Paul Wellman

The relatively clean wall behind Sheriff's Deputy Garrett Te Slaa is one of the many ongoing battle zones of flat grey paint versus graffiti

Graffiti tags come in many sizes, shapes, and colors. Goletans, like other South Coast residents, have seen plenty of examples — usually on homeowners’ fences and walls and assorted outdoor public surfaces. But in Goleta, you have to look quickly to spot the spray paint before volunteers clean them off or paint them over.

Many municipalities, such as the City of Santa Barbara, fund graffiti removal programs, but the Goleta Valley has had a homegrown cleanup force since well before the City of Goleta’s incorporation in 2002. Dismayed by vandalistic defacement and inadequate response from county agencies, individual residents and some service groups have fought graffiti since at least the mid-1980s.

In the past, this loose-knit network of volunteer graffiti fighters has helped remove tags in my El Encanto Heights neighborhood. Most of them were strangers to me, and some did not reside in this section of Goleta. So why were they spending hours taking down tags from the walls and bus benches? Posing that question to some of the graffiti warriors revealed a common theme of community pride.

“Though tagging is a crime,” said Ed Graper, a 12-year veteran of the anti-tagging effort, “it is also a competitive sport. Removing a tag means I won a round.”

“I wanted to live in a neat, clean neighborhood,” said Cecelia McGuire, who moved to the San Marcos High School neighborhood around six years ago. “The wall [along Hollister Avenue] across from the school was filled with graffiti and looked terrible,” she said, explaining her involvement. The wall McGuire refers to is about 750-feet long and five-feet high.

Working alone and on weekends, the feisty senior citizen painted it. McGuire doesn’t recall how many weekends it took her, but when the 10 gallons of paint she initially bought ran out, she received a donation of more paint to finish the job. “My arms were sore after each session, I can tell you that,” she said, smiling.

“The tags just bugged me,” said a man who has lived in El Encanto for decades. Concerned about possible retaliation, he prefers to stay anonymous, so I call him The Carpenter. He began removing graffiti around Dos Pueblos High School (DP) and the streets leading to it some seven years ago.

“I thought I could give back a little bit to the community,” said The Carpenter. “I just started doing it and it grew.”

The concentration of tags in the DP area is evidence of the age group and intent of the taggers. “They want to announce themselves, and the closer to the start of school the more tags appear,” The Carpenter observed.

Ed Graper, a 12-year veteran of the anti-tagging effort, agrees: “A few taggers do most of the tags. They are saying, ‘See me’ with their tags, 99.9 percent of which are forms of the tagger’s name. It’s a territorial marking, too,” particularly with gang members.

He estimated that about 80 percent of the 1,000 tags a year he removes or paints over are stylized signatures; the other 20 percent are gang-related. Functioning like a tribal elder to Goleta’s graffiti warriors, Graper knows he and his confederates do not get all the tags all the time, nor can tagging be completely suppressed.

“Though tagging is a crime,” Graper noted, “it is also a competitive sport. Removing a tag means I won a round.”

The Rotary Club of Goleta Noontime, which Graper once chaired, and Goleta Valley Paint store also win points for supporting anti-graffiti efforts.

Deputy Sheriff Garrett Te Slaa is a community resource officer specializing in Neighborhood Watch programs, graffiti, and gang abatement for Goleta. He said that grassroots volunteers are “a fantastic way to tackle the problem of graffiti.” Citizens should watch their own neighborhoods, he believes, since quick removal of tags effectively neutralizes their messages.

“Gang tags advertise the gangs,” Te Slaa said. “Removing tags discourages them.”

Goleta residents who spot a tag, or better yet a tagging in progress, should call the Sheriff’s Dispatch at 692-5743 or 683-2724. They can either make an anonymous, for-your-information call, or request that a deputy take a criminal report, Te Slaa said. Both are valuable in tracking tagging and building dossiers on individual taggers.

An incident in Old Town Goleta illustrates how tags are evolving and what useful information law enforcement can glean from them. Paper “stickies” are increasingly part of the tagger’s tool kit because they are quick and easy to apply, especially to the backs of stop signs. Graper was recently asked to remove about 50 stickies from a wall in Old Town, which were turned over to deputies.

“Seeing the [taggers’] monikers told us, almost definitely, that three members of the Goleta 13 gang were back in town after a year’s absence,” said Te Slaa. “That is the kind of information we need to know.”

For those seeking to remove or paint over tags on different surfaces, Graper willingly shares his knowledge. He has posted cleaning tips here.

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