Its been fun..thank you

The time has come for me to end the battle. Thank you to everyone that lent their support and encouragement. We made good progress...the 3rd Street tunnel and pathway are restored to their original beauty, and Riverview Park is once again being used by families for picnics. We now have regular patrols and security checks, which are much appreciated. I sincerely believe that there is a renewed focus by the City and all of us on the growing problem of graffiti, and vandalism in general, in our community. That is a very good thing. Our time and energy were not wasted.

I really do hope that the City of Benicia works toward strengthening the graffiti code and toward implementing an effective multimedia anti-graffiti/vandalism strategy as other cities have done. Those efforts will go a long way towards improving the quality of life for all of us in Benicia, which by the way, is already awesome.

My special thanks to the following people because absent their contributions we would have not gotten to first base.

Thank you Mayor Patterson for answering my calls and emails.

Thank you Chief Spagnoli for spending a significant amount of your valuable time on working with us. You promptly answered each and every one of my queries. Also, I thank you for putting together the neighborhood meeting.

Thank you to the officers of the Benicia Police Department for always quickly responding to our calls for assistance.

Thanks to Officer Fred Ayala for your great attitude and cooperative spirit.

Thank you to Councilman Ioakimedes for continuing a dialogue with us and pledging your support for our neighborhood and our city.

Thank you Roger Core for your efforts. The fact that virtually all graffiti has been abated is a tribute to your effectiveness.

Thank you Sara Stroud from the Vallejo Times Herald and also the Benicia Herald for helping to get the word out.

Thank you friends and neighbors for your continuing support and encouragement. A special thanks to those that gave, and continue to give, constructive guidance and counsel...you know who you are.

Finally, thank you to my wife, Cathy, for her enduring love and patience. Without her, everything would be meaningless.

Please know that I appreciate each and every one of you.

Its been fun...thank you.

- Ross Sagun

Councilman Ioakimedes responds

"Your post 7/21 meeting comments give me the impression that it was a good, frank, productive discussion. I can't disagree when you point out that there is still much to do, butI also feel as though some of the conversation has turned into a them vs. us (citizens vs. City of Benicia). I hope that is not the case, as your actions are proof that more is accomplished when we work together.

I believe that cities that are in constant review of local ordinances
stay on top of maintaining their quality of life issues. A quick look
at most any Benicia City Council agenda will show that Council, City
Staff, City Boards and Commissions, and our citizens in general are
always working toward updating and refining our local ordinances so that
they are effective in responding to today 's world. Again, your
actions and the City 's response are examples of that.

Please believe that graffiti and other related types of crimes will not
be placed on the back burner as long as I am on the Council. I just ask
that we are all mindful that we are all working towards the same goal."

- Mike Ioakimedes


We have heard precious little recently from our City Council about the graffiti and vandalism problem in Benicia. Thank you, Councilman Ioakimedes, for taking the time to address our concerns. I invite all of the members of Benicia's City Council to comment and show just how concerned they are about our concerns and preserving the quality of life in our city.

- Ross Sagun

Graffiti is a sign of government's failure to tend to basic housekeeping

"Graffiti delivers a message. It's a signal to other taggers; a deadly warning to rival gangs; a commentary on the kind of society in which youth earn respect from one another by vandalizing property.

The markings also tell visitors that a neighborhood is not cared for by the people who live there or the city workers who serve it. They are a statement about a city government's failure to tend to basic housekeeping. By the same token, quick removal of the scrawls puts residents and visitors on notice that the community is a place worth defending.

Amid the latest in a succession of graffiti spikes, Los Angeles residents have increasingly responded as soon as tagging appears by calling the city at 311 and reporting it. It takes too long for contractors to remove it -- three-to-five working days, long enough for taggers to broadcast their messages and take credit for their perverse handiwork. But residents at least have a safe way to respond." - Los Angeles Times

Glendale, AZ arrest shows the power of an effective anti-graffiti strategy

Here is a good example of how one city, Glendale, Arizona, effectively utilizes its anti-graffiti/vandalism strategy. Notice that it incorporates the following elements:

1. they have an anti-graffiti website
2. they offer a reward for useful tips
3. they work with prosecutors, asking for charges to be brought
4. they use the media and internet to publicize their successes

Benicia could learn from this city's successes.

- Ross Sagun

Glendale Police Nab Number 1 Graffiti Suspect

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Officers from a Glendale Police Neighborhood Response Squad located and arrested their “most wanted” graffiti vandal yesterday. They arrested him for drug possession charges, but plan to submit 14 cases of Criminal Damage against him for the graffiti incidents.

For several weeks, Officers Randy Stewart and William Keeble have trying to identify a graffiti vandal who uses the tagging name “Scar.” He was the foremost subject depicted on the department’s Graffiti Busters website (www.glendaleaz.com/police/GraffitiBustersMostWanted.cfm). “Scar” is responsible for at least 14 cases of vandalism causing thousands of dollars of damage to block walls, poles, signs and other property throughout north Glendale.

Officer Keeble recently got information that “Scar” is actually Henry Almeter (w/m 2/9/88), a 19 year-old Glendale resident. On December 12th, Officer Keeble went to Almeter’s house in the 7300 block of W. Villa Hermosa Avenue to serve a search warrant. He found Almeter leaving the house and detained him. Almeter was found to be in possession of both marijuana and cocaine and was arrested for those crimes. Officer Keeble then served the search warrant and located numerous items of evidence which link Almeter to graffiti vandalism, along with more illegal drugs. Officer Keeble is submitting 14 different cases of Criminal Damage against Almeter to prosecutors, asking that criminal charges be filed. Almeter will also have to answer for the drugs found on his person and in his residence.

Anyone with information about a graffiti vandal can call the TAG (Together Against Graffiti) Hotline at 602-262-7327. Tips leading to an arrest can qualify for rewards of up to $250.00.

City of Glendale - Police - Graffiti Busters Most Wanted The Glendale Police Department is asking the residents of Glendale for assistance in preventing graffiti throughout the City as well as catching graffiti vandals. The following photos represent some of the existing graffiti incidents that the Police Department is currently pursuing. Do you recognize any of these tags? Do you have information on who is responsible? If so, please CLICK HERE and submit a tip online. If you are witnessing the graffiti being applied now, please contact the Glendale Police Department immediately at (623) 930-3000. Need to have graffiti removed? Click here to submit a removal request online.

[Glendale Police Department]

One city that is getting it right

Police purchase graffiti cameras

By Staff Reports
(Created: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 10:13 AM CDT)
In response to a rash of recent vandalism involving graffiti, the Rowlett [Texas] Police Department has purchased high-tech cameras in hopes of catching the perpetrators and curtailing the problem, the Rowlett Police Department announced this week.

The device uses digital cameras and wireless technology to capture a photograph of the vandals in action. The camera emits a loud audible noise, warning the vandals that their photographs have just been taken. Detectives retrieve the photographs, identify the suspect, and use it in the prosecution.

Even though police say that less than 5 percent of the city’s graffiti is gang-related, it still represents a problem in terms of property values and economic development.

The city began to notice an increase in 2006 when 59 incidents were reports. So far this year, there have been at least 22 cases. The Highpoint Industrial Park is a popular spot for taggers, those who are typically responsible the vandalism.

Rowlett Police Chief Matt Walling said, “The police department and the city’s Economic Development Department met recently with local businesses in the Highpoint Industrial Park to share ideas and information to come up with a plan to reduce the number of graffiti offenses being committed. The “graffiti cameras” are one of the tools identified in the meetings to help combat the graffiti problem. The businesses will also become the “eyes and ears” of the police department by reporting suspicious activity when they observe it. This type of collaborative effort has been successful in cities all across America.”

The cameras, manufactured by Q-Star Technologies in Torrance Calif., are in use in numerous cities throughout the United States. Rowlett police say these cameras have been extremely successful in reducing graffiti, illegal dumping and other criminal activity. The cameras can be deployed rapidly and moved anywhere a problem is identified.

In the past the police have had to depend on catching the suspect in the act or informants to solve these crimes.

Rowlett police say the flexibility to deploy the cameras allow patrol officers to have more time to answer high priority calls.

As part of this new response to vandalism the Rowlett Police Department has launched a graffiti information page on its website at http://www.rowlett.com/Rowlett/Departments/Police/Graffiti_Landing.htm

report_taggers@rowlett.com has been setup for citizens to email detectives with tips on graffiti. Currently the city has an email hotline to report taggers and graffiti artists. The address is report_taggers@rowlett.com. Or they can police dispatch at 972-412-6200 option #1 to report crimes in progress.

The city also is working on other measures such as an abatement response and educational programs.l

Say What?

"... we will develop a right-sized multi-state adaptive human-resource solution to Benicia's graffiti problem. With self-enabling multi-state monitoring, a proactive neutral approach utilizing our grass-roots content-based data-warehouse, we have developed a universal zero tolerance capability and a user-centric non-volatile focus group tasked with developing a realigned didactic budgetary management strategy. This triple-buffered systemic focus group utilizes organized empowering capacity along with focused executive monitoring and incorporates current best practices in our battle against graffiti. With this cross-platform dedicated capacity and re-contextualized responsive policy, it is virtually assured that we will wipe out all graffiti and vandalism in Benicia. "

I prefer, "Git 'er done!"

What we need is an anti-graffiti/vandalism strategy that incorporates the following elements. This will require our City Council and departmental leadership to be proactive.

• a strengthened municipal code section
• consistent enforcement
  
• community-involved anti-graffiti groups
• city-provided graffiti abatement kits for victims
  
• a web presence outlining the City's strategy
  
• rewards for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of perpetrators
  
• an online and dedicated phone line reporting system
• making it known to the DA that we want vandalism prosecuted to the extent allowed by law
  
• an effective anti-vandalism PR campaign utilizing media and school resource officers

Is it possible?

-Ross Sagun

Vandals Strike Benicia Middle School

You never know what you are going to find on your way to the grocery store. As a good citizen, I called it in to the Benicia Police Department.

I asked the dispatcher if it had been previously reported. "No", replied the dispatcher. "That's odd", I replied, "since there is a Benicia Police Department patrol unit sitting in the church driveway looking right at it (and me)".

I guess its true, minor offenses like this are unimportant because "We don't have a graffiti problem in Benicia."

[care to guess who was following me out of the Raley's parking lot?]

How to get serious about graffiti offenders

Man will be held until trial after tagging cell

By Stuart Duncan [Corpus Christi, TX]
Originally published 04:34 a.m., July 31, 2008
Updated 04:34 a.m., July 31, 2008

A man being held on felony graffiti charges will continue to be held until his trial, after he tagged the inside of his cell at the City Detention Center, police said Wednesday.

Ralph Mirabal, 18, is being held without bond at Nueces County Jail, after police say he used a coin to scratch his nickname into the paint of the cell he was being held in.

Mirabal, arrested Friday in connection with graffiti found at Incarnate Word Academy, initially was held on a $50,000 bond.

"He's going to have to talk to (District Judge Sandra) Watts about it," Detective Ben Teed said. "That was the deciding factor in being able to keep him locked up. Normally he would've gotten a bond but he violated the law while on bond for a different charge."

Mirabal faces two years in prison and $10,000 in fines if convicted.

Police weren't sure Wednesday how much it would cost to repair the damaged cell.

Mirabal also was arrested in June for allegedly painting graffiti on several business and homes and on a local children's hospital before bonding out of the county jail.

Contact Stuart Duncan at 886-3792 or duncans@caller.com.

No euphoria expressed or implied

Dear Mr. Schwartz,

Thank you for your kind note. Its obvious that we both have Benicia's best interests in mind. My only point was to say that eliminating the skateboard park probably didn't help the problems on First Street and at the shopping center that you described in your note. It would be interesting to see the police department stats re skateboarding before and after Willow Glen was closed. My guess would be that they are up significantly, as Chief Spagnoli alluded.

As far as the knives, under-aged drinking, and drug activity you mentioned, I'm not sure that closing the park solved those problems either. Instead, they have just been spread out over the entire city. Does a skateboard park really serve as a crime magnet? I doubt it. I think the vast majority of Benicia's youth are great kids. I haven't seen any recent police reports in the daily activity log regarding those types of problems at the new skateboard park located behind Matthew Turner.

No, you are right; I don't have a skateboard park behind my house. I do have a public pathway behind it, and it is frequently used by boarders, and that is just fine with me. I think we agree that its not the boarders or the bikers that are the problem; its those that lack the respect for others.

Unfortunately, in this "me me me" culture that has been fostered over the last few years, few care about anything or anyone but themselves, and that is truly sad.

--Ross Sagun




I too had a skateboard as a kid. This was the era way before skate parks and the like. I in no way blame the skaters for all the defacing, tagging, graffiti, etc. that is so prevalant in this town. I do feel however there is a blatant disregard for other citizens from kids/teens on bikes and skateboards. Try making an ATM deposit at Solano square sometime. Kids on skateboards go through the parking lot with reckless abandon, playing "chicken" with cars and then when you hit the brakes to avoid hitting them and ask them to watch out, in most cases you are thanked with a middle finger and profanity. Try taking a walk on First Street to window shop or relax, you have an excellent chance of being hit by children/teens tearing down the sidewalks on their bikes, skateboard, Razor Scooters, and the like. When you either try to avoid them and point out the signs, in most cases you get the same reaction as I stated about Solano Square. The Willow Glen skatepark was not the euphoric place Mr. Sagun describes. I have been a member of Benicia Fitness during both ownerships. I can't tell you how many times over the years the Police had to come out there to break up fights (I saw knives and the like confiscated) as well as underage drinking, and even some drug activity. The same activity that Mr. Sagun has worked on stopping at the tunnel is not much different from what went on at the skatepark....the difference is the skatepark is not behind "his" house. It is not skateboarding or bikes that are the problem. To me it is a lack of respect for other people and property by whoever is engaging in these activities. Unfortunately the only solution as I see it is increased police patrols and citizen's reporting what they see when they see it. When the culprits are caught there need to be serious implications such as mandatory community service and whatever else it takes to send the message that this will not be tolerated and is socially unacceptable. Jeff Schwartz

What the heck? No graffiti??

A funny thing happened on my walk today. Strolling down the path to my favorite tunnel, I ran across three individuals carrying cameras, lighting equipment, shades, and various photographic equipment. Of course, I couldn't resist inquiring about their activities. It turns out that they were on a "photo shoot" and were looking for a "..San Francisco style graffiti" location for their subject's background. One stated,

"This used to be the worst graffitied place in the whole town."

I am happy to report that this is no longer the case.

- Ross Sagun