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City considers joining effort against graffiti
By Michelle Ku
Cities throughout the county are joining forces in the battle against graffiti.
Last week, the Cupertino City Council joined a growing number of cities in adopting a resolution to promote and implement the "Do Graffiti, Lose Your License" campaign. The Sunnyvale City Council was scheduled to review the program at last night's meeting, but results of the vote were unavailable at press time.
Each year, cities in the county spend more than $2 million combating graffiti. In Cupertino, graffiti cleanup costs approximately $75,000 a year. Sunnyvale spends approximately $100,000 annually on graffiti abatement.
"Graffiti is a growing problem," said Don Brown, Cupertino city manager. "Every year it seems like there's more graffiti. It's very irritating because no matter where it is, it looks horrible and, from my perspective, it has no redeeming value."
To help in the effort, the Santa Clara County Cities Association (SCCCA) is sponsoring the "Do Graffiti, Lose Your License" campaign in conjunction with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, the Juvenile Courts and the Juvenile Probation Department of Santa Clara County.
The campaign promotes enforcement of a law in the State Vehicle Code that allows the suspension of a driver's license as punishment for a graffiti conviction. The statute also allows for a delay in the eligibility of teens who do not have their licenses yet.
If the person convicted has a license, the license could be suspended up to a year. If there aren't any further convictions within a year, the court will review and reinstate the license.
If the person convicted is 13 or older, the license eligibility could be delayed for one year. Instead of becoming eligible for a license at 16, the person would have to wait until he or she is 17.
"If you are convicted and get convicted again [during that year], you lose your license for two years," said Shane Sommers, assistant to Dando.
Under current state law, parents are liable for damages if their child is caught tagging. If the teen is a first-time offender, the teen enters a diversion program, which includes community service work.
"We're not graffiti-free," said David Vossbrink, Sunnyvale spokesman. "We encourage people to call in when they see somebody tagging, but it's hard to get taggers in the act. That's one of the biggest difficulties of graffiti and the driver's license issue. More often you see the results of graffiti, but you don't catch them in the act."
SCCCA is hoping the license punishment will be an effective deterrent to teens--who typically regard their drivers' licenses as highly important.
"This adds another way of getting people's attention and hopefully it might have some influence on the people that are doing graffiti so they will think twice about it," Brown said.
Spearheaded by Pat Dando, San Jose city councilwoman and president of the SCCCA, the association is urging the adoption of the resolution by all 15 cities in the county. At present, Campbell, Cupertino, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, San Jose, Santa Clara and Saratoga have adopted the resolution.
"Every city in the county is working hard to eliminate graffiti," Sommers said. "Everyone is doing their part, we were just looking to spur community activism."
Another aspect of the "Do Graffiti, Lose Your License" campaign is the adoption of an "Adopt-A-Block" anti-graffiti campaign in which people convicted of graffiti are assigned to maintain and clean certain areas.
Cupertino has yet to determine if the "Adopt-A-Block" campaign will be adopted.
"It's a little early to say," Brown said. "Our graffiti is not concentrated or consistent in that way so that we wouldn't necessarily benefit from that type of program."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
