THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412080182
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY GREG GOLDFARB, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 179 lines
WHEN STEVE AND ANN Sondergard moved to Level Green last April from South Carolina, they never dreamed they'd have to worry about graffiti.
So when Ann Sondergard awoke last August and found the words ``IRIE ROOTS'' crudely spray painted across her backyard fence, she was more confused than frightened.
``I didn't know what the words meant,'' Sondergard said. ``I thought that if they had a meaning, it might be gang-related. It was a little unsettling because I was alone here with the kids. It was unnerving because nobody heard anything.''
Sondergard quickly learned that although the state's largest city is susceptible to graffiti it is alone in offering the only ongoing graffiti hotline and city-funded graffiti abatement program in Hampton Roads.
After looking around her College Park neighborhood, Sondergard discovered that hers wasn't the only private property vandals damaged some time between 1 and 4:30 a.m. Aug. 20. A street sign had been removed, some bicycles were stolen from nearby homes and a car was also defaced by graffiti.
``To me, it just seemed like an isolated event,'' Sondergard said, looking back on the episode. ``It was like, some kids were out for some fun one night.''
It was no joke, however, for Sondergard and her two children, Jeanie, 12, and Gregory, 10, who became victims of a burgeoning problem that city officials say is not expected to go away any time soon.
Sondergard's anxiety was further compounded by the fact that her husband, a Navy sonar technician, was out to sea at the time of the incident.
Not knowing how to remove the graffiti, Sondergard called the owner of the two-story house she and her husband rent and told him what happened.
At first, the landlord was going to paint over the mess, Sondergard said, and she agreed to bear half the cost. But before they could do anything, she heard about the Graffiti Hotline - a new city service that arranges for graffiti to be removed from private property for free. All she had to do was give the city permission to come into the yard.
Hello hotline. So long, paint cans.
``It's a good program,'' Steve Sondergard said after his wooden fence was power blasted clean of graffiti, in a matter of minutes by a city crew last Saturday morning.
Ann Sondergard said it didn't matter that it took two months after she reported the incident to have it cleaned up.
Since that August morning, she said, her neighborhood has had no serious trouble. She blames last summer's incident on a certain household that no longer resides on her street.
No arrests have been made by the police in her case, she said, and she still doesn't know who defaced her fence.
The words, ``IRIE ROOTS,'' aren't ``gang-related,'' officials say, but they are associated with drug use.
Regardless of whether the graffiti emanates from the hands of an ``artist,'' or a ``criminal,'' Virginia Beach's graffiti hotline and abatement program are proof that the city takes the menace seriously and intends to do whatever necessary to remove it.
To further those efforts, the City Council this week voted 10-1 to ask the General Assembly for permission to abate graffiti in cases where property owners cannot be located, or who may be uncooperative. The city would pick up all the costs.
Getting such approval, however, may be difficult. This is the second consecutive year the council has made such a request.
Regardless, local leaders know that the best way now to prevent graffiti is to abate it as soon as possible - ideally, some cities report, within 24 hours.
Virginia Beach's graffiti abatement crew can't respond that fast, but it is responding.
In the past, the city's public works department cleaned up graffiti on public property, like interstates, but there was no provision for dealing with private property, says Alex Davis, code administrator for the Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation. So the City Council directed the housing department to develop a strategy.
``There was no ordinance that could be enforced in removing it,'' said Davis, who reports that since last summer he has received 241 graffiti-related complaints through Nov. 14. Of those, he said, 133 have been investigated and 120 have been abated. That leaves more than 100 complaints unattended.
Of the 241 total complaints, 70 were registered over the hotline, 67 were logged by various housing inspectors, 56 came from police and 45 resulted from direct calls to the housing department, Davis said.
Davis added that he has no information on who has been doing most of the graffiti.
``We don't try to analyze it, we just try to eliminate it,'' he said, adding that his crew has not had to re-visit a site where graffiti was once removed, nor has it been harassed or threatened by anyone for removing graffiti.
Since July, Davis said, the city has spent $11,200 on overtime pay for one city employee and on materials. The employee is assisted by two non-violent inmates as part of the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Work Release Program. They work no more than one or two days a week, including weekends.
Next year's plans include increasing the number of days the crew will work to try and catch up with the workload.
Because the inmates work for free, it is estimated that the city has saved almost $6,500 in labor costs.
``I know they've been effective,'' said Davis. ``But I sure don't want to say that we're solving the problem.''
Leading the city's crusade against graffiti is a Reside With Pride Committee, appointed about a year ago to study the problem and make recommendations to counter it.
``It (graffiti) was growing in Virginia Beach, not badly, but it was growing,'' said John McNamara, president of a local condo association and subcommittee co-chair. ``We didn't have the authority to go on private property and remove it, and City Council was very concerned about this.''
McNamara said he's not sure who's behind the graffiti, but he, and others, indicate that the lawbreakers fall into two categories: ``artists,'' who spray paint various scenes and words as a means of self-expression; and, ``gang members,'' who are described as 12- to 25-year-olds who engage in activities that may or may not be criminally related.
Virginia Beach Police Department spokesman Lou Thurston said the police and subcommittee work together in locating graffiti, but officers take the lead in identifying and prosecuting the alleged wrongdoers.
Thurston said that the graffiti sprouts mostly from the hands of those 25 or younger who come from affluent homes as well as less fortunate ones.
They are all ``criminals,'' he continued, who will be arrested and tried in a court of law if they are caught. And even though actual arrests for graffiti are few, so is the number of new cases being reported.
``There used to be a tremendous amount of graffiti,'' Thurston said, ``but now, I don't seem to see as much.''
Andy Friedman, director of the city's housing department, said one reason why the city may be gaining the upper hand in the graffiti war is those committing the crimes are witnessing the fruits of their labors being literally blown away faster than they can put it up.
``The best way to prevent graffiti is to prevent the artists from getting what they want most from it - a lot of exposure,'' said Friedman.
The city also has created a 30-second video commercial about the graffiti hotline, which is expected to be broadcast soon on the city's cable television station.
In addition, the city's public school system plans to form a committee and discuss ways to show school-age kids just what a waste of time and money it is to destroy public and private property.
State Sen. Clarence Holland of Virginia Beach agrees that something must be done to repel graffiti.
``We don't need this kind of language for our young children,'' said Holland, alluding to much of the graffiti being obscene.
``But,'' he continued, ``I doubt that you can stop it. You've got to teach people that pride in their community doesn't go in that direction.''
Because the city attracts millions of tourists, he said he understands its desire to keep its roadways, business structures and residences clean. Holland, a physician, also knows that for health reasons, the city can go on private property, without permission, in emergency situations, where the public health and safety may be at risk.
But, he said, he doubts the General Assembly will give the city permission to go on private property without the owner's permission, solely for cosmetic reasons.
``I'd be surprised,'' said Holland. ``We already do it for health hazards; but for aesthetics, I'm not sure how strong the General Assembly would feel on that issue.'' MEMO: Citizens can report graffiti by calling the hotline at 427-3580, Ext.
704. Anyone catching vandals in the process of defacing property should
call the police at 911.
ILLUSTRATION: [Color cover photo.no cutline/no photo credit given]
[Graffiti being removed from a fence]
Staff photo by JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI
Robert Harris, left, a city employee, works with two non-violent
prisoners in the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Work Release Program as
part of the city's graffiti abatement.
``It's a good program,'' Steve Sondergard said after his wooden
fence was power-blasted clean of graffiti, in a matter of minutes by
a city crew.
Photo
Alex Davis, code enforcement administrator
Photo
Andy Friedman, director of the city's housing department
KEYWORDS: GRAFFITI HOTLINE by CNB