Anti-graffiti initiative may make taggers, parents pay
L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina seeks to hit graffiti offenders in the pocketbook: 'This is tough love all the way around.'
Buoyed by the success of a six-month program to reduce graffiti in Pico Rivera and unincorporated Whittier, Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina will ask her colleagues today to approve a measure that would allow authorities to hold taggers -- and their parents -- liable for civil damages.
The new ordinance is part of a broad offensive against vandalism, one she hopes to take countywide, by stepping up enforcement, conducting more specialized prosecutions and hitting violators in the pocketbook through property liens and fines of up to $1,000. When warranted, the measure would allow authorities to seek felony vandalism charges in court.
"This is tough love all the way around," Molina said. "And we are prepared to go all the way with it and show we mean business."
The thinking behind the approach, Molina said, is to shake up parents and guardians who are in denial about their children's actions, unaware of them or simply don't care. It is another tool to hold the adults accountable, she said.
Los Angeles County spent nearly $30 million last year to clean up graffiti, records show.
But Molina said tagging also had led to violence -- and murder.
andrew.blankstein
@latimes.com
