Graffiti springs up along Sprinter route
By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer | ∞
A spray can lies in the Loma Alta Creek under the Crouch Street bridge near Oceanside Boulevard where the North County Transit District is having problems with griffiti vandals along the sprinter route.
JAMIE SCOTT LYTLE Staff Photographer
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NORTH COUNTY --- As the Sprinter light rail line glides toward completion, it leaves behind a large inventory of concrete retaining walls, bridge abutments, storm channels and other surfaces that have begun to collect graffiti the way a new wool coat collects lint.
The latest is a 10-foot-tall multicolored street-scrawl spray-painted in a broad storm channel that carries Loma Alta Creek under Crouch Street in Oceanside.
Nearby, underneath the small Crouch Street bridge, lies a lone discarded spray paint can and still more graffiti, declaring in modern hieroglyphics the identity of its maker.
And a recently installed railroad signal house, gleaming with a new coat of silver paint, has already sprouted a light-blue tag of its own.
Transit district spokesman Tom Kelleher said last week that the silver paint was supposed to be spray-paint resistant.
"That does not mean that it's completely spray-paint proof," Kelleher said.
Similar clandestine spray-paint markings have appeared on Sprinter infrastructure in Vista and San Marcos, according to officials in those cities. And many of those cities are now putting pressure on the North County Transit District to clean things up. The district owns the 22-mile, east-west rail line that will run from Escondido to Oceanside when it opens in December.
David Manley, manager of the Oceanside Code Enforcement Division, said Thursday that the city received complaints from neighbors about the Crouch Street graffiti last week and issued the North County Transit District an official warning to make it disappear.
"City code says that you have seven days to remove it," Manley said. "It was not removed by Monday of this week, so a citation was issued."
Kelleher said he did not know whether the transit district intends to pay its $100 graffiti ticket. But he did say the district has been surprised to find taggers using its newly completed Sprinter infrastructure as a concrete canvas.
"It is very frustrating, because, as soon as you remove it, they come back and do some more," Kelleher said. "It has taken us by surprise, and maybe you can say that we were naive."
Hands tied
Kelleher said the transit district itself cannot send its own employees to remove graffiti, because the rail line is currently in the hands of builder West Coast Rail Constructors.
"When construction started, we signed an agreement to turn the whole right-of-way over to the contractor for the duration of construction," Kelleher said.
He said he personally called the contractor on Tuesday and asked that the Crouch Street graffiti be erased. He said he was unsure why it was still present Friday afternoon.
"We had assurances (from the contractor) that it would be removed," Kelleher said. "We don't have a dedicated person to remove graffiti during construction."
A West Coast Rail representative could not be reached Friday.
In San Marcos, construction crews have already finished building five concrete bridges to support the Sprinter's loop, which dips south, crossing Highway 78 to serve Cal State San Marcos. With bridges come support pillars, towering concrete abutments and retaining walls.
Karl Schwarm, a senior administrative analyst in San Marcos, said taggers moved in as soon at the concrete was dry. He said the city's graffiti detail has tried to paint over graffiti where it can, but said that city employees are legally prohibited from entering the railway property.
"We have been able to do limited removal in the right-of-way with escorts," Schwarm said. "They are very slow at responding and getting back to us. It has taken months sometimes. Unfortunately, it has not been a priority for them."
Schwarm said he understands that the transit district and its contractor are busy building the $440 million rail line, but added that the district will have to come to terms with its graffiti problem once construction is finished.
He said retaining walls along the route are "like a nice canvas and it's just too tempting," Schwarm said.
Quick removal is key
Each of the graffiti details employed by cities along the Sprinter line strive to remove graffiti within 24 hours.
Schwarm explained that, like broken windows, graffiti can spawn more of the same in neighborhoods if it is not quickly removed.
"If you allow it to stay, then someone else comes in to make their mark and respond," Schwarm said. "It becomes an escalation. You need to remove it as quickly as possible."
Kelleher said the transit district agrees that graffiti-removal should be swift.
"We can't disagree with that, but our contractor is responsible for the corridor and the contractor is trying to complete construction by December so that we can get the Sprinter up and running."
Vista City Engineer Larry Pierce said tagging has been a regular occurrence on a large concrete Sprinter retaining wall built in the city's Buena Creek neighborhood. He said he expects two large retaining walls at Escondido Avenue will be similar targets when they are complete.
Pierce said the transit district has been good about working with the city's two-man graffiti-removal team to remove markings. But he said that the city's crew will not be able to erase tags in locations that are not accessible from city property.
"They are going to need to do something to escalate their resources," Pierce said.
At a regular transit district governing board meeting Thursday, Vista City Councilman Bob Campbell, who also is a district board member, reportedly suggested that the Sprinter's operating budget include funding for graffiti removal. Campbell was not available Friday to discuss the matter in more detail.
Kelleher said the Sprinter's budget was still being formulated, and said that the district has not yet decided whether to create a full-time graffiti detail to erase markings along the 22-mile rail corridor when construction is finished. He added that the district's other rail line --- the 45-mile, north-south Coaster track between Oceanside and San Diego --- has no full-time graffiti removal team, but that does not mean that graffiti is left forever.
"When our rail maintenance crews see it they remove it, but that takes resources away from track maintenance," Kelleher said.
He said the best course for removing graffiti will be chosen by the transit district board.
"I think this is something that will be under discussion by the board," Kelleher said.
Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.
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Floyd wrote on Jan 21, 2007 1:35 AM:Let me get this straight ... the city issued a citation demanding that the graffiti be removed within a week which was not honored. Then the NCTD spokesman claims they "do not know whether the transit district intends to pay its $100 graffiti ticket." Sounds to me like NCTD is so accustomed to ignoring the will of the people that they have become scofflaws. Better pay up, or everyone else will be able to quote your precedent when they ignore legal citations too.
Susan wrote on Jan 21, 2007 6:02 AM:You should see the walls along Olive in Vista, where the new condos are. Build a wall and they will tag it. HG!
LomaAltan wrote on Jan 21, 2007 7:17 AM:Oceanside, at one time, paid a bounty for catching graffiti taggers. Stake out the different locations in the Cities and along the Sprinter Line. As they spot the taggers they call the Police and they make the arrest. When there is a conviction the Cities or NCTD pay the bounty. It was $100.00 per conviction which is allot cheaper than personnel wages and benefits. The Loma Alta area residents are vigilant about removing the tags as soon as they appear. Install security cameras and video tape the taggers. The cameras would be a small investment for NCTD and the Cities who could cost share. Cameras do not lie! Cities should be installing the cameras all over town and encourage private property and business owners to do the same. It is a perfect tool for a Judge in Court and the "On Camera" notices can easily be posted. If the taggers are juveniles their parents can pick-up the clean-up cost and the juveniles should be put to work serving their time for the crime cleaning up graffiti.
Amazing wrote on Jan 21, 2007 7:33 AM:NCTD representative Tom Kelleher talks like he is from another planet! I guess he has never seen graffiti before! He is really shocked and he says "NCTD is suprised and naive!" He has got to be kidding! This has been a part of society for years! What rock has he been living under? The graffiti is still there because it has not been REMOVED Tom! Your Contractor, West Coast Rail, is leaving all the construction trash on site during construction, including graffiti!! Enforce the terms of YOUR contract!
Skip wrote on Jan 21, 2007 7:43 AM:Signs of the times. The gangs are marking their turf. How dare you complain.
Solution wrote on Jan 21, 2007 8:24 AM:for Taggers: Catch them, convict them, remove the index fingers. No fingers = no way of operating the spray cans easily.
GFN wrote on Jan 21, 2007 8:41 AM:It sounds like the NCTD is not serious about the graffiti problem. A suggestion: Have a task force, using off-duty or retired law enforcement personnel to do stakeouts at the walls that Karl Schwarm says are "like a nice canvas and it's just too tempting," for taggers not to violate. Capture the criminals who are doing the crime; PROSECUTE them; make them pay for the removal, or better yet, have them physically do the work themselves to remove the graffiti; or have their parents pay if they are minors, and physically help their offspring do the physical removal; and deport them if they are illegals, or if their parents are illegals. ATTACK the problem aggressively. Do not continue to look upon this as "just kids looking for a creative outlet for their talent". If you do, it will only get worse. Take responsibility, Mr. Kelleher, and send the message; NO MORE GRAFFITI.
Wake up Kelleher wrote on Jan 21, 2007 10:19 AM:Where do you live? Fairbanks Ranch? Somewhere gated so that taggers aren't allowed in? Well the rest of us don't. We have to put up with your trash and all the undesireable grafitti that you just can't seem to clean up...wake up Sir. It's on YOUR property and you are obliged to keep blight out of our neighborhoods!
Connie wrote on Jan 21, 2007 4:18 PM:I knew this would happen when the Sprinter came in but it just had to be built. Why not put cameras around there to catch these little losers? Someone better start taking responsibility for this, or this will just become the norm like it already is, on fences and buildings in other parts of the county.
Greg in Oceanside wrote on Jan 21, 2007 4:21 PM:How about inexpensive surveillance cameras? City officials and those tasked with combating graffiti could position them in areas known for frequent graffiti problems.
Floyd wrote on Jan 21, 2007 4:39 PM:"The silver paint was supposed to be spray-paint resistant," says Tom Kelleher. As an educational service, may I recommend that you hurry down to your local video rental store and check out the movie "Turk 182", a movie about getting the attention of an indifferent government bureaucracy. You'll see a lot of pointless officiousness and the response from those affected. It will be okay for government officials who view this movie to stop it after the spray-paint-resistant part, just to help retain some semblance of calm. Everyone else will enjoy it all the way to the end. During the first half-hour you think it'll be a tear-jerking chick-flick, but it transforms into a fun-filled picture that offers renewed hope that we can have a positive influence on government activity. Highly recommended!
Fed-Up wrote on Jan 21, 2007 5:32 PM:Maybe make some tougher laws/penalties on the taggers. How about local law enforcement conduct some stake outs. Make some arrests. All I ever see is motorcycle patrols at 3:30pm giving soccer moms tickets for driving 29mph in a 25mph zone. The taggers tag the same spot out side my neighboorhood EVERY night. Unless some arests are made - all this talk is worthless. Heh! Sherriffs, the corner of North Santa Fe and Taylor Street (public corner) gets tagged every night. A little help here. Cameras - did someone say cameras, please along the entire railway, who's monitoring that? The sprinter is already over budget.
You Lose wrote on Jan 21, 2007 7:55 PM:This is a problem that will never be rectified until round-the-clock security monitors these areas. Any of you that think cameras will slow it down must be smelling the paint that these punks are using. Taggers aren't dumb (well, maybe a little bit) and they'll just wear masks or disguise themselves. Don't tell me that NCTD was so naive as to not think of this when projecting their future budgets?
Taggers want to bring our cities into the gutter with them wrote on Jan 21, 2007 8:24 PM:Nice walls which we paid for are being destroyed and no one is going after the culprits. Out source the catching of these individuals. Don't wait six years hoping the tagging will go away. Make the parents of these individuals pay for the clean up. It is exciting to see state of the art transit being building for our cities but sad to see it destroyed so quickly. Repeatedly removing graffiti is not the answer.
Not Right wrote on Jan 22, 2007 10:05 AM:Everyone is so quick to blame everyone else for their problems, including blaming political people and government groups. How about training your children to be respectable people. The crime is coming from the community, therefore we need to be responsible for our communities' actions! We need to learn responsibility for our own actions, train the children correctly and this doesn't occur. How about, if your community creates the problem, the community fixes it. The community will quickly get tired of cleaning graffiti and it will stop. Get the schools to include graffiti removal as a punishment for bad behavior and the graffiti will stop in a few months. This is not brain surgery. The people performing the graffiti are not adults, they're usually kids with parents who don't know how to be a parent. Therefore, communities, accept responsibility for your own actions!
Growing problem wrote on Jan 29, 2007 9:15 AM:While walking in the Fire Mountain/South Oceanside neighborhoods regularly the past few months I was appauled at how much graffiti was in our neighborhoods. The graffiti hotline is on the Oceanside Police Dept. website. I call regularly and they are great about cleaning it up. However in a week or two the grafitti is right back. Why aren't there camera's set up at places where graffit is routinely placed and cleaned up in order to catch the culprits? Might save the city tax payers in the long run.
Disgusted wrote on Feb 1, 2007 9:44 PM:San Marcos Planning department officials recently forced a local businessman who was building a brand new office building up against the Sprinter tracks to use rough textured slump block for the two story buuildings exterior wall and 10 foot fence wall which together are about 150 feet wide. Though he protested that he preferred to use smooth construction block so it could be cleaned more easily if taggers spray painted on the walls, SM officials said no. The businessman requested that he be allowed to use vines or shrubbery planted to cover the fences instead of costly solid block walls which he said would be a target for taggers. Again, SM said no. Amazingly they required him to build his fence 10 feet high because they didn't want equipment stored behind the fence to be visible to the Sprinter riders, they wanted the view along the tracks to look good for the riders! The cost of construction to this businessman was enormous and unnecessary. The taggers haven't hit this nuilding yet but they will and courtesy of the City of San Marcos' clueless Planning department, the grafitti will be on there permanently and unremovably. What will the Sprinter riders see then?
james wrote on Oct 30, 2007 12:51 PM:how many people griffiti in honolulu?
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