Hollister
– Local cops and community members will join forces this weekend
to paint the town – parts of it, at least – in an effort to
eradicate unsightly graffiti and put a damper on the city’s growing
gang problem.
Hollister – Local cops and community members will join forces this weekend to paint the town – parts of it, at least – in an effort to eradicate unsightly graffiti and put a damper on the city’s growing gang problem.
Saturday morning’s cleanup is the Hollister Police department’s first graffiti abatement program of 2006. Officer Rosie Betanio said the program is aimed at keeping the city looking nice while at the same time bringing the community together to combat gang violence.
Betanio said police will be working with city officials to target more than a dozen graffiti hotspots throughout Hollister.
“What Hollister has is mostly gang graffiti. It’s designed to mark a gang’s territory and it’s almost like an advertisement for them,” she said. “We’re trying to get the community together; they are the ones who know what is going on in their neighborhoods. We need their help to fight the gang problem.”
In addition to gang-related graffiti, police and community members will focus on areas where vulgar language and derogatory remarks have been spray-painted, Betanio said.
The half-day program will run from 9am to noon, followed by lunch. Open to all residents, the program is, in part, designed to foster relationships between police officers and the community, Betanio said. Those interested in helping out should meet at the Hollister city yard at the dead end of South Street and be dressed for painting.
In addition to helping rid city streets, walls and buildings of squalid scribbling, the graffiti abatement day can actually help many homeowners, Betanio said. Hollister municipal code prohibits property owners from allowing graffiti to stay on their property.
Hollister City Councilman Brad Pike said he likes the idea of the community taking responsibility for making sure the city stays clean.
“I like the fact that the public wants to keep the city looking good,” he said. “But I’d really like to see the offenders, the people who have been caught doing it, out there cleaning it up.”
The police department holds graffiti abatement days at irregular intervals. The idea is that painting over gang graffiti will send a message to gang members that their illegal activities, no matter how slight, will not be tolerated by the community, Betanio said.
“This shows that graffiti of any type will not be tolerated in Hollister,” she said.
Betanio said past abatement efforts have been successful and she hopes to keep the program going.
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or br******@fr***********.com.
