Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and other city officials, concerned about a 50 percent rise in graffiti abatement over the past year, hosted a brainstorming summit today on ways to stymie the nuisance.
“This is a call to action,” Hickenlooper told a crowd of about 200 officials from public and private organizations.
Hickenlooper said the summit was “a unique opportunity to examine the local graffiti-related challenges.”
The goal was to “lay the groundwork at this summit to have the foundation for a graffiti task force,” Hickenlooper said.
Major cities that have tackled their own graffiti problems sent representatives to share ideas that have worked – as well as those that haven’t.
In San Jose, Calif., Rob Boyles has run a program that saw incidents of graffiti go from 71,000 in 1999 to 129 in the latest survey, he said.
“That is what we call the miracle in San Jose,” Boyles to the group.
San Jose’s program is a collaborative effort among city agencies, Boyles said, and involves nearly 3,000 volunteers.
“Any city that does not have a voluntary program where you can hand out supplies, you are really going to have a tough row to hoe,” he said.
But Boyles said the program did make big mistakes. For instance, he told the crowd that San Jose tried to have a “free wall” where people were allowed to graffiti.
“It lasted three days,” Boyles said, because the wall only served to attract more graffiti in the surrounding neighborhood.
In Albuquerque, people caught “tagging” face not only criminal prosecution, but a civil lawsuit, Stella Candelaria said.
Candelaria is the associate director of Albuquerque’s Clean City program. She said of the 171 civil suits the city has filed, 132 of the defendants were parents – drawing applause from the crowd.
“We have not had any repeat offenders on any civil suit that we have had,” Candelaria said.
But some participants were concerned that many of the solutions were heavy handed considering that a great deal of graffiti is done by juveniles.
“It seems like they aren’t really looking for direction,” said Francisco Gallardo, with the Gang Rescue and Support Project. “It’s more that they are seeking a buy-in.”
Gallardo, who is also a case manager with Denver Safe City, he did not think making graffiti a felony would solve the problem.
“Just criminalizing youth is what I’m against,” he said.
Still, City Council President Michael Hancock said graffiti goes beyond simple vandalism.
Graffiti makes “a tremendous impact on the psyche of our community,” he said. “It injects a sense of fear.”
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 303-954-1657 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
