A casualty in the graffiti wars

But others in the area disagree. I spoke to four neighbors who said that while they weren't in love with the mural, they definitely preferred it to fresh nightly tagging by neighborhood tough guys. The woman who called Reyes to complain said she would prefer to have neither an edgy mural nor nightly tagging. Sure, but how will that happen without a nightly vigil by police?

I think I may have an answer, and it comes from none other than the muralist.

Ezra Cervantes said he respects those who saw the mural as too edgy. It was a spontaneous improvisational effort, he said, likening it to jazz. But if neighbors and the store owners would like something "a little more conservative," with perhaps a larger Virgin Mary, Cervantes offered to assemble his crew and redo the mural for only the cost of the paint, an estimated $500.

Would taggers have a field day if the mural was a panoply of doves and virgins rather than snakes and sinners? No, said Cervantes. He and Playboy Eddie have got street cred, so whatever they paint should be respected.

Here's my proposal:

If Reyes' office can clear the way for a variance and keep the bureaucrats off the backs of the Antonio family, and Cervantes can come up with a mural the neighbors like -- including the woman who first complained -- I'll pester City Hall to find a way to cover the cost of the paint.

If they've got $7 million for graffiti removal, surely they can find $500 to pump up the Virgin Mary and make the Antonio family whole.

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steve.lopez@latimes.com