City scripts new ordinancon grafitti

A new Calabasas graffiti ordinance will hold parents financially responsible for children who are caught tagging and will hold storeowners and merchants accountable for selling graffitimaking implements such as crayons, stickers and felt-tip markers.

Councilmember James Bozajian objected to the ordinance because he said it had "serious legal flaws" and was "overly burdensome" to the property owners and minors who become involved.

Bozajian said some of the graffiti tools listed in the ordinance have legitimate, lawful purposes.

"We could prosecute Albertson's (employees) for not locking up crayons and stickers," Bozajian said.

City Attorney Michael Colantuono stressed that the ordinance doesn't make it a crime to carry the items, but prohibits their possession in a public place or while the owner is trespassing on private property.

"I don't think we are going to be prosecuting a kid on the way home form school who has his artwork in backpack," Colantuono said. "I think we are going to be a little more selective than that. This is one of those situations where to catch the bad guys you need a net wide enough. . . . To a certain level, we need to trust law enforcement to act appropriately."

The new law will give owners 72 hours to cover up graffiti on their property. If the work is delayed the city could opt to use its own workers to paint over the markings and send the property owner the bill.

Bozajian said the difficult economy might prevent property owners from cleaning up the grafitti expeditiously.

"A homeowner may have a wall facing a street that is very popular in being graffitied," Bozajian said. "Now we are requiring them in 72 hours, at their expense, to go cover it up. They may not be able to afford to do that constantly. I know they can go after the minors and their parents, but I don't want to prosecute people who can't otherwise afford to go and do that."

But Councilmember Barry Groveman said time should not be wasted when it comes to cleaning up grafitti..

"We need to do this," Groveman said. "We don't ever want to see what goes on in other cities happen here. We ought to have it, have sheriffs implement it and we ought to clean it up and move on. Why waste too much time on it?"

Councilmember Dennis Washburn wanted to explore other options.

"I would wonder if we have some other means in terms of dealing with this . . . in identifying those doing this activity with a camera or recording regime of some kind," Washburn said. "It might make the issue of dealing with the problem of graffiti in general in Calabasas something where we get more proactive."

City Manager Tony Coroalles said the intent of the law is to have merchants keep paint ready on their property so they can cover the graffiti immediately. The city could put out a surveillance van to catch the criminal if the activity becomes repetitive, Coroalles said.

Community Development Director Maureen Tamuri said the city has been hit with a "current wave of tagging." Some tagging is done by gang members, while others is done by students, Tamuri said.

"Graffiti breeds graffiti, there's no question about that," Mayor Pro Tem Jonathon Wolfson said. "The faster it's removed, the less likely it'll be repeated. I think this along with some public education would cause people to have graffiti removed quicker."