White Center has a graffiti problem and as it has in the past, the community is coming together to address it. A special meeting was called on Jan. 12 to announce the early stage plans.

Chamber of Commerce President Bobby Beeman of Sky’s Barber Shop, led the discussion of how the issue will be addressed and sought more input from the community about cleanup, responses education and prevention.

“I’m proposing a three stage plan,” he said, “I believe that we have an emergency and this meeting and response is the first stage.”

That plan calls for an “Graffiti Response Team” that when graffiti is first seen, to have it painted over, hopefully within 24 hours. Citing several studies Beeman said that quick removal has shown to be an effective deterrent to the kind of “tagging” and graffiti art seen in many urban environments. To that end a deal has been worked out with McLendon's Hardware granting business owners a 30% discount on paint, in the shade they require, to allow rapid repainting.

Beeman said he is working T-Mobile to set up a cell phone line and phone he will personally handle at first, that people can call to report any grafitti they see.

The work will be handled through an arrangement with WorkFare and by volunteers.

The second stage of response is the drawing of a distinction between genuine graffiti art and "tagging" which is often just crudely sprayed initials or gang signs used to establish territories. "I'm an advocate of graffiti art," said Beeman, "I think the art needs to be seen, I think it's an outlet for children or youth. I think it needs to be embraced so we don't have a negative backlash." He mentioned that the White Center Chamber has in the past sponsored five mural walls in the community. "It's been about seven years and they are due for an overhaul." He stressed the importance of a place where actual graffiti artists could display their art. "The term used on the street is 'Free Wall,' " said Beeman.

He noted a wall on 108th SW across from Mt. View Elementary would be useful for this purpose.

Beeman said he and others believe the defacement of walls, windows, fences and more is the work of a limited number of people, not homeless, but likely males between the ages of 15 and 30, possibly gang members. "We're dealing with one or two or three hoodlums that have decided that they are going to take on White Center."

The third part of the program would be education and outreach. This might include art competitions with prizes and more and efforts to encourage more community pride to aid in the prevention of tagging and vandalism in the first place.

The laws against vandalism are clear. There are statutes addressing it at state, and city levels with severe penalties.

In Washington State:
First Degree Malicious Mischief is a Class B felony could send the violator to prison for 2 to 6 months.
Second Degree Malicious Mischief is a Class C felony and can result in a prison sentence of between 60 days to 18 months
Malicious Mischief in the Third Degree is a gross misdemeanor with penalties up to 90 days in jail and fines up to $1000.

For business owners the consequences can be severe too. They are responsible for the removal or coverage of the vandalism. In the City of Seattle this falls under the Graffiti Nuisance Ordinance and they have only 10 days to comply. Failure to do so can result in a penalty of up to $100 per day with a maximum of $5000. The City has it's own reporting, removal and prevention process. While most of White Center is not within the City Limits the applicable Washington State laws are enforced.

Beeman said he has learned the graffiti must be removed quickly. "You have seven days if you are homeowner and three days if you are a business owner. There are hefty fines involved, but this is not an approach I want to take with the community. I don't want to threaten them."

Beeman's goal is to get most of the obvious defacing covered within the next 30 days. To keep awareness of the program going, Beeman said small signs would go up in the community to publicize the phone number for the response team, in the hope reports would come in and the problem could be addressed quickly.