Graffiti Issues Ongoing:
When this editor first moved to Pacific Palisades in 1994, she was climbing the stairs below the Methodist Church between Haverford Avenue and the church parking lot.
An elderly woman with a rag and some sort of fluid in a spray bottle was cleaning graffiti off the bench in the stairwell.
Over the next several months—and then years, I saw her at other locations in this area cleaning the graffiti. I thanked her, but never got her name.
She told me that Arnie Wishnick kept graffiti-cleaning supplies in his Chamber of Commerce office and anyone could access it.
One day I saw her in the Methodist steps area, and she told me she was stopping because she wasn’t feeling well. I think she may have died shortly after that because I never saw her again.
Then, my husband took over when our children were in elementary and middle school, and spent a lot of time cleaning graffiti off walls.
Today, I received an email with a photo (above) of a sign that had been graffitied in George Wolfberg Park in Potrero.
Here’s what the residents can do—call or email 311 and the City will send out someone to clean it. Or we can see if local residents want to take on the task of cleaning graffiti, just like the elderly lady, a resident, did for so many years.
Latest Atmospheric River Drops More Moisture:
The 12th atmospheric river of the season in Pacific Palisades streamed through Monday, March 20, through the early a.m. on Thursday, March 23. The rain gauge on Radcliffe showed 1.8 inches of rain from this storm.
That brings the season total, measured July 1 through June 30, to 29.3 inches of rain. This more than doubles the seasonal average of 13.78 inches of rain.
The Palisades is still shy of the rain recorded, which was 42.60 inches of rain in 1997-1998. Weather forecasters are predicting that the next week will be dry.
Comparing the last six years in Pacific Palisades:
2015-16 received 9.07 inches of rain.
2016-17 received 17.99 inches of rain.
2017-18 received 6.04 inches of rain.
2018-19 received 19.68 inches of rain.
2019-20 received 13.82 inches of rain.
2000-21 received 10.94 inches of rain.
(Editor’s note: Ted Makie, now deceased, served as the Palisades raimeister for years and had shared stats from 1942 through 2014 with this editor.)
There is a post on Nextdoor with a photo of graffiti on the new restroom at Wolfberg Park. A reply post asked people to walk the park frequently to keep eyes on it. Last weekend I noticed when I stopped by the Little League breakfast celebration hundreds of people there & also on the courts. A pickleball game was happening near the park entrance, So I went in the park, used the restroom & sat on a bench for a few minutes. Only a few people were in the park, a contrast to the crowds on the courts & at the ball games. Maybe it would help if more people walked the park to keep eyes on it.
The Highlands has had a graffiti problem forever. I caught some 20 year olds with spray cans and they did not care. They “tag” as a sport, it’s a game. Take all the signs out that can be tagged. Remove anything (that can be removed) that they would want to spray paint. That is the only solution
Looking at the reported last six years of rain totals we have had an average of around 13 inches of rain per year not including this current year, that is only around 3/4 inch below average for the years totals.
Maybe a solution would be to put cameras up and all graffiti taggers when id’d would have to pay hefty fines and also be responsible for physically cleaning the graffiti. It might make most people stop! How to enforce it? It’s a crime, so would be easy to be enforced if the city really cared. The problem lies with enforcement. That’s why those who do it, keep doing it. No one of authority to change the behavior really really cares. So so pathetic. Not the Pacific Palisades it used to be. Lots of people still care, but so many many could care less. ie – those who can’t read the word STOP on the corner, or make the streets racing tracks.