the San Bernardino City Council.
Again, Baxter being a San Bernardino native and resident homeowner with many years of successful experience on city council is correct.
Desjardins, being very newly arrived to town these past scant weeks is, understandably, unaware of the financial constraints prohibiting our city from maintaining normal operating hours at the libraries, much less buying fancy new equipment.
Then again, he's also the one quoted as saying he'd take a patrol officer and a code enforcement officer off their duties each and every weekend to escort him on "ride alongs".
Wake up, Jason! You're not in Malibu any more! LOL!
And, Penman's "working on plans to seek injunctions against known tagging crews" is _LAUGHABLE_ - You mean to say, after over 20 years of being City Attorney and all the graffiti we've painted over in this city, Penman is JUST NOW, while trying to be mayor, getting around to "working on plans to seek ..." LOL!
Oh, lord help us!
Are we being punked? Is this candid camera? It's too, too INSANE to be real!
RE:
Baxter supports Morris' "you spray, you pay approach" whereas Desjardins has said police need more enforcement tools to catch taggers.
Desjardins has said one of his priorities would be to seek funding for surveillance equipment that can detect tagging and send text messages to patrol officers.
Mabe Pat Morris will take away their library cards since he thinks it is too tough on them to take away their drivers licenses.
Maybe he will order them to take fingerprinting classes as rehabilitation.
Go Penman - you're the Man - you'll be our new Mayor November 3.
Why type more when it's already been said before? LOL!
I agree 100% with this one:
voting 4Baxter+Morris4sure said:
Again, Baxter being a San Bernardino native and resident homeowner with many years of successful experience on city council is correct.
Desjardins, being very newly arrived to town these past scant weeks is, understandably, unaware of the financial constraints prohibiting our city from maintaining normal operating hours at the libraries, much less buying fancy new equipment.
Then again, he's also the one quoted as saying he'd take a patrol officer and a code enforcement officer off their duties each and every weekend to escort him on "ride alongs".
Wake up, Jason! You're not in Malibu any more! LOL!
And, Penman's "working on plans to seek injunctions against known tagging crews" is _LAUGHABLE_ - You mean to say, after over 20 years of being City Attorney and all the graffiti we've painted over in this city, Penman is JUST NOW, while trying to be mayor, getting around to "working on plans to seek ..." LOL!
Oh, lord help us!
Are we being punked? Is this candid camera? It's too, too INSANE to be real!
Today the current thrust of this pending election will NOT be decided on what approach is the most effective in mitigating the ever present graffiti problem throughout the City of SB. There are far more important issues that the winning candidate for Mayor needs to address. However, as we are talking about graffiti abatement and what works and what does not, let’s look at the sheer scope of the problem.
San Bernardino is a large city in terms of area. It boarders closely with neighboring cities all combating the same issue of graffiti abatement. Most of the graffiti vandals are not smart enough to realize what city they are defacing, they seek only a visible flat surface that will give the maximum exposure to their tag.
We the residents need to sit back and look at the numbers. There are the taggers and there are the City’s abatement crews. To say the abatement crews are out numbered is a true understatement. Anyone can affix a number of the taggers in SB or the surrounding areas. I would bet there are at least 750 to 1,000 vandals. Some are far more active than others. Some travel in cars, others just walk home from school and leave their mark as they go.
Now look at our graffiti problem. We have yet to reach the point where we are willing to say ENOUGH. So what do we do? Perhaps there is something to be considered as follows;
Step One: When getting caught for tagging in SB, regardless of age or who, is so painful that getting caught is a deterrent in itself. This holds true for the individual regardless of age and his parents or guardian. We need to get everyone’s attention with this approach. Taking their driving privilege is good but make it FOREVER or while living in CA. If they are school age, take their weekends for community service until they graduate if under 5 years remaining of school. If they are out of school, 10 years of daily (6 days per week) community service that is as unpleasant as can be possibility found. If caught a second time, jail for taggers 10 years minimum with NO plea bargains. If they are illegal residents, deport them with the understanding they know if they come back to SB for any reason, they go to jail for 10 years.
Step Two: Increase the abatement teams. Level the playing fields where the existing crews can keep pace with the taggers. Now, today they are trying hard to just play catch-up and they can not with their existing resources. If the City of SB is serious about graffiti abatement, then fund it, staff it, supply it, and most importantly support it. Stop complaining about what works and what does not. Today it works, they are just overwhelmed and can not keep pace with the numbers of taggers all defacing OUR (your and mine) City.
Step Three: Work with the big box stores to donate paint and color it for basic use (offer three colors (white, concrete gray, block wall beige). Work with the businesses to seek their assistance to paint their own property in a timely manor. Yes there will be those who disagree (right Mayor Morris) and feel this approach is too harsh, yet look around you. Is our (or your) approach to curbing graffiti tagging working today? Our graffiti abatement (not meaning the hardworking crews trying to paint over the tags) but the approach itself is just as big a failure as is the much touted Phoenix programs.
SB can do better, with their approach towards graffiti and how the City is being lead in both areas, Mayor and (select) Council members. The voters need to be heard.
That is how I see it…how about you?
Everyone needs to ease up on this debate, sit back and realize that nothing will stop the graffiti problem. That's right, nothing. Police will make occasional arrests and there will be occasional convictions.
Minors will get the juvenile court slap on a hand, or perhaps have their license suspended for a couple of years or whatever. But you are kidding yourselves if you think SB or any other city for that matter, can stop taggers from striking.
They are like ghosts in the night. Or day. Sometimes it takes them seconds to hit an entire wall and they are gone. Yes they are very mobile and have access to cars, and no they are not all minors, some are adults in their 20's. Just like most other crime, no one, not the mayor, police force, code enforcement, Rambo, Kimbo Slice, School Police, no one can ever stop them. They are like the "terminators" of vandalism. So stop all the jibberish, the political rhetoric, etc etc. Coin the phrase, "You can put a bandade on it, but you can't stop the hemorraging". The sooner you folks realize it, the better. Now go watch the baseball playoff game.
LOL...LOL...LOL...at 4Baxter+Morris4sure...right back at you! You mean Morris has had 4 years to do something about the graffiti problem in our city and he only has just started?!! He must be trying to get re-elected, except that many people have been telling me that they are NOT voting for Morris again!
Stop the finger pointing - it gets no one anyw where!Graffiti is everyone's problem and everyone is the solution. Our current Graffiti Removal Team is hardwarding. They need the residents and business owners of this city to report graffiti so they can clean it.
Are cameras the solution? In my opinion, no. Spend the money on more workers and trucks.
Look at Yankee Stadium when George Steinbrenner bought it - covered in graffiti. He painted it and everyone told him that it wouldn't stay that way. He said that he could more paint than the taggers. Nowdays you don't see graffiti on Yankee Stadium.
Everyday when you drive to work, to the store, to pick up your kid at school, when you take a walk, bring pen and paper and write down the location. Go home and call or log a CRM.
With everybody working on this problem soon there will be no problem!
Let the parents and their tagger kids clean-up the mess and see how they like it?
Plus make them pay for the paints, just take it out of the salaries or paycheck.
I DON'T THINK WE WILL HAVE THAT PROBLEM AGAIN.
@Vote,
All one needs do is check the current polling results to see your bravado is false.
As of today, the results are WORSE for Penman than the last time he ran and lost - and that was a trouncing -
RIGHT NOW, the polls show
MORRIS: 60%
PENMAN: 29%
AVILA: 10%
Even if Avila were to disappear and magically 100% of his 10% of the votes went to Penman, Morris STILL retains 60% of the vote - a similar # to the run-off, so, no real news there :-)
What will we do in 2 short weeks when elections are over, again? LOL! :-)
Many will be leaving SB trying to get their money out of their properties. They have hung on as long as they could. People care most about what effects them personally. Morris has neglected those personal needs of the taxpayers. He doesn't neglect those downtrodden. But when most of the viable taxpayers leave, then where will you all be in terms of money. You guys are royally screwed. I really feel sorry for this town. It is a sad day in SB if Morris, Shorett, and Baxter win. I am already cleaning out my closets in case what you all are saying is true.
Chris Jones is the "slick" political consultant used by Joe Arnett and Jason Desjardins. He has been used in the past by Jim Penman.
This is how he works. Read the whole article at the link below. These are just some of the interesting facts:
"Voters are left wondering how to assess slick appeals written by campaigns free to bend the truth. Mailers sent by clients of Jones and Lewis illustrate that dilemma."
"The sleaziness of some mailers caused the county GOP some years ago to create a procedure to investigate complaints in Republican primaries. It led two weeks ago to the censure of Jones and the Assembly candidate who hired him, John C. Kellogg."
"A lot of sleazy things are done by campaigns," said Roy Behr, a Democratic consultant based in Los Angeles. "Fortunately, most voters are able to see through those kind of tactics, and most of the time, they don't succeed."
The whole article: http://articles.latimes.com/1998/jun/12/local/me-59299
Vote for candidates that don't play into the nasty political game.
yeah no...
I voted for Mr Penman four years ago. I have been watching the city council meetings for several months and I am changing my vote this year in favor of Mayor Morris. Mr Penman seems hostile, obstructive and bent on furthering his own agenda. He needs to stick to his job of providing legal advice to the common council. Mayor Morris was able to be in control of a very hostile meeting today, and if he is able to do that he has my vote! Also I really like the new city manager's style, I think he will be a change agent for our city.
My source in the Morris camp saying their polling is tight and a runoff is likely.
R U kidding? Morris has a 2 to 1 lead by all the polls I have seen! I bet his lead only increases after Penman, Keeleys and McCammack shameful performance tonight. I hadn't decided who I was going to vote for, but after the past two meetings, I will be voting for Morris!