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Waikele sets example
for erasing graffiti

THE ISSUE Incidents of graffiti nearly doubled on Oahu last year from 2003.

COMMUNITIES across the state can take a lesson from Waikele, where residents have formed a team of early risers to eliminate the blight of graffiti from their buildings before it sees the light of day. They have learned that depriving vandals of the attention they crave makes their paint-spraying a waste of time and effort.

Graffiti is a serious problem beyond the public canvas. It has been likened to what sociologist Nathaniel Glazer called the broken-window syndrome: "If a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken. One unrepaired window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing."

Rudolph Giuliani recognized the problem when he was mayor of New York 12 years ago. Within months after he ordered transit police to arrest people caught jumping turnstiles, spraying graffiti or committing other misdemeanors, serious crime in the subways plummeted and graffiti disappeared. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has begun a new war on graffiti above ground.

In 1997, then-City Councilwoman Rene Mansho proposed a misdirected bill that would have ordered property owners to get rid of graffiti within two weeks of public notice or face paying the expense of the city cleaning it up. She backed away after property owners complained about the possibility of being twice victimized.

Penalties for graffiti -- criminal property damage -- range from a month in jail and a $1,000 fine to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine for damage exceeding $20,000. The difficulty is catching the rogue paint sprayers in the act, which usually occurs during the night. A doubling of offenses in the past year has prompted police to step up enforcement by staking out graffiti venues, but their resources are limited.

The Waikele Community Association's recent strategy might be more effective. After finding a one-day volunteer paint-out day in March to be only a temporary solution, the association formed a 15-member fast-response team alerting each other by e-mail about fresh graffiti.

"When they see it, they just go get it," Malcolm Ching, the association's general manager, told the Star-Bulletin's Susan Essoyan. "One lady goes out at 4:30 in the morning and paints the bridge." The strategy has been successful. "They got frustrated and they don't paint the bridge anymore," he said. Waikele has been graffiti-free for two weeks.

Residents launched the project with the support of police and local businesses. "It's important that we have partnerships with the community," said Randy Macadang-dang, commander of the police district that includes Waikele. "The police can't do it alone. It's a shared responsibility that we have."

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