Adopt A Wall Program

Caltrans has added reinforcements to its ranks in the war against graffiti. At a press conference Tuesday, an Adopt-A-Wall program was unveiled along with a "graffiti hot line" to help the embattled California Department of Transportation graffiti crew strip clean Orange County's highways and freeways of unsightly gang markings on walls, signs and pillars.

Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights may soon be graffiti-free. Long plagued by gang and tagger spray-paint, the high school now is the focus of the first "Adopt-a-Wall" program organized by Building Up L.A. An umbrella group of 60 community organizations is administering the program, in which groups of students are assigned a wall or building to keep free of graffiti. Formed after the 1992 riots, Building Up L.A. is part of President Clinton's AmeriCorps, styled as a domestic Peace Corps.

Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights may soon be graffiti-free. Long plagued by gang and tagger spray-paint, the high school now is the focus of the first "Adopt-a-Wall" program organized by Building Up L.A. An umbrella group of 60 community organizations is administering the program, in which groups of students are assigned a wall or building to keep free of graffiti. Formed after the 1992 riots, Building Up L.A. is part of President Clinton's AmeriCorps, styled as a domestic Peace Corps.

Like the never-stay-dead movie character, the Terminator, graffiti vandalism along Orange County's highways seems to just keep coming back to life no matter what is done to kill it. But as discouraging as it seems, succumbing to defeat in the ongoing battle against this spray-paint blight would only invite further deterioration in victimized communities. That's why new efforts to involve citizens in attacking the problem on Orange County's freeways are especially welcome.

Like the never-stay-dead movie character, the Terminator, graffiti vandalism along Orange County's highways seems to just keep coming back to life no matter what is done to kill it. But as discouraging as it seems, succumbing to defeat in the ongoing battle against this spray-paint blight would only invite further deterioration in victimized communities. That's why new efforts to involve citizens in attacking the problem on Orange County's freeways are especially welcome.

City officials hope to speed cleanup of graffiti along the 210 and 605 freeway interchange by participating in Caltrans' "Adopt a Wall" program. The City Council agreed Tuesday to participate in the effort to remove the defacements on walls and columns of the interchange on the Duarte-Irwindale border, which sometimes remain for days or weeks. Caltrans crews remove graffiti from freeway infrastructures.

The city of Palmdale, in a continuing fight against a worsening graffiti problem, is asking residents to volunteer for a new Adopt-A-Wall program and to help staff the city's graffiti hot line. Volunteers will be asked to take responsibility for a wall in their neighborhood and be given matching paint by the city to cover graffiti. The city will hold a rally Dec. 5 at City Hall to formally start the program.

How do we measure commitment? Across Southern California, as the gap between public needs and public funds yawns ever wider, we are seeing new, heartening ways to measure community commitment. Not just in tax dollars allocated but in labor volunteered and equipment donated.

The City Council this week toughened its anti-graffiti ordinance, making it a crime to possess in public places during closed hours felt-tip markers, aerosol paint cans or other implements commonly used to deface buildings. The ordinance revision, approved unanimously Tuesday, also prohibits possession of markers, spray paint, etching tools and other graffiti implements on private property without the owner's consent.

Los Angeles police officials said Tuesday that plans to release a set of reports reflecting residents' top crime concerns in the San Fernando Valley and other parts of the city have been put on hold. LAPD Commander Garrett Zimmon said he chose to delay and will possibly cancel the release of the first State of the Community reports after safety concerns were voiced by Community Police Advisory Board members, who helped draft the reports.

Caltrans has added reinforcements to its ranks in the war against graffiti. At a press conference Tuesday, an Adopt-A-Wall program was unveiled along with a "graffiti hot line" to help the embattled California Department of Transportation graffiti crew strip clean Orange County's highways and freeways of unsightly gang markings on walls, signs and pillars.

A crowd of about 50 angry residents descended on the Palmdale City Council on Thursday night demanding tougher measures to combat what city officials acknowledge is a worsening graffiti problem. "If this town looked like this four years ago, I wouldn't have moved here," said Mike Conner, a business owner who led the delegation of residents demanding tougher sentences for juvenile offenders and more measures to hold parents responsible for their children's conduct.

IT'S PERSONAL: South Bay Rep. Jane Harman (D-Marina Del Rey) says her opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement was not without a personal price. After all, her husband, the head of an electronics firm, and her former law partner, U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, favored the pact--which passed in the House last week--and took umbrage at Harman's stance.