The Sunnyvale Sun
News
Neighbors get city's help in removing gang graffiti
By Stephen Baxter
Some residents near Columbia Park in Sunnyvale are praising city officials for ridding gang graffiti from signs and buildings.
During the winter school break and this spring, a stop sign at Ferndale and Borregas avenues was also tagged in blue paint. It read "Can't STOP XI4," but neighbors suspect it meant XIV--the number related to the Norteño street gang. "N" is the 14th letter of the alphabet.
Vandals painted a U.S. mail drop box on Borregas and E. Eaglewood avenues; the paint persisted for months because federal authorities had to clean it up. Other tags showed up in Columbia Park and behind Guadalajara Meat Market at 829 Borregas Ave.
By May 7, nearly all the graffiti had been removed.
Officer Jim Davis of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety also spoke to a Sunnyvale Neighborhood Association meeting on May 7. SNAIL stands for Sunnyvale Neighbors of Arbor Avenue, including La Linda.
"We had a bad rash over Christmas break. ... Kids under 18 can't have aerosol paint," he said.
XIV tags often mark turf and ward off rival Sureño gang members. SNAIL neighbors said they had not seen much suspicious activity besides the graffiti.
Other parts of the neighborhood have also been hit. Some benches near E. Duane Avenue and Santa Catalina Terrace were so deeply marked that city workers had to sand them. An entire fence was painted with a "13"--the Sureño number.
Tags of "TCS" also showed up on some city streets, and officers traced them this spring to four students who called themselves the Thief Crew Squad. Davis said felony vandalism charges topping $1,000 tend to pique the attention of youths and their parents, who usually foot the bill.
"Jim Davis has been superb in helping us get [graffiti] eliminated," said Sue Johnson, a member of the SNAIL Neighborhood Association.
Authorities urged neighbors who spot graffiti to call the graffiti hotline at 408.730.7680. City workers are expected to remove it in no more than three days.
