Anti-graffiti efforts target wrong people

By: The Californian Opinion Staff | Saturday, February 17, 2007 7:42 PM PST ∞

OUR VIEW: Most of the efforts so far have been misguided efforts to punish the innocent victims and third parties rather than the criminals.

The city of Lake Elsinore is debating whether the buyers or sellers of spray-paint, paint pens and other tools favored by graffiti vandals should be the ones to pay an additional tax for graffiti cleanup.

What they're not asking is why either one should.

Why should business owners selling legal products that have perfectly legitimate uses be taxed for doing so? Why should a homeowner who wants to spray-paint his lawn furniture or touch something up with a paint pen pay for the destructive lawlessness of some sociopathic teenagers?

Lake Elsinore is just following the county's lead; in December, the county passed an ordinance requiring sellers of "graffiti implements" to pay a special fee that would be used to hire people to make sure those businesses are restricting access to such items to adults, and keeping them in locked areas. County officials asked that the cities do the same, and Lake Elsinore is the first locally to take up the issue.

With some minor reservations, the city's Public Safety Advisory Commission approved the concept last week, sending it on to the City Council for final approval.

"We like the idea of getting to the supplier, the source," said Lake Elsinore commission Chairman Ron Hewison, making it sound like the businesses that sell spray paint are little more than drug pushers.

At least the ordinance would also increase the fines for vandals and set up a procedure for stripping them of their driver's licenses, which at least puts the onus where it belongs. But the commission members also said a better idea might be to collect an additional tax from the buyers of the implements instead of the sellers (as though the buyers wouldn't be the ones ultimately paying the tax, even if it were applied to businesses).

Graffiti is a growing scourge in Southwest County, and local governments are to be commended for recognizing the need to eradicate it quickly, which has been shown to limit its spread. But beyond that, most of the efforts so far have been misguided efforts to punish the innocent victims and third parties rather than the criminals.

Last year, for instance, Murrieta approved an ordinance requiring property owners to clean up any graffiti within 48 hours or the city would come in and do it, sending the property owner a bill for $80 an hour, plus the material cost.

Like every other crime, graffiti is a problem that affects everyone, not just the person who owns the wall or the fence that someone decided was a good palette for his or her "artistic" endeavors. We all pay taxes to fight crime; why should select people ---- especially the victims ---- be unduly saddled with the burden of this crime?

When the matter comes before the full Lake Elsinore council ---- and presumably councils in Temecula and Murrieta ---- we hope they will ask that question, rather than just try to figure out whose pocket is best picked.

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