Graffiti hotline keeps LV community 'tag'-free

by Gloria Diaz
Staff Writer

The city of La Verne has been fighting the war on graffiti since enacting a hotline designed to respond to graffiti faster.

The idea for the hotline, which has been in service for three years, came up in a staff meeting.

"The hotline helps us remove the graffiti faster, usually within 24 hours, it is very rare for it to take longer than that," said L.D. Johnson, maintenance operations supervisor for the city of La Verne.

Usually, a citizen calls the hotline, and the entries are checked every morning. Within 24 hours of receiving the report, the city maintenance department goes to the site and removes the graffiti from the wall.

The city has a commitment to remove all reports of graffiti within 24 hours. Only when a specific paint match is needed, an extra day will be taken to remove the paint. La Verne Police Department also uses the hotline to report any graffiti around the city.

"Due to the aggressive response of the program, graffiti is not a major problem in the city," Johnson said.

The cost to remove graffiti can range anywhere from $5 to $12, depending on the size of the "tag" and the type of surface it is on. A 2' x 2' tag will take about 20 minutes to remove, with a cost of $10 to $15. While graffiti on a building wall will be painted over, costing $5 to $6.

Graffiti on a sidewalk is a different story, it will need to be removed with a high pressure water system.

An additional service that the city provides is offering to remove graffiti from private property such as a house.

If there is graffiti on a garage door, and it can be seen from a city street, the city will offer to pay for the removal, granted the property owner provides a signature of authorization.

The city of La Verne allocates $26,000 each fiscal year for graffiti removal.

Anyone can report instances of graffiti around the city by calling (909) 596-8787 24 hours a day.

The county of Los Angeles has enacted its own graffiti hotline to report any graffiti outside of La Verne, call (800) 675-4357.

Pomona also has its own program in use since 1988, which used to be under the jurisdiction of the Pomona Fire Department.

Messages on the hotline are checked the next morning, then a work order is filed and within 24-48 hours, depending on the workload, the graffiti will be removed.

To report an occurrence of graffiti in Pomona, call (909) 620-2265.