I use to live in this town and it use to be charming but it is rapidly being taken over and changing, obviously not for the better.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/ho ... 247085.php

Friday, August 18, 2006
Orange gives priority to removing graffiti
The city wants to attack the rapidly growing problem on several fronts. Last year it spent more than $130,000.
By ELLYN PAK
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
ORANGE – From toilet seats to utility wire covers, there are few surfaces that Adrian Villalovos hasn't seen defaced.

Every day, the graffiti expunger drives around city streets, looking for scribbles and removing them with a pressure washer or sandblaster, or painting over them.

Villalovos says lately his job has evolved into a "monstrous" cycle as graffiti markings have increased by 40 percent in the last year and he keeps going back to erase them.

"It just starts to spread and spread and spread," said Councilwoman Carolyn Cavecche, who recently urged city staffers to find broader ways to address the upswing.

"It's bad any place. We need to stop it in its track," she said.

In the last fiscal year, 225,576 square feet of graffiti at 3,562 locations was removed at a cost of $132,898.

The city is now finding ways to step up removal, including talks of: purchasing more equipment, working with the county to get rid of graffiti in unincorporated areas around the city, urging apartment owners to erase graffiti immediately, working with utility companies and recruiting volunteers.

The trend is not uncommon in other cities, which have spent thousands of dollars to rid their communities of graffiti. In Fullerton, graffiti removal has increased from $38,000 to $61,000 in one year. Also, the county spends about $200,000 per year on removal.

"You've got to do it," said Bob Von Schimmelmann, the city's street maintenance division manager. "If you aren't proactive, it starts to build up."

From the Old Towne district's vintage murals to El Modena's sidewalks and private properties, taggers have used spray paint, crayons and even berries to leave their marks.

The graffiti, unlike some of the more sophisticated murals in urban areas, is attributed to young vandals. The trend now, Villalovos says, is for taggers to cross out other graffiti marks and replace them with their own.

Villalovos, a 10-year veteran, has yet to spot an elusive tagger. However, one defiant tagger left him a huge mural with caricatures, including one of a vandal holding a spray can, on a wall near a bike path.

On average, 20 to 30 residents leave tips on the city's graffiti hotline per day, Villalovas said. Lately, he's getting rid of about 16 per day.

"We need to figure out a more ingenious way to handle this," Cavecche said. "We need to get the stuff off the walls as quickly as possible. Whether it is gangs or tagging crews, it doesn't matter. It shouldn't be up."