Cities, schools take graffiti seriously but it’s on the rise

Published 1:30 am Sunday, January 15, 2017

EVERETT — A mother carried her toddler out to the car. She looked past the black letters scrawled several feet tall across the front of her brick home.

They were the initials of an Everett-area street gang.

Graffiti can be found every few blocks along Fourth Avenue West in the city’s south end.

Everett neighborhoods became wider targets for tagging over the past two years, but citywide, graffiti problems have remained fairly steady.

Everett code enforcement spent more than $17,000 last year on cleanup projects after graffiti and tagging showed up on people’s property.

The Everett School District dished out an additional $18,200 for graffiti on school property.

Everett has adopted the “broken windows theory” to address the problem. The idea is “If someone walks by 30 windows and one is broken, it inspires them to pick up a rock and break another one,” Everett Code Enforcement Supervisor Kevin Fagerstrom said.

That approach is controversial because it makes cracking down on minor crime a priority and can saddle people with long-term consequences for a moment’s bad decision.

But city code enforcement officials say it works because it sends a message that graffiti isn’t going to be accepted as part of the local landscape.

“Most of our work is reactive. We’re complaint based,” Fagerstrom said. “Graffiti is one that we’re proactive about. When we see it, we don’t just drive by and let it linger.”

The longer graffiti stays up, the more people believe they can get away with it, Fagerstrom said.

The number of reports of graffiti in Everett has stayed relatively steady over the past two years. There were 359 cases on private and public property in 2015. Last year, there were eight fewer.

Cities throughout the county have their own ways of managing graffiti.

Homeowners in Marysville, for example, are responsible for addressing graffiti on their personal property. City ordinance requires removal within 48 hours.

The consequence is a $25 civil infraction, which is issued each day the tagging remains visible.

In Everett, a team of four code enforcement officers monitor tagging.

The city offers a graffiti removal program for residential properties. As long as the paint is publicly visible, code enforcement promises to remove it for free.

In 2014, code enforcement handled 140 graffiti cases on residential properties. In 2015, there were 198. Last year, there were 238 cases.

Other area governments aren’t eligible for the program.

The Snohomish County Public Utility District is responsible for any tagging left on its utility boxes or power poles. The PUD receives between 10 and 15 reports of graffiti on its equipment each month, PUD spokesman Aaron Swaney said. This doesn’t include damage to buildings.

The Everett School District employs two painters. They paint over graffiti at all 26 schools, on top of their regular maintenance duties.

“It takes away from other work we would be doing,” said Molly Ringo, director of maintenance and operations.

Graffiti is typically covered up the day it is found.

Obscenities and gang initials oftentimes are depicted, Ringo said. She wants those messages gone as quickly as possible.

Painters sometimes have been summoned to work over the weekend.

Clusters of tags also have been documented in the Holly, Westmont and Cascade View neighborhoods in south Everett. These areas have major arterials.

“The purpose of graffiti is to have people view it,” Fagerstrom said.

The Holly neighborhood had 49 reports of graffiti in 2015, the most out of all the Everett neighborhoods. Holly also saw the steepest decline.

There were only 11 reports last year.

“Because of the social dynamics there, West Casino and surrounding arterials are prominent for tagging,” Fagerstrom said. “(They) have been subject to incredible scrutiny of police to discourage graffiti.”

Marysville Police Department has a full-time crime analyst. He is responsible for deep dives into crime data, typically the higher-level crimes such as robbery.

However, he takes a closer look at graffiti if there is an increase or if a tag is suspected to be gang-related.

Everett police investigated a prolific tagger in 2015 who was responsible for at least 50 incidents in downtown and the city’s north end.

The cost of removing his handiwork was estimated at $5,000.

However, it is unusual that police catch someone in the act of tagging, said Shari Ireton, a Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.

The sheriff’s office does track graffiti, but it is usually categorized in their system under malicious mischief. Graffiti also can be logged when it’s associated with another crime, Ireton said.

In December 2015, Anthony Camacho, 17, died after he was shot in the head in south Everett.

Diego Tavares, 20, is the alleged shooter.

Camacho’s death appeared to be motivated by gang rivalry.

The day after the shooting, Tavares’ family told detectives someone spray painted near their home. The graffiti displayed the initials of Tavares’ rival gang.

Most gang-related graffiti is intended to claim territory or send a message, Fagerstrom said.

“I believe because we cover it up so quickly it does negate what the tagger is hoping to achieve,” Lamoureux said.

The graffiti problem in Marysville was much worse three or four years ago, he said.

Caitlin Tompkins: 425-339-3192; ctompkins@heraldnet.com