City, Activists Will Attack
Graffiti With Blitz Cleanup

By Amy Bentley-Smith
Features Editor

Just in time for the holidays and the arrival of out of town guests, a community-focused effort is underway this weekend to clean Long Beach’s house.

Armed with paint, industrial strength spray paint removal products and other cleaning supplies, residents will fan out across the city removing graffiti this Saturday. They will be doing so as part of the first Graffiti & Sticker Cleanup organized by the nonprofit Community Action Team (CAT) and the city. Seven locations have been confirmed as of earlier this week. Residents are welcome to join any cleanup or start their own.

CAT founder Justin Rudd said graffiti is a pet peeve of his and that he’s never gotten used to it in the 11 years that he’s lived in Southern California.

“I’m one of those people — trash, graffiti, blight has always bugged me,” he said, “especially coming from Alabama where you don’t see graffiti. I think we’ve become so jaded to where most people don’t even see it. I can’t stop seeing it.”

Rudd, who started the 30-Minute Beach Cleanups because of his aversion to trash, said he has wanted to organize a community graffiti removal day for a long time. But it wasn’t until this year that it came together. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, either. On Nov. 1, the city instituted a new graffiti removal program that aims to address the problem of graffiti more aggressively and in a more timely fashion.

“I think the event is a good initial breakout of this program,” said Property Services Bureau Manager Mike Conway, “and a way to educate the community that although the program is citywide, it is up to residents to do their part....”

Prior to Nov. 1, the city’s graffiti removal program was limited: a contracted graffiti removal company patrolled only a certain area in City Council District 6, while crews manned by people serving court-referred community service hours responded to graffiti reported on the city’s graffiti hotline. Conway said the court referrals did not always come through in a timely manner, which limited how much removal could be done. Additionally, those trucks carried few paint colors.

“Now we’re taking the contractor and expanding him citywide,” Conway said

That contractor, Graffiti Protective Coatings, has four crews responding to calls to the hotline. Conway said the goal is for them to remove graffiti within 24 hours of a call. When crews are not responding to calls, they are patrolling the city (from 5:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. each day) and removing graffiti they encounter. Conway said they have digital cameras with Global Positioning Systems installed, supplied by the Long Beach Prosecutor’s office, to track gang-related tags. The trucks also are equipped with more paint colors.

The changes in the program were the result of discussions among city staff on how to make the program more efficient. Conway said in just two weeks the results have been amazing.

“It seems to be functioning quite well. We’re averaging about 150 abatements a day. That exceeds our expectations,” he said, adding that there still is a backlog of requests, which is slowing the anticipated response time to new requests. “We ask that the community be patient. We’re just kind of getting our arms around it.”

Some restrictions do apply to the program: only private property in view of public rights-of-way is eligible, and public property owned by other agencies are not included, although people are still encouraged to report graffiti on those sites. The information is forwarded to those agencies, Conway said.

The city also offers a paint voucher program so that residents can remove graffiti on their own.

It is in that vein — the community taking action and responsibility for keeping their neighborhoods clean — that Saturday’s Graffiti & Sticker Cleanup was organized, Rudd said.

From 10 a.m. to noon, people can show up at one of several locations throughout the city, pick up supplies provided by the city and get to work removing graffiti and “slap” stickers, stickers taggers slap all over city signs and buildings.

The main location will be at the Granada Avenue beach, where a Graffiti Protective Coatings trucks will be demonstrating removal techniques and a couple of city dignitaries, including Nancy Foster, Mayor Bob Foster’s wife, will make brief speeches about the importance of a graffiti-free city.

Other locations include 2247 Earl Ave. (near Hill Street and Long Beach Boulevard), 1320 Gaviota Ave. (near Anaheim Street), 2010 Eucalyptus Ave. (at 20th Street near Pacific Avenue), 910 Daisy Ave. (near Ninth Street and Magnolia Avenue), 5800 Cherry Ave. (at South Street), 1004 E. Seventh St. (at Alamitos).

“My goal for everybody is for people to remove at least 10 stickers,” Rudd said, adding that he believes it’s possible. “I think if people will go with fresh eyes to their local intersections they will see it. They will easily find the stickers and graffiti.”

For more information on the cleanup or to register a group, call Rudd at 439-3316 or call 570-2895 or 570-1010.

To report graffiti to the city, call the hotline, 570-2773. A separate number is for graffiti seen in parks or at the beach: 570-4985.