Growing incidents of graffiti tagging have been reported in
recent months, but city departments struggling for resources have
had trouble keeping up with the increasing incidents of guerrilla
vandalism.
Growing incidents of graffiti tagging have been reported in recent months, but city departments struggling for resources have had trouble keeping up with the increasing incidents of guerrilla vandalism.
The city hires a part-time graffiti abatement officer, funded through the police department, who uses paint supplies, cleaning chemicals, and a pickup truck to respond to reports of graffiti on public property.
That officer, Ron Nelson, said most of the graffiti he sees – about 85 percent – occurs on public property such as stop signs, utility poles, and bridges. Concrete culverts passing over creeks throughout the city are frequently covered with tags.
When he sees graffiti on public property, Nelson first tries to remove it with cleaning chemicals. If that can’t be done, he paints over it with a color that closely matches the existing surface.
“They put it where you can see it,” Nelson said, “When I paint a wall (in some places), a week later they’re going to put it back up again. You see a lot of the same ones over and over.”
Most of the local graffiti is committed by individual taggers, or what police call “tagging crews.” They often illustrate the same design, or their initials, or “unintelligible writing,” on as many conspicuous surfaces as they can, Nelson said. A small portion of Morgan Hill’s graffiti is gang-related, indicating claims of territory.
A vacant building on the intersection of San Pedro Avenue and Church Street has become a canvas for taggers since the previous owner, Unique Boutique, moved out.
The western exterior wall sports a design that has shown up at a number of places along San Pedro Avenue, Butterfield Boulevard, and Monterey Road in recent weeks. Unique Boutique co-owner Michelle Lara said she has seen the same design near the Home Depot on East Dunne Avenue.
The boutique moved to Monterey Street downtown last year, and Lara and her mother no longer own the building at San Pedro and Church. Lara said when they owned the building for about five and a half years, it was tagged once with “scribbles” that they were able to remove.
That was about four years ago, she said, and she reported the incident to police.
Nelson said he cannot respond directly to unwanted graffiti on private structures. But he or other city staff contact the property owner to let them know if the side of their buildings have been tagged with designs or initials that are visible from the street.
Municipal code allows the city to enforce the cleanup of graffiti on private property, and holds the property owner responsible for its removal.
The city often provides such property owners with paint to cover up the graffiti, or Nelson will remove it himself with the owner’s permission. Most property owners are cooperative, he said.
“The city doesn’t want to tolerate any graffiti, so I do anything I possibly can to contain it,” Nelson said.
Sgt. Jerry Neumayer said the city received more than 50 reports of graffiti last year. Nelson said tagging has gone up by “at least 25 percent” since a year ago.
Another resource the police use in an attempt to arrest taggers is an online database into which they can enter photos, dates and locations of tags that show up repeatedly, such as the one at San Pedro and Church. The database is shared by other law enforcement agencies in the area, and allows authorities to keep track of the damage and the potential whereabouts of suspects.
Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Jerry Neumayer said the database has not yet produced any arrests in Morgan Hill.
One reason taggers have become more active in recent months is because of the increasing appearance of empty buildings that have just been vacated.
“I think with the increase of vacant buildings, and businesses moving out, there has been an increase of graffiti,” said Sgt. Jerry Neumayer.
He said most taggers arrested in the past have been juveniles, and he and Nelson suspect the vast majority of those who haven’t been arrested are teenagers as well. Those arrested can be charged with vandalism, which can be a felony if the value of damage exceeds $5,000.
As the city struggles financially, having cut the police last year and likely to do so again next year, Neumayer worries that graffiti abatement will become even more difficult.
Last year, the Morgan Hill Redevelopment Agency spent about $25,000 on graffiti abatement. That expense includes Nelson’s wages, painting and cleanup supplies, and his transportation.
Anyone who is a victim of graffiti or has any information about graffiti incidents may call the Morgan Hill Police Department at (408) 779-2101.
