Two local residents volunteer to keep graffiti out of this community.
John Alle, a long-time resident of Pacific Palisades, joins Cindy Simon in battling graffiti in this town.
He deserves a huge shout out, too. Next time you see him covering up or removing tagging, give him your thanks.
He wrote to CTN: I just read your column [about Simon] after returning from Anawalt Hardware next to Ralph’s. I buy about $300 worth of spray paint to cover up graffiti and tagging. I actually match the colors to the structure colors. The tagging and (frequency) I see in the Palisades is awful.
I carry seven different colors of about 50 spray cans in my trunk with the latex gloves. In my button-down collared dress shirt I stop, whenever and wherever, I get out of the car and cover the graffiti up. I’ve been doing this for about three years. It was never like this when I grew up here. Cindy is a saint. [CTN wrote about Simon removing graffiti.]
My workers call it a parental issue, a lack of pride issue, a lack of respect issue, and eroding of values. They’re all correct. I guess all we can do is paint over it as soon as it appears. That discourages the taggers who figure out their money was wasted if the same day or the next the tagging will be covered over.
The City does have a program that handles graffiti, but the wait time is three to seven days, and by then the taggers get their strange satisfaction. And worse, other “rival” groups want to “compete” and add their symbols and message, and the blight becomes worse. No structure is sacred, especially our post office public buildings, even boulders and trees in the parks …even street signs.
I feel our available resources to buy the paint are far greater than what the taggers have to purchase paint to ruin buildings. Hopefully they will feel they are losing the battle and wasting their money.
The cleaning spray Cindy uses is great [Goof Off and Graffiti Off]. I find Goof Off works best. It also helps remove stickers on light poles. I carry about 10 cans of that in my car trunk as well.
Thank Cindy when you speak with her next.
And residents let’s thank John Alle, too, for his efforts to keep this community graffiti free.
John and Cindy are heroes. I applaud them and am now motivated to buy the proper cleaning supplies too!
Thanks for cleaning up our community!
Kudos to John and Cindy! How can fellow concerned Palisadians back their efforts? If I’m recalling correctly, some years ago there was a group called Grafitti Busters in town that volunteers could join; can people pitch in financially or in person in support of John and Cindy’s work?
Yes! Thanks to them both! We at the Village Green often have to deal with graffiti on our benches, light poles, trash cans and bricks. It is a constant battle. I applaud the efforts of Cindy and John! Thank you!
John and Cindy…home town heroes!!!
Thank you to John Alle and Cindy Simon for their caring and pride. Thanks Sue for letting us know about this very good neighborhood deed.