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August 16, 2007
LAist Call to Action: In the memory of Maria Hicks...
The story goes like this...
On Friday night, police said, Hicks, 57, was driving home from visiting her sister in Whittier when she noticed a teenager spraying graffiti on a cinder-block wall two blocks from her house near San Gabriel River Parkway and Woodford Street.Hicks honked her horn and flashed her lights at the teenager. As he walked away, she followed him in her car. Suddenly, another car pulled up behind her and someone fired several rounds through Hicks' rear windshield. She was struck in the back of the head and died Monday at a local hospital.
It is completely ridiculous and insanely infuriating to hear this story. Therefore, in the memory of Maria Hicks, a woman who set out to make her neighborhood a better and safer place, LAist asks you today to call and report one piece of graffiti to the city for abatement. It's really easy and takes a few minutes, sometimes even less.
For graffiti in the City of Los Angeles, you can call 3-1-1. If doing it on the phone is too much, report it online (it's faster this way). For County property, call 2-1-1. And on freeways, call Caltrans at 213-897-3656.
Hopefully you will see ridding your block or neighborhood of graffiti is really not that hard. Los Angeles has a choice to be graffiti free or not. And that choice is yours. As Councilman Eric Garcetti says, take charge of your block, become a block captain (yeah, it sounds a little dorky, whatever) and sign up at www.UnTagLA.com.
Report Graffiti in Other Cities (a select list)
Pico Rivera
Glendale
Pasadena
Santa Clarita
Culver City
Beverly Hills
West Hollywood
Santa Monica
Long Beach
For cities not listed, contact your local city hall or search their website.
Photo by GypsyRock via Flickr
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I used the form to report some graffiti yesterday. The graffiti was gone by the time I got home from work.
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Amazing!
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graffiti as crime?! graffiti as art. get over it and figure out that city life and graffiti go very well together. why not complain and try to litigate against another billboard or stupid advertisement on every piece of visual space in LA?
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Graffiti is one of the first signs of deterioration of a neighborhood. No, I'm not talking about graffiti that be seen as art or smarter-thinking graffiti.
I'm talking tags and territory. I'm talking about a criminal walking onto a street and knowing within seconds how easy or hard it will be to commit a crime on that particular block.
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Clean up graffiti will do nothing. The problem is in LA there are no jobs for younger people. If you're a younger person non-college bound 16-22 and you're poor, what can you do to support yourself? Graffiti while some is art, lots of it is attached to money making crime. I'm not judging that at all, I mean if I had a choice of starving and crime, I'd choose crime.
Getting rid of graffiti so no one sees it, while it's great is simply masking a much bigger problem. It's like putting band-aid on someone who has breast cancer. Getting a 18 year old in the system, not a good idea, since they'll just get out and be better criminals.
Jane
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I don't have a romanticized view of graffiti. When I moved to Hollywood from Canada as a little kid Jane in the late 80s, Hollywood was not the clean place it is now. It was dirty, scary, and taggers where part of gangs. Taggers are more often than not still part of a larger gang network. Artist don't shoot you if you paint over their art, not with an actual gun, BUT that being said I still think that if Eric and the rest of the politicians truly care they'd figure out away to get people jobs, affordable housing, and choices. We can say fend for yourself, but that means some people decide to shoot and kill other people in order to make that happen, so we have to help people.
Jane
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Jane:
Thanks for your comments. I agree with you--graffiti is one of many things that lead to and reflect dispair and violence in parts of our city. As for housing and jobs, I have spent the last six years working very hard on affordable housing and jobs in Hollywood and in the city. I wish we could provide both to everyone overnight, but despite some tough times, we have brought over 2000 new living-wage level jobs to the heart of Hollywood and built more than 800 units of affordable housing. We need a lot more, but the creation of the nation's largest affordable housing trust fund over the last few years, some new projects I'd love to share with you to house homeless in Hollywood and new job-training projects we have launched with Hollywood youth and the healthcare and entertainment sectors, are all steps in a positive direction. If you ever want to stop by, I have office hours every two weeks. We'd love your input and suggestions and involvement in some of these efforts. My number is 323-957-4500. All the best, Eric Garcetti