public places. i'm sorry. [applause] a great job. you call it in, not enough people know, but if you call it in, if it's on a mailbox, if it's on a utility thing, a pack bell thing, they will paint it out within probably two days at the most. they do a terrific, terrific job. >> yes. >> so that's the good news. my question is that i have researched that there is a software program that the city could buy, costs $60,000 a year, where if you can submit photos of the graffiti -- because i think paul might have a problem, when the police arrests them, he has one count. he has one count. he has a misdemeanor. if tough data base where this tag is repeated 60, 80, 100 times, you now have a felony. he's heading to state prison. we start sending some of these repetitive taggers to state prison and the word gets out on the street that we are a zero tolerant city, you will see a huge reduction in graffiti. so why are we not having that

computer system implemented? >> it's a great system. larry can answer that. >> we actually are. they now belong to the data base. we do input our taggings in the data base. we're linked up all the way from here to san jose. we've just gotten trained. so we are a part of it and that is another tool that we are going to be using in the fight. >> how the pictures getting put into the data base? >> the pictures are taken by d.p.w. staff, by volunteers, by p.d. -- >> by the public. and i know the police department also has -- >> [inaudible] >> the public will have the ability in the future to submit photos, but for right now, if you want to send photos, you can send them directly to us as an attachment. and community groups throughout the city do that on a regular basis. which is very helpful to us because we can have damage here in the mission and we can look at this and say it's the same

guy. he's been going through different neighborhoods. >> and i think 311 also has the ability to send an e-mail to them and you can attach that photograph to the 311 request and if you did it in that way, then they actually have, you know, the number of taggings -- because that's the person's significant and that's how the d.a.'s office would actually go after multiple tags. yes, ma'am? there's a microphone coming. >> i'm president of the northeast neighborhoods. i would like to ask how effective -- i mean, saying the best defense is a good offense. how effective is this resistant pain that can be done? i mean, whenever there's graffiti, does it really help to paint that resistant stuff over it? >> is that larry's question? >> it does help because you're able to remove it a lot easier. you're talking about the protective coating? if it's done right, then you're able to remove it a lot easier.

you're not exxon substantiately painting. you're just going out with a rag and removing. >> does it really resist so they don't paint again? >> the idea is the more that you continually abate, they usually end up going somewhere else because it doesn't stay up long enough for them to get any credit. let me just say, though, having that paint doesn't help all the problems. here's where we get the biggest problems and here's where we get some of the more difficult nuances. when they are on statue. we don't want to paint our statues in this paint. this is a historical city. brick ware. you don't want to paint your brick to just deter the graffiti. if you have a porous etching and the paint soaks in, a lot of times it's just not practical to use that paint to preserve all of the environment.

and the real solution has to come from stopping the graffiti, not just the preventative measures. because it's just so expensive. that's how big the problem is. >> want to get someone in the back? >> i just want to understand -- you guys saying we should -- i want to know why you -- what do you think about -- [inaudible] -- helping him become president with the graffiti writers that got convicted 12 times. also he's from the city -- using this city for years. i just wanted to know your opinion on obama hiring a graffiti artist. >> i'm not sure -- >> i would say one word is permission. >> there was no permission granted by them. >> that's the only difference to me. >> just permission. cool. >> where's the microphone? there in the middle, the man standing up. >> a graffiti watch in hayes valley. despite going to the supervisor and the rest of you, there's a

situation where there's a business, a dry cleaning business, laundry business. the front is on hayes street, the back is on the alley street, linden. used to have a white van. he parked on linden. now it's been hit about 15, 25 times. he's now moved it to the front on hayes street. i spend time cleaning up on hayes street and this van is sitting there overnight. it's a mobile object. and what can you do about it? does it have to have any legislative work done on that? >> i'm not sure on that. do we know if there is legislation on trucks or moving cars? >> it's a state code that we would need for motor vehicles. if you provide it to 311 and provide the license plate, d.p.w. will go out and find out who owns that vehicle and talk to the business owner of the vehicle. >> [inaudible] >> yeah. >> take the license plate on that? >> yeah. >> all over the city -- in that film, three or four different pictures of those. >> absolutely.

i think we could use better stay law to help us for some of the panel trucks that you see that are tagged. it would be nice if they would give localities better tools to address that. but for what you're describing, i think a report to 31 1 will do the truck. >> we have about five more minutes. so how about this lady here? >> i live near 280. and the exit and entrance both on caesar and the posts for the freeways -- it's always full of graffiti. i know it's not the city's responsibility, but how can we get something done about it? >> larry? >> the call -- the caltrain guy -- is fib here from cal-train? >> having work for them before, they are pretty responsive. you can use 311 and you can also go directly to their web page.

we also meet with them on about a quarterly basis. so we bring that issue up. we constantly discuss proceedings. both on the freeways and on the on and off ramps. so we are aware of that and we're trying to work with them as we're all going through this. but it's an ongoing battle. so as fast as they go and cover it -- >> yep. so just 311 on everything you see. we have about three more minutes. how about the man standing up on the left side? i'm going to make the mic runners work. >> a question about -- [inaudible] -- i notice that now there are a lot of -- the city is using green paint on posts and things of that nature. is in -- are you trying to improve on the walls for example and trying to match the paint? because frequently what happens is if you have gray walls and somebody comes in with brown paint and paints over, it's a

perfect -- it's a perfect piece for them to tag. it's actually framed. >> it becomes a canvas. >> right. exactly. >> as you drive around the city, you see a lot of green walls, green garbage can, green poles. several years ago when we started to abate graffiti, it became very costly for us to start going around and using different colors. we joined hands with the public and one of the things we came up with was one color for our street furnitureture and one color everybody can use to start with this graffiti. i can tell you, it's made a huge difference. the green walls look nice and we could do other things nice with them. for now, at least we are fighting off those vandals by using this green color. >> three more minutes. right there? >> if question is for mohammed.

there's a whole lot of graffiti between caesar chavez and silver. there's this one doughnut shop on silver that i'm very close friends with the owner. it gets hit like once or twice a week. and also those vans and trucks over there, like box trucks, they always get hit. and, yeah, i work with northwest alliance as a volunteer to get rid of it. however, the question is what can y'all do it about it to help that area become clean, and as well, how many residents have been made throughout the whole city throughout the district as well as up at silver? >> ok. >> as far as the arrests go, we have 89 so far this year. 89 incidents and a lot of those incidents involved multiple defendants. you might have three or four in one arrest. 9 cases thus far. >> convictions? >> let me just say just as a

follow-up because we just ran a lot -- i figured this was going to be one of the questions. of those it turns out to be a little over 100 defendants. just as he said, each incident may include one or two or more individuals. and from those, just so you understand how it works for the criminal justice system, 60 of them are adults and 40 of them are juveniles, which means they're in a different track and they go to the juvenile court. but when a case comes into the criminal justice system, it takes several months, sometimes longer for cases to go through the system for them to get arraigned, for them to have pretrials, for them to have random hearings and challenging motions to suppress before any of the cases start coming up and through trial. for those of you that follow carefully, we just had our first graffiti conviction of the year just last week where someone was just sentenced to over 200 hours

and probation of graffiti cleanup from a vandalism incident and a graffiti incident hear outside of delores park. so i don't know if that answers the question, but it's more information about those numbers based on this year. >> [inaudible] >> yeah. >> with the business being hit repeatedly, again, we encourage everyone to use the 311 number because we actually use the statistics and see the concentrations of where the areas that are getting hit. what we do with that data is we actually sit down with the police department, highway patrol, wherever the location is and we're going to start doing quite a bit of sting operation. as you know, sting operations are costly so we've also been investing in new technology. just last week, someone sent me an ample i think it was in san jose. it was actually a new device now -- it's a military device. you can puten it on the walls. when somebody sprays that can, you can hear the sound and it

sends a message directly to the police. so far, i think they have made 16 arrests this year just by using the device. we will be experimenting. >> one more question and then we're going to have to close the questions. the lady here in the front in the gray sweater. >> i care> thank you. i care for a small church in the outer mission and i am a business owner. i am wondering if there is initiative to increase exterior lighting. it seems to help in some areas. the lighting is not as good as others -- not as good in others. >> good question. it is a budgetary question as well as increasing street lighting to prohibit -- >> we work for the san francisco public utilities commission. you can contact your supervisor. i will ask for an audit. they will evaluate existing

street lights. in some cases, you can bring it up a little bit. consult with the neighbors so they do not end up with more light in their household. it is best to do it for your supervisor. i am so glad that all of the boards have our members on them. it is great check out impeachment -- it is great acknowledgement of the work they do. "tier supervisor and we will be happy to work on it. -- go to your supervisor and we will be happy to work on it. >> i do want to mention that the darker blue areas on the map as a whole are the concentration of where graffiti is. there are yellow marks that indicates those blocks have been adopted by local people, residents, store owners that live there or work there. all of the blocks in san

francisco are up for adoption. everybody can take on their own block. >> or more. >> and help eradicate the graffiti. if we did not get to your question, i am sorry. please put it on the board in the back. we will put those up on the website and answer them for you. we will get your question. it will be in a couple of days. pardon me? after the second -- there is another panel discussion coming up. there is another question and answer session. stick around. maybe your question will be answered. >> during the break, all of us are available. also, here in the back of the room, the lawyer that i was talking about that just won the first graffiti trial -- wave, maria. [applause] she will be available, too. we are all on facebook.

>> i wanted to thank the panelists for their time. >> we are going to win this time. >> we're not going to take it. our next panel is going to be -- there is no break. where am i? ok. fred is the former san francisco television supervisor -- television broadcaster. john is the united school district's facilities management. city administrator ed lee. louis kenselle, start. can we have everyone take their

seats? this is like herding cats. >> good afternoon, everyone. i am the executive director of maintenance and operations for the school district. my job right now is to introduce our next speaker, who has a familiar face for those of you who have lived here in the area for a while. he anchored the news on channel 4 back in the turbulent 1970's. [applause]

he co hosted with his wife "a.m. san francisco," the morning talk show on kgo tv channel 7 in the 1980's. in the 1990's, he anchored the weekly syndicated show "silicon valley business this week." today, he comes to us not as a tv broadcaster, but as a homeowner and a business operator in san francisco for 30 years. he has gotten involved in many firsthand experiences with graffiti in his neighborhood over the years. i asked him if he would help us out today by showing us how all san franciscans can get

involved in defeating graffiti. dpw's public information office provided fred with a myriad of documents about san francisco's graffiti prevention. he sorted through all of them and has condensed for us some concrete suggestions about how you can get involved in zero graffiti for a beautiful city. please welcome fred. [applause] >> i do not know if you will appreciate this, but it is a joy for a former corporal in the army to be introduced by an admiral from the navy. i have arrived, ladies and gentlemen.

i have arrived. my purpose in being here is to start with questions. what the devil does a 0 graffiti for our beautiful city have to do with you particularly? how can you help defeat graffiti here in san francisco? how can you get involved? it depends on who you are, really. there are different you's here. if you are a homeowner, renter, business owner, student, or apparent, there are ways you can help. if you are on a jury or you have anything to do with our judicial system, there are specific ways it can help. if you are none of the above but you fall into the category of what we call concerned citizens, yes, there are concrete ideas we will pass on. if you are any of the above and use the existing graffiti, and almost all of you held up your hands, there are certain things you should be doing to help defeat it. if you are a witness to a

graffiti act in progress, there are specific things the dpw would like me to pass on. finally, the question is for you to decide who you are. let me take each one of you step-by-step and show you how you can get involved in making san francisco -- to continue to be a beautiful city. let me begin with you, the homeowner or the business operator. if you see graffiti on the side of your building, a window, a doorway, sidewalk, what should you do? five specific steps. first, make sure you are prepared to remove it. take a picture. remove the graffiti. report to the vandalism. finally, prevent future graffiti tagging. let me take each one of them one by one. we will have some concrete ideas. first, be prepared to remove it in advance.

have a can of matching paint and brush or a good graffiti remover on hand to remove it quickly. two, take a picture. sometimes come investigators will recognize the graffiti tags of specific vandals. that can help them. for the police department, i acre-feet the abatement team maintains a database of information and they take pictures of common tax and other tips that identify habitual offenders. that helps them build a case against them. beef -- be sure to report the cost. damage to the property in excess of $400 as a felony. a vandal who commits a felony can face jail time or 96 hours of community service. third, remove the graffiti as soon as you can. within 48 hours would be ideal.

that usually discourages more graffiti. if you remove it, it is much less likely to spread. how do you clean it? here is good advice. at the graffiti is on a painted surface, keep that can of matching paint on hand. paint over it. simple enough. if it is on a surface such as glass or metal, sometimes, a razor blade will take it off. another good idea. if not, purchase a good graffiti remover from a hardware or paint store. if it is on the masonry surface, that is tougher. stone, brick, concrete, that is tougher to remove. you might have to sand blasted or power wash it off. you might just want to paint it. if it is a big job, such as removing acid etching from brando's, there are contractors all over the city who specialize

in graffiti removal. you will find a list of contractors on the dpw website. sfgov/dpw. or, go to the table in the back after the meeting. four, reporting it. file a police report when your property is vandalized. an easy way to do it is on-line. i just search this morning and it came up. as a matter of fact, an interesting and easy form to the lot. you will be given a case number. another way to do it is to call 553-0123. that is the police non-emergency number. report the graffiti and the police will take it from there. if you want to, go to your closest police precinct station and bring your photos. after you have made sure you are prepared, that you've taken pictures, you have cleaned it up, and report it, consider the

future. how do we prevent future graffiti? there were many ways to do that. a blank wall is an open invitation to a graffiti tagger. you might limit their access to your blank wall by such things as maybe planting thorny shrubs in the area. angled roof tops, those are prime targets for graffiti vandals because their tax can be seen from a distance, to give them more fame in their criminal culture. resist access to your roof. consider also installing sensitive motion lights around your property as well as motion sensitive cameras. in my neighborhood, a lot of the people have them. it does not go on and off all the time, but you wonder when the flashing lights are going off. that can be effective. if you have a wall that continually gets tacked, you might consider putting up a

mural. a mural can beautify your property and it is less likely to be vandalized. the arts commission and the city have a new program called street smarts where artists will be paired with property owners who want to have a mural on their wall. if you do all of these things, you will see a decline in graffiti attacks on their property. you will also avoid getting graffiti notices, which nobody likes to get. if you keep up the good work, you will avoid graffiti. you will see the results and the city will be more beautiful. if you do feel that excess of graffiti might be creating unfair hardships for you, you can ask for help. if you would like to request a hearing to explain your situation, to air your complaints, you may write to the director of public works. where is he? ed still around? by the way, call the telephone number. call the telephone number on the graffiti notice of violation.

you can get more information and possibly get a hearing. that is the advice for two of you. the homeowner and the business operator. let's turn to many of you in san francisco. a lot of them are here called renters. here's what to do. if you see any graffiti on your rental property, make sure your landlord hears about it quickly. it is their responsibility to clean it up and the property owner will also want to report that vandalism. you might have as a renter a good enough relationship with your landlord to actually help by even taking pictures and help cleaning up the graffiti. make sure you are in touch with them. there is another you that plays a critical role in understanding -- in helping young kids' understanding graffiti is not art. it is a crime. that is you the teacher. your class can adopt the block around your school and help

clean up graffiti. call 311 if you're interested. there's also a pilot program called "where art lives," a graffiti education project. you'll be hearing more details later this afternoon. if you are apparent, that is another you. you are one of the most important in this audience. make sure you know your child and what he or she is doing or not doing. there are a number of ways. ask yourself, when does my child out of the house? when is he or she home? out late at night or early morning? i would be suspicious if i were you. how about a new, very large backpack, or baggy pants? great places to hide graffiti tools. any pain or stains on their fingertips or underneath the fingernails? could they be attacker? any tax on your child walls, books, or clothing that look

familiar? looks somewhat like graffiti on the walls on your street? i would be suspicious of that. and the obvious graffiti paraphernalia in their possession such as markers, etching tools, spray-painted, duh. that becomes all the more obvious. you get the idea. make sure your child is not a graffiti vandal. not only do you help them respect the law and other people's property, it can be very expensive for you. you as a parent could be prosecuted for failing to supervise your kids and be sentenced to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. that will get your attention. as a parent, you are also responsible for the damage caused by your children, including repairs and attorney fees up to $10,000. if you have not fallen into any one of these categories i have talked about, you might be in the largest category, concerned

citizens. let me suggest a variety of ways you can get involved. you can volunteer to remove graffiti by joining the graffiti watch program. dpw will train you and provide you with supplies to remove graffiti in your neighborhood. you can adopt your street in the adopt a street program. dpw will provide free supplies to clean up graffiti. get your neighbors involved to help keep your neighborhood clean. if you are asked to serve on a graffiti trial jury, be willing and be very proud to serve. that will be another way of showing that you are concerned about graffiti and you take this crime seriously. you, the concerned citizen, can write letters to elected officials. they love receiving them. don't you? persuade them that graffiti vandals should