Graffiti appears close to home

If any of you drive through Las Virgenes/Malibu Canyon Road to PCH, you have, no doubt, noticed the enormous amount of criminal graffiti and stickers littering nearly every single road sign along that stretch.

After years of seeing this and making calls to Caltrans, who is responsible for the maintenance of that road, I decided I couldn't wait anymore and over the last two days have spent approximately eight hours pulling over to the side of the road, and peeling and scraping stickers from all these signs.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday I removed about 100 stickers, and several weeks ago painted over approximately 300 square feet of graffiti in the tunnel. I also removed four gigantic stickers on the large "upcoming exit" sign on the Lost Hills overpass of the 101 after looking at them for over two years.

Several months ago, I spent hundreds of dollars and half the night to chemically treat, scrub and then powerwash the large "I Love Masha" graffiti which we all saw on Lost Hills Road.

The help I ask is that if you see graffiti in Agoura Hills, please call the graffiti hotline at 597-7355; in Calabasas, please call Public Works at 878-4225. Urge them to get out immediately.

If you see a sticker on a sign, a bench or a utility box, don't let the mindless sot who stuck it there enjoy it for one second longer than he should. Get out of your car and remove it. My pledge to you all is that I will not allow one sticker or graffiti to last a second longer than after my eyes see it.

My intention is to let criminals know that they are not welcome in our community and that we will not allow them to deface our property. If we let it get out of control, they will feel comfortable and will then get even more brazen and daring. Paul Scrivano Agoura Hills