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HEADLINE NEWS
Graffiti Hurts® Announces Advisory Panel
 Keep America Beautiful has organized its first "Graffiti Hurts® Advisory Panel," consisting of individuals with experience and knowledge enforcement professionals, educators, removal experts, community leaders, and representatives from organizations that have a stake in reducing graffiti vandalism. The goal of the advisory panel is to help further graffiti prevention and to encourage networking and best practices among communities and peers around graffiti vandalism issues.
The panel members for 2010 are:
- Randy Campbell, President and Executive Director, The No Graf Network
- Ray Carerro, Quality of Life Director, Mayor's Community Affairs Unit, New York, N.Y.
- Marcia Dennis, Graffiti Abatement Coordinator, Portland, Ore.
- Henry Ehrhardt, Director of Customer Relations, Sanitation Department, New York, N.Y.
- Eric Gustafson, Corcoran Neighborhood Organization, Minneapolis, Minn.
- Bob Hills, National Council to Prevent Delinquency
- Linda Holterhoff, Executive Director, Keep Cincinnati (Ohio) Beautiful
- Alison Letnes, Graffiti Abatement Program Coordinator and City Advisor to Keep Fort Worth Beautiful, Fort Worth, Texas
- Michelle Neuhauser, Krylon Product Manager, The Sherwin-Williams Company
- Paul Racs, Director of the Office of Community Beautification, Los Angeles, Calif.
- Sgt. Dwight Waldo, San Bernardino (Calif.) Police Department
Members will act as a resource to Keep America Beautiful leadership and its Graffiti Hurts® program as we conduct outreach and respond to requests from community leaders, educators, the media, and others seeking information about graffiti vandalism and the Graffiti Hurts® program.
COMMUNITY FOCUS
San Antonio “PLUG” Program Rolls Out
 Using a 2009 Graffiti Hurts® grant, plus additional funds from CPS Energy, VIA Metropolitan Transit, Union Pacific, the City of San Antonio’s City Council and Graffiti Wipeout Program, San Antonio is wrapping up its Place a Light Upon Graffiti, or “PLUG” program.
Under the program, businesses and homeowners could apply for a motion-sensitive, solar-powered light to help deter graffiti vandalism in dark and hard-to-monitor locations. Abatement Officers checked each of the locations requesting lighting for both feasibility and potential for effectiveness in deterring graffiti vandalism. Nearly 100 locations were approved for solar-light placement.
According to Lisa McKenzie, Neighborhood Services Coordinator/Graffiti for the City of San Antonio, “Over the next several weeks, we will conduct random checks to ensure that the lights have been installed and are being used effectively.”
Keep Akron Beautiful Expands Anti-Graffiti Campaign
 Keep Akron Beautiful’s “Graffiti Truck” has been eradicating graffiti vandalism primarily with a pressure washer for more than a year on public property. The truck was purchased by Keep Akron Beautiful a few years ago with a grant from the Akron Police Department.
Now this service is available to clean up private and commercial properties as well for a fee of $50. Tim Reid, Graffiti Supervisor, and his community-service-sentenced crew have taken care of 12 private property sites since the beginning of April, as well as 34 public property sites in 2010.
“Now that we have worked on perfecting the process, Mayor Plusquellic asked us to make the Graffiti Truck available to private, commercial property owners,” said Keep Akron Beautiful President and CEO Paula Davis. The expanded program has received local television coverage with helped to promote this much-needed service to property owners.
For graffiti removal in 2009, Keep Akron Beautiful used 44 community-service-sentenced workers, at no cost, working under a full-time supervisor from Keep Akron Beautiful. It invested 225 hours on eradicating the public markings and removed graffiti from 292 public sites. All told, the City spent more than $20,000 for the work in 2009.
>More
Bakersfield Unveils Mural at Martin Luther King Jr. Park
 The City of Bakersfield (Calif.) recently unveiled a mural at Martin Luther King Jr. Park created by former tagger Thomas Lucero and professional artist Sebastian Murales. The goal of the mural is to stop youth violence and graffiti vandalism. When the mural was unveiled, Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall proclaimed it “Partnership Day in Keeping Bakersfield Safe and Graffiti-Free.”
"It makes me feel wonderful and gives me a place. I love being respected," said Lucero, who started tagging when he was 15. Now at age 30, Lucero, who was caught a year ago by the Bakersfield Police Department, decided he wanted to work with the Police and the City to turn his life around. Lucero told them “I don’t want to destroy, I want to create.” The mural project took nearly a year in the planning.
Upcoming City art projects include partnering with the Boys & Girls Club, Greenfield School District and East High and beautifying the bathrooms at Hart Park with a mural.
>More
San Francisco “StreetSmARTS” Program Uses Murals to Reduce Graffiti Vandalism
 The San Francisco Arts Commission and the Department of Public Works announced earlier this year a partnership to combat graffiti vandalism with a pilot program called StreetSmARTS. The program connects established artists with private property owners to create murals, making property less vulnerable to graffiti vandalism.
“Over the last year, the Arts Commission has been overwhelmed by a dramatic spike in graffiti and vandalism incidents on the City’s public monuments. The Department of Public Works is equally burdened by this ongoing problem,” said Luis R. Cancel, director of cultural affairs for the San Francisco Arts Commission.
“StreetSmARTS is an innovative approach to dealing with vandalism, while providing urban artists with an opportunity to show their talent and creativity by creating something positive for our neighborhoods.”
>Check out the first mural
GRAFFITI PREVENTION LAWS
“Court Watchers” Program Launches in New York
Community members fed up with light or “slap-on-the-wrist” sentences for graffiti offenses have become part of New York State Senator Jeff Klein’s Court Watchers Program.
Launched in April in conjunction with the Bronx District Attorney’s office, the program asks groups of citizens to sit in on court hearings for graffiti vandals and track the progress of the cases. The idea is to increase the community’s presence in the courtroom when cases are being heard.
As part of the Court Watchers program, volunteers sit in the proceedings as an expression of their desire for jail time for the defendants. Citizens “watchers” will wear brightly colored T-shirts with slogans such as “no graffiti” and “our community wants to be "graffiti-free” as a message to the presiding judge.
“This program shows judges that we stand strong and stand together in our call to make graffiti sentences tougher and make sure that defendants see real jail time,” says Klein.
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Honolulu, Hawaii Legislation Beefs Up Graffiti Penalties
Gov. Linda Lingle has signed new state legislation, HB2129, requiring individuals convicted of graffiti vandalism to remove the graffiti from damaged property within 30 days of being sentenced for the crime. The new law also requires the individual to help remove other graffiti within 100 yards of the site of the offense, even if the property was damaged by another person.
"I'm pleased the governor signed the bill into law. It sends a message that graffiti will not be tolerated, and it places the burden of removal directly upon the violator," said Rep. Henry Aquino, D-35th (Pearl City, Waipahu), who introduced the bill. State law already addresses graffiti as criminal property damage and hold parents responsible for minors who are arrested.
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Louisiana House Bill Targets Graffiti on Historic Structures
A new statewide bill, HB1264, sponsored by Rep. Juan LaFonta, D-New Orleans, would give at least a year in jail to taggers convicted of spraying, etching, writing, or drawing graffiti on public or private buildings declared historic structures or landmarks. Penalties would also include a maximum $1,000 fine. The bill is in response to rampant graffiti in the French Quarter since Hurricane Katrina. Some historic structures are so damaged by graffiti vandalism that portions of them have to be rebuilt. The Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice gave unanimous support to the bill, which goes to the House floor for more debate.
>More
YOUTH IN THE NEWS
Las Vegas Youth Sign Anti-Graffiti Pledge For Graffiti Awareness Month
Students at six Las Vegas elementary schools are being asked to sign a pledge not to take part in graffiti vandalism. This education initiative was part of April’s Graffiti Awareness Month designated by the Las Vegas City Council and the Southern Nevada Graffiti Coalition. It’s estimated that as much as $30 million is spent each year to clean up graffiti in the Las Vegas valley.
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Omaha Youth Volunteers Join Graffiti Cleanup Day
 About 125 volunteers cleaned graffiti off more than 100 pieces of public property in South Omaha, Neb., as part of Graffiti Cleanup Day, sponsored by the Neighborhood Center and Metropolitan Community College.
Cleanup recruits included primarily college students, teachers, and members of neighborhood groups. And Mayor Jim Suttle was there to personally thank them. Volunteers scrubbed and painted over graffiti on light poles, stop signs, and other public property. “It feels like we’re really making a difference,” said one student.
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Kansas City Student Honored for Mural Aimed at Deterring Graffiti
Frank Shane was one of two students honored in Kansas City, Mo., with a scholarship in the name of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez. Shane was honored for painting a mural in his community as a response to rampant graffiti vandalism. Tired of seeing his sister’s school tagged again and again by vandals, the high school senior painted a mural on the school wall six months ago and there hasn’t been any graffiti since.
"I painted a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who's a prominent figure in the Hispanic community," Shane said.
>See video
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