Posted on 09/19/2011 10:58:52 PM PDT by wac3rd
San Jose has seen a sharp spike in graffiti, up 38 percent from a year ago to the highest number of documented tags since 1999.
The surge comes at a time when budget cuts have forced the city to outsource its cleanup work.
City officials say annual surveys done each January since 1999 noted 44,405 graffiti tags citywide this year, up from 29,285 in January 2010. That was the highest figure since the city first started tracking graffiti tags in 1999 and counted 71,541. The City Council will consider the issue Tuesday.
"The volume of graffiti is higher," said Mike Will, a San Jose parks manager who oversees graffiti abatement, adding that reasons for the spike are a mystery. There hasn't been a greater number of any particular type of graffiti, he said.
"It's generally everything," Will said. "Maybe it's something to do with the economy, people's frustrations. We're still talking to experts and police to see what's going on."
Mario Maciel, superintendent of the mayor's gang task force, doesn't believe the surge is related to gang activity and blames "tagging crews" of high-school kids who thrive on the thrill of spreading their tags all over town.
"When there's a quantifiable spike, it's these tagging crews," Maciel said. "It's the whole notoriety among their subculture. That's how they validate themselves. We see that as a social epidemic."
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
The Mayberry-type "aw-shucks" tone shows the bureaucrats spend millions documenting each and every tag, but somehow cannot connect the dots of Asian and Hispanic gangs tearing up the city.
Ever since I moved into my nice neighborhood 5 years ago, there has been an explosion of graffiti near where I live. The city keeps painting over it, and the SOBs keep coming back. I’d love to catch one of these yutes in the act. I’d hold him down and spray paint him all over, then fill his mouth up with whatever was left in the can.
LOL!
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