Anti-graffiti movement gains momentum

Plans for a regional crackdown on graffiti — including possibly banning spray paint sales to minors and removing the vandalism immediately — have been gaining momentum in Sparks, Reno and Washoe County. The governments have worked independently on the problem, and have held a summit in Reno. The Sparks City Council held a graffiti workshop with its staff on Monday. Reno and Sparks city staffs would like to implement a smaller version of Chicago's graffiti abatement program in which the city automatically removes graffiti from both public and private property. If Washoe County joins, it could be a regional effort. Sparks Councilman Ron Schmitt has been particularly concerned about graffiti in his city. "If we're going to keep a nice, clean community around here, we're going to have to take action on it," Schmitt said. "We're not going to be able to keep businesses in the community if we're going to have a problem with it." A member of the Reno City Council and a member of the Washoe County Commission said they're willing to consider a regionwide effort but want more information. "I think we all feel that something should be done with graffiti," Commissioner Jim Shaw said. "We need to get the facts and sit down and discuss it with the different entities on the best way to handle it." Schmitt proposed the graffiti crackdown during a city council meeting earlier this year. He said he has noticed that the community's graffiti problem has worsened, particularly in commercial areas. "We need to be more proactive in finding a way to solve this problem," Schmitt said. He called banning the sale of spray paint to minors "one more tool" in the solution. That's one proposal Sparks police made to the council Monday. But banning sales to minors in Sparks alone would do little good, because minors could go to Reno or the incorporated area for spray paint. That's why it needs to be a regional effort, Schmitt said. Reno Councilman Dave Aiazzi said he isn't sure the spray paint ban will work. "There's so many places you can get (spray paint) and so many other ways you can get it, and, quite frankly, not all the graffiti guys are minors," Aiazzi said. At Baring Village Ace Hardware in Sparks, sales to juveniles are prohibited as store policy, said Kim Mueller, operations manager. Mueller's not sure tougher laws will prevent graffiti. "If a person wants to get a can of spray paint, they're going to get one," Mueller said. "This particular shopping center that we're in, it gets tagged constantly. There's got to be (police patrols) or something they can do to help curb it." National examples Currently, the states of Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Texas have laws that ban spray paint sales to minors, said Bob Hills, executive director of the National Council to Prevent Delinquency Anti-Graffiti Project. Minnesota had a ban on spray paint sales to minors but it was repealed. Chicago bans spray paint sales to the public. "They sell to businesses and contractors," Hills said. "The homeowner can't go in and buy it." The restrictions on sales to minors are either out of graffiti concerns or concerns they use spray paint to get high in a practice called huffing, Hills said. He doesn't believe sales restrictions are effective in stopping graffiti. "The only thing you deter is kids under the age of 18 who don't have friends over the age of 18 who can buy it or who don't have parents who have it in the house," Hills said. Removing graffiti as quickly as possible tends to be the best way to prevent graffiti, Hills said, because it deprives the graffiti artist of fame. In Reno, police are examining how to do that. "We're looking at trying to get a full-time abatement truck out there," said Reno police Sgt. Rick Belke. "We'd like to have a truck and operator out there full time, Monday through Friday, and have another truck picking up the slack." Chicago started 12 years ago working to remove graffiti as soon as possible. The city now has 19 crews with high-pressure sprayers using water and baking soda to remove graffiti from brick surfaces, and another 16 crews to paint over graffiti, said Ray Padvoiskis, assistant to the commissioner of streets and sanitation in Chicago. Chicago took the extra step of passing laws that lets the city remove graffiti on private property without the owner's permission. People in Chicago are encouraged to call 911 if they see graffiti in progress, Padvoiskis said. "The fact that we clean it up within three days, that's definitely helping to keep (graffiti) down," said Debbie Sclafani, director of Chicago's anti-graffiti program. "The quicker we get it down, the less likely it is to keep going up in the same spot." Chicago crews removed graffiti from 200,000 sites last year. That's an increase compared to previous years, but Sclafani said that's an indication the city is fighting more graffiti, not that it's losing the graffiti war. The spray paint ban has had limited success. "It hasn't worked 100 percent because of the fact it's still sold in all the surrounding suburbs," Sclafani said. Local efforts have failed There have been graffiti problems at two Casazza Street buildings in Reno owned by Desiderio Properties for 10 years, said Lorrie Desiderio, general partner in the business. She's looking for solutions since combating the problem has been labor intensive and expensive. "We put lights there and it doesn't seem to deter them," Desiderio said. The graffiti on the two buildings "got so bad we painted them both the same color so know we know which color of paint to take over," she said. The ideal solution would be the catch the perpetrators, Desiderio said, and make them clean it, then pay a fine or do public service. And if they're juveniles, hold the parents responsible as well. "I'm not sure that we could patrol the area enough to pick up the people who are doing the graffiti," she said. The lights don't deter graffiti vandals and the city doesn't have enough police officers on patrol to catch them, so Desiderio said she isn't sure what else could be done. "Maybe we need more youth programs to get them involved so they wouldn't be looking for something mischievous to do," Desiderio said. That's the suggestion from a University of Nevada, Reno art student who said he tagged an estimated 80 to 100 railroad cars in Reno and Sparks. Matt McDowell said he's looking for money to help start a new youth center to give juveniles something to do besides getting into trouble. A youth center and a legal wall for people to spray graffiti are two of the best deterrents, McDowell said. "I really don't think graffiti can be curbed per se," McDowell said. "With certain things, it can be reduced." There's so many reasons people are into graffiti that it's impossible to provide solutions for all of them, he said. "There's no way you are going to stop the kids who are into it for the rebelliousness," McDowell said. Putting up graffiti offered a tremendous adrenaline rush, McDowell said. He got started about six years ago as a Wooster High School freshman. He had a friend from Los Angeles visit and he put a nickname on a stop sign with felt-tipped markers. It grew from that to using five to 10 cans of spray paint to put his signature where others could see it, about half the time on railroad cars. "It turned more into a fame thing where people could see what I could do," McDowell said. To this day, while waiting at a train crossing, he might still see one of his efforts go rumbling by. "The workers in the (rail) yard won't stop you. They tell you just not to paint over numbers," McDowell said. "The only people in the yard we had to worry about were police and hobos. (The hobos) were looking to steal whatever you had, your camera or your money." He said he stopped after last year's city of Reno meetings when he learned how much people were spending to clean up graffiti. Also, he said he recognized how wrong it was. "In church, I was convicted in here," McDowell said, pointing to his heart. "It's something I shouldn't be doing." He still has friends who regularly go out and put up graffiti. He said he still feels the urge sometimes, but he said all of his graffiti now is legal. "I still have equal respect and admiration for both sides" of the graffiti issue, he said. He said he would like to see a wall where people can legally put up graffiti. "When it's not illegal and it's not gang-related, I have no idea why I can't have that," McDowell said. But Michael Chaump, a city of Reno community liaison officer, said that idea is not being pursued. Instead, the city is promoting youth art activities and the painting of murals. "That's where we'd rather see them direct their talents," Chaump said. The Neighborhood Advisory Boards for Reno Wards 2, 3 and 4 donated a combined $15,000 to Secret Witness for rewards for people who turn in people putting up graffiti, Chaump noted.