News ReleaseCity of Long Beach Public Information Office
333 W. Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90802

11/15/2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE #CM: 111506
Subject :

Proactive Anti-Graffiti Program Being Expanded Citywide
Contact :Pat West, Director of Community Development    570.6570
The City Council remains serious about addressing graffiti, and has allocated funding to expand one of the anti-graffiti programs throughout Long Beach.

The City has contracted with Graffiti Protective Coatings (GPC) to expand its services, and use four specially equipped trucks to patrol the City and proactively eliminate graffiti from private property accessible from a public right-of-way, such as the wall of a residence or business adjacent to a street or alley. To better coordinate this effort, and to focus on areas with a large amount of incidents, the City has been partitioned into four sectors. GPC also will respond to calls into the City’s graffiti abatement hotline – 570.2773 – that identify accessible graffiti on private property. Graffiti on other sites, such as graffiti on public property, freeways and train trestles, will be directed to the responsible party.

“This proactive program is an additional tool that can be used to improve neighborhoods throughout the City of Long Beach,” said Pat West, Director of the Community Development Department, which manages the GPC contract. “We are confident that this approach will eliminate graffiti faster then assigning crews after a complaint is filed. Still, the most effective method for addressing graffiti is for residents and businesses to immediately eliminate it from their property as soon as it appears.”

GPC crews will operate from 5:30 am to 2:30 pm Monday through Friday and are available for emergency service 24 hours a day, seven days a week. GPC crews can water- and air-blast or paint out graffiti found on stucco, concrete, block walls and wood. They have the capacity to color match paint or other surfaces to a high degree of accuracy, and they maintain a database of color formulae for repeat sites. They will also remove stickers.

GPC crews will be supplied with special GPS-capable cameras, provided by the Office of the City Prosecutor, to assist in identification, clustering, and trend analysis. This information will be shared with other City departments, particularly the Police Department, and the Long Beach Unified School District, to help identify issues and trends in a more proactive manner.

The Department of Public Works addresses graffiti on public property and rights-of-way, except for parks and street medians, which are handled by the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine.

All reports of graffiti will continue to be transcribed on a daily basis, entered into a specialized database, and forwarded, as appropriate, to the involved City departments or other agency, such as Caltrans for graffiti found on freeways.  Additionally, as clustering and trends are analyzed, the Police Department will monitor “hot spots” in an effort to apprehend suspects, and private property owners will be notified and requested to actively address repeat graffiti on their property and consider certain deterrent measures, such as outdoor lighting or enhanced security.

###