Friday, October 3, 2008

Here We Go Again

Almost ten months ago to the day, this exact window was etched by one of Santa Ana's "scratchitti artists". Today, this window once again became the target our newest enemy.

Being that our Association has taken a lax position on glass etching removal, and the city of Santa Ana offers no solutions by way of removal assistance, this problem will only continue to get worse.

There is fine line where graffiti could be considered art, but this recent act of vandalism holds no artistic merit and pisses me off.

During next month's Association meeting, I'm going to move that our Association give homeowners the option of replacing the window pane within three days, or to have the Association pay for someone to buff out the glass–a solution that yields questionable results, but at least removes the eyesore.

13 comments :

Unknown said...

Bummer, so much for thinking things were beginning to settle down here. Looks like I'm back to profiling every kid I see as a dirt-bag tagger/etcher and calling the cops the second they walk near the lofts.

Oh well, so it goes..sucks for them.

Spencer Hoo said...

wow.....sorry to hear it is back......seemed like it died down.....

Slaymetender said...

That does suck, especially for that homeowner too. Does the HOA pay for graffiti (paint) removal?

Spencer Hoo said...

slaymetender, in the HOA literature, they are supposed to remove grafitti within a certain timeframe (24 or 48 hours, i forget). It also never hurts to call both OC and Santa Ana grafitti hotlines to report it.

The property my parents just bought in Santa Ana has been grafitti'd TWICE since the close of escrow (but luckily not the house itself, just the sidewalk and/or cinder block wall outside).

Anything done to the front door, the HOA SHOULD cover. However, the rollup windows are responsibility of the homeowner.

Hope that helps......

SH

Unknown said...

Well, regardless of the fact, everyone has to remain vigilant as our tagging/etch issue can obviously rear it's head. I have to imagine this happened between 2:30-3:30pm when the kids are walking home from school. If you are home working it wouldn't hurt to do a little patrol around then to thwart this from happening.

Anonymous said...

I propose that everyone take a proactive approach and actually protect their home and the appearance of the community AND make it convenient to clean up and not have to be home...... BY INSTALLING PROTECTIVE FILM ON YOUR WINDOWS.

Seriously folks, it's like driving without your seat belt on, we all know the risks by now.

Anonymous said...

anyone have a link or a phone # for the "PROTECTIVE FILM FOR YOUR WINDOWS"?

Ben Dayhoe said...

Tint Pros
714.964.TINT

(Flash) Website

Anonymous said...

I had dinner with a friend down at Memphis recently, and took him over to the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art on Sycamore.
http://www.occca.org/

Every one of the 14 windows, measuring 6 foot by 6 foot by 1/4 were badly etched.

Thousands of dollars in damages.

Anonymous said...

Take a drive down Main Street.

Most windows have been etched or spray painted.

Graffiti everywhere.

4 million a year is spent by the city to remove graffiti, and much more is spent by residents and businesses on removal and lost revenue.

It's time for a real action plan on graffiti,

Anonymous said...

Ben

The City of Santa Ana is cutting the Graffiti Task Force from 4 to 2 officers.

We must stop this from happening.

$ 4 Million a year spent on painting out graffiti, plus all the blight and lost business revenue add up to a very bleak future for Santa Ana.

Slaymetender said...

cutting from 4 to 2 officers? did they list a reason? has the graffiti gone down 50%? that would be the only way I can see that decision making sense. still though, what the hell?

Anonymous said...

Shoot. Are the two remaining officers going to split the $4 million, or are they still going to make just $1 million each?