Texas House Bill 218: My View...

I have a neighbor and fellow neighborhood volunteer who is very good about sending me information regarding various community activities that may be of interest. He passes along things such as invitations to Meet the Candidates nights, town hall meetings and information on classes being given by the city. I try to post the messages on the GNWatch Blog so people interested in the information can find it.

Several days ago, he sent me a notice about a Texas State Bill being sponsored by our representative, Jose Menendez. You can find the entire text of the bill here, but the short text is:

Excerpt: REGULATION OF SALE OF AEROSOL PAINT; SURCHARGE. (a) A county by order or a municipality by ordinance may require a person who sells aerosol paint to: (1) require proof of identification from the buyer before making a sale to that buyer; and (2) record the sale, including the identification information, in a log and maintain the log for at least two years after the date of the sale. (d) An order or ordinance adopted under this section may require a surcharge not to exceed one dollar on each ...

I have had the pleasure of meeting (if you consider shaking hands and briefly chatting, “meeting”) Representative Menendez several times over the years. First when he was running for the District 6 City Council seat at one of those candidate debates at Anson Jones Middle School, and another time at Westwood Terrace Elementary School. During those times, I was really impressed with him, especially when another candidate questioned his resume, and Jose was quick to whip out a certificate showing the degree being questioned.

Later, as he was walking the neighborhood campaigning, he happened upon my wife and I working in the garage of the house we had just purchased in Silver Creek, and he told us how we had bought the house right out from under him! He was a good sport about it, but really, what do you say? Uh, sorry.

So long story short, though I’m sure there are issues that I wouldn’t agree on 100 percent, like when he was among the group of legislators who left Texas to avoid having a quorum, I have repeatedly voted for Jose Menendez because I think he is an overall good representative and means to do positive things for our district.

After receiving the e-mail from my neighbor, I read through the proposed legislation put forth by Rep Menendez and I had to send a response back telling him that I totally oppose this effort. Yes, graffiti and specifically tagging is a problem. Not just in our neighborhood, city or in the state of Texas; it is everywhere. I applaud the efforts of people to address the problem, but seriously, this proposal is nothing more than “feel good”, “look at us, we are doing something” crap.

Let’s think this out. They want places like Home Depot or Lowes to check your ID when you buy a can of spray paint. Then they want them to log your name and keep a record of the transaction for 2 years. Then they want you to pay up to one dollar per can. Attention foes of the Patriot Act: feel free to pipe in now.

Forget the extra tax on the paint (to be used for what?); now people at hardware stores have to go through all this extra nonsense just to be in compliance with the law, when the fact is, it does nothing to stop tagging. I'm sure that will lower prices in a tough economy.

Think about this: The police show up to the crime scene. Someone has sprayed black paint on a fence. Does the officer call out the CSI people to come and do an analysis of the paint to determine where it came from? What store sold it? Let’s say hypothetically that the tagger leaves the can of spray paint on the ground and it actually identifies the Home Depot brand. Which Home Depot does the officer go to, and then, what does he look for once he has the list of all the people who purchased a can of spray paint in the last two years? Now, count the number of times there is a new fence tagged in San Antonio everyday. And times in the state of Texas, every day. Keep in mind; we are still talking about a misdemeanor.

I’m sure Rep Menendez means well, but this is bad legislation and does nothing, zero, notta, to solve the problem. So what do we need?

For starters (and there are other efforts underway to pursue this), we need to put first time offenders, regardless of age, in jail, even if it is only for a few nights. We need to make the offender (and parents of juveniles) liable for the damage. We need to tie the amount of that damage to all of a taggers combined offenses, not just the one he was caught doing. In other words, if a guy is known as “Joe the Tagger” and he has marked up buildings and fences over a period of a year with a JTT symbol and is finally caught, he should be required to be held accountable for all the damage that can be reasonably proven to have been caused by him. This is why I always take pictures of the graffiti in my area. And I have a huge collection.

I am a fan of community service, but I oppose community service being tied to anything that the offender would otherwise be doing. For example, I have heard that some judges will assign a number of hours of community service to an offender, to be carried out in that offender’s church. Really? If a kid is in the Scouts, don’t give him community service that will help him get a few more merit badges. Community service must be meaningful and pay restitution to the community harmed.

I think convicted taggers including first offenders should have their pictures displayed on a web page. Adults and Minors. If the newspaper can print the picture of the student of the week, there is simply no excuse that we should not know which teens amongst us are convicted taggers. More importantly, we need to know which parents have kids that are convicted taggers. In the same way you can go online and do a search by Zip code to find out who the registered sex offenders are in your neighborhood, I want to be able to go on-line and see a picture of the kid who tags, and what his known tagging signature is. That way, if it shows up again on a fence, everyone knows who did it. I suspect that will create a far better deterrent than paying a dollar extra for a can of spray paint.

I am a huge fan of peer pressure. I would like to know what our schools are doing about ostracizing the taggers in the same way they teach children about how bad their parents are for smoking or drinking? If a tagger is caught defacing a school, in addition to whatever other trouble the kid gets into, his face needs to be plastered on the wall as a vandal. For some, this will surely be a badge of honor, however, this type of thing can motivate parents to keep an eye on their own kids. Not that most of these parents attend PTA meetings, but if as part of one of those meetings, the school police officer listed a who’s who of taggers with associated markings, other parents might recognize similar tagging in the neighborhood and be prompted to let the parents know about it. The last thing a parent wants is the neighbor coming over to tell them that Little Jimmy has been tagging the fence again.

If people want to spend tax money on something beyond arresting these offenders, why not spend it on MTV? Better yet, why don’t MTV and other youth oriented media have ongoing campaigns to deglamorize this vandalism? Instead of “Rock the Vote”, how about, “Beat the crap out of the tagger!” I’d approve of that message. I know that the city of San Antonio has Graffiti eradication programs to try to get youth to move from tagging toward art. That’s fine, but much of the problem is not artistic in any way at all, it is pure vandalism and marking of gang (or wannabe gang) territory. Why no public service announcements on local TV showing taggers to be the losers they are?

When do we stop simply painting over the vandalism and start doing something about it? I have learned that this type of vandalism isn’t something that the police are going to send multiple squad cars, blaring sirens, and sealing off streets and neighborhoods as helicopter flies overhead doing a search with K9 units going house to house. Yet, this vandalism is systematically creating the appearance of a deteriorating neighborhood and lowering the values of homes. Many good families are opting to leave rather than stay. Many homes are purchased as investment properties and rented out increasingly as Section 8 homes, bringing in people who often do not have the financial wherewithal to maintain a home beyond the minimal rent they pay.Meanwhile, I call the city of San Antonio at least once a week (usually several times) to report that Oscar Perez Memorial Park has been tagged again. The city Parks Department sends a crew out, the tagging is painted over and more often than not, the next day, some new tagging is present.The city built some sort of small baseball diamond park right next to Nelson Wolff Municipal Stadium on Callaghan Road near Hiway 90. I pass this place on my way to work each morning and after over a year, I notice that they still have one of these surveillance systems installed. This system is monitored and it will light up with spotlights, sirens and verbal warnings if someone trespasses. You see these things in use at a lot of construction sites. Don’t you think it is time that the city start installing these things in areas, like Oscar Perez Memorial Park, so we can begin to identify the taggers, or heaven forbid, deter them from tagging the park in the first place?

I’m sure there are many other productive ways to deal with this growing problem but I got a suggestion from my brother who is a big fan of caning. We are reminded of that kid in Singapore several years ago who was caught and convicted of tagging and vandalism. The punishment: caning. I suspect that kid never tagged there again.

My brother’s idea is slightly different. What is missing from the current process is the punishment factor. A kid is sent to see a judge for truancy or maybe even tagging. The judge orders the kid to go to school and perform some community service hours. My brother suggests that each courtroom be assigned a professional spanker. That is, a guy who is certified to assess body size, weight, muscular structure etc, and then equipped to deliver an exact, certified paddling to the offender, in front of courtroom spectators. The first appearance in court would result in two solid whacks. Each subsequent appearance would add two more whacks. If a kid gets up to 8 or 10 whacks, he is surely ready for some jail time. Just a thought. I know, the days of corporal punishment are long gone, but we can dream.

My wife will tell you that I am overly passionate about this subject. I tend to be long winded and my blood pressure tends to elevate each time I talk to a person about the problem of tagging in our area and in our city. In truth, I could simply turn a blind eye to it like many others have. I could pretend that the little scribbling along fences I drive past adds a sort of artistic urban flavor to the place. After all, these are just young people looking for an outlet, right? I don’t mean to pick on Rep. Menendez’ attempts to do something, but I’m afraid he has neither researched this topic adequately, nor added anything useful toward the fight.

I do not believe that most of the taggers get their paint at Home Depot. I believe it comes from art stores, via the internet and in local stores that have nothing to do with hardware. I’m sure some of it comes from the garages and sheds of unsuspecting parents, grandparents and neighbors. Putting yet another requirement on businesses that ultimately will yield very little change is in my mind, the wrong approach. I encourage you to do a little research on your own. Google is your friend; type in “Graffiti Supplies” and learn more. And do like me, and take a minute to send Representative Menendez your thoughts on how we might better handle this problem.

And of course, you can tell me your ideas.

The Paint Report: Seriously, I'm not a Painter...

Ask anyone who knows me or has witnessed the results of my handy work, and they will tell you with precise and accurate detail; I am not a painter.

But, for a good cause I'll dip the roller into a bucket of latex and cover a graffiti tagged wall like a fat guy slathering butter on a freshly boiled cob of sweet corn. Okay, that just described me eating lunch last weekend, but nevertheless the point is, I will gladly do some sloppy paint work when needed.

So on our last outing with the A-Team, you may recall that we joined up with some wonderful kids from Timberwilde Elementary to do some painting in the area, and a contractor stopped by and offered to donate some excess paint. He called Monday to follow-up and another A-Team member and I headed over to get the donated goods.

I may have mentioned before that we are able to obtain 5-gallon buckets of a mixed, recycled paint through the city of San Antonio, but in this case, the donated paint had to be mixed --- by me!I told my wife I would have these cans out of my garage by the weekend, so I've been mixing away!You'd be shocked at the colors some people paint their houses. Orange and purple stand out in my mind as definite no-no's. But who knows? In the end, when it all gets mixed together, I'm shooting for a beige or grayish color just to cover graffiti.

Wanna help? You should join the A-Team. Learn more here.

Important Bill Report

You've gathered by now that I totally despise taggers or so-called graffiti artists, so to laugh at this totally sends the wrong message. Nevertheless, if you are one of the goons who tags in my neighborhood, I hope you will learn to be a little more humorous in your vandalism like this guy.
Hat tip to Jeff.

Art Report: Expressing My Inner Monet...

Okay, not really. More like my inner Bob Vila. And even Bob Vila would be offended at my sloppy workmanship. But life goes on, right? It would probably help if I told you what I was talking about. This past Friday morning, I drove to work and noticed that not only had some inconsiderate bastards tagged the Oscar Perez Memorial Park, they scribbled the entire length of the wall that makes up the side of a church. I called 311 on my way to work and alerted the city of the park situation but really, with the Final Four in town, don't expect any clean-up before Tuesday or Wednesday.I suppose a picture is worth a thousand words - or at least a handful of vulgarities if you can make them out.If you are wondering wear I'm talking about, this building is on the corner of Timber Path and Grissom and was at one time an HEB. When HEB relocated to the corner of Grissom/Culebra/Tezel, this building turned into a hugely popular nightclub called Coyotes. Later, it became Tejano Texas and pretty much died out. Now, it has opened as a church called Living Waters (I think).

I'm sure most people who drove by this afternoon and saw GNWCIA Director Richard Garcia and I painting over the profanity just assumed that we were from the church. That's fine. It doesn't matter who does it, but someone needs to clean up the mess, so we did.I hear people complaining that the patches of paint not matching the original color look just as bad as the taggers' work. I'll agree it isn't perfect by Bob Vila or any stretch, but it is better for sure.

GNWCIA Report: Nothing to Report...

Last night I made the short trip down the street to the Lodge of the Great Northwest to attend the meeting of the board of directors of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association and really, there was nothing worth mentioning. Aside from me, only two residents and a security guard to keep us under control showed. The directors not only got through the entirety of the business without controversy, they even held the closed meeting portion in front of the assembled crowd, though I confess I left before it was officially over.

One item that I will look into a bit further was brought up regarding a neighborhood kid who saw some other yout's doing graffiti. Supposedly, the kid intervened and as you might imagine, caused some grief for him. The directors would like to recognize this young person and that, friends, is a great thing.

Other than that - notta!

Reminder: GNWatch Meeting 27 Feb 08

If you get bored and got nothing to do tomorrow evening, Wednesday the 27th of February, why don't you take a little jaunt down to the Lodge of the Great Northwest at 8809 Timberwilde in The Five Oh, and join us at 7:30PM to hear Chief Steven Baum and a few of his folks from the San Antonio Park Police. They'll be telling us what they know about Oscar Perez Memorial Park and the happenings in the world of vandalism and tagging, and what they are doing to address the problem.

I have invited our city council member, Delicia Herrera, but have not heard from her or her staff; but hold out hope that she might send a representative to listen in on the meeting.

If none of that interests you but you need some cookies and coffee, come on down!

Neighborhood Report: GNW Library Tagged...

We stayed up until almost 2 in the morning visiting with friends and singing (if that's what you call it) a few Karaoke tunes, so getting up well after 9:30 is something totally out of the norm for me, but very necessary this morning. I put on a pot of coffee and checked a few e-mails and before long, our big dog, Gracie was ready to go out and visit the backyard for a little while.

After such a crappy weather day yesterday - you know, when it refuses to just come right out and rain, but keeps misting as if we had suddenly moved to England or someplace wet all the time - it was a stunningly beautiful morning today, with just the slightest of breezes to ease the warm sun. So, my dog and I threw the ball around for a little while. Well, technically, I threw the ball, and in return for a few kibbles from her treat bag, I'd get the slobbered over dirty tennis ball back so the entire process could start again.

I thought to myself how much I loved the mornings like this and how much I appreciated living in Silver Creek and in San Antonio. If the weather would stay like this forever, life would be perfect, at least in my backyard.

But sadly, people all over my neighborhood, and people in neighborhoods throughout our city will eventually leave their homes and be greeted with what I saw as I drove by the local library just down the street. One person; one incredibly inconsiderate, selfish and malicious punk who for whatever reason finds himself to be so self-important, that he must leave his mark in five-foot tall letters on the brand new addition to a place shared by everyone. You might suspect that this kind of thing really gets on my nerve. It does. I do a lot of research on the Internet and participate in discussion boards where Tagging is a topic of interest. I'm so sick of reading that these people with their cans of spray paint are simply future artists trying to express themselves. One guy wrote that we should allow these taggers to use the world as their canvas, and eventually, they will become good enough to have their "art" displayed in galleries. Why is it that people with this forgiving attitude never give directions to their personal privacy fence, mail box and home?If they want to be seen in a gallery somewhere, let's start with their face up on a wanted poster in the Post Office. But that won't happen because, even though everyone agrees that this vandalism is against the law, it is not nearly the infraction that going 5 miles per hour over the speed limit is. That is not a jab at our police either. But it is a jab at our city council and the people responsible for directing the Police Chief in where they want emphasis placed on enforcing laws.

Speeding tickets generate revenue; trying to find some 16 year-old with a can of spray paint tucked in his pants costs money. I get it. But what I don't get is why with all the money spent to build new public facilities, we don't have the sense to add in the extra minimal amount of money needed to outfit each new building (and hopefully retrofit existing buildings) with surveillance cameras that could first, alert someone to the fact that someone is doing something, or if not, at least provide evidence of who the culprit was after the fact?

Industry is already on to this. Construction companies have figured out that it costs them less money to spend cash up front to provide surveillance to construction sites to deter and/or catch the vandals and thieves, than it does to constantly react to the problems that occur when building anew home. So you can imagine that people in the security industry have come up with ways to help.

I drive by Wolfe Stadium every morning on my way to work. On one side of Callahan Road is a neighborhood of older, modest, homes. There was one house, obviously abandoned, that was so tagged up that to tag it any more would require the "artist" to use a roller just to clear off an area before he could then deface the property with his latest work.

On the opposite side of the road, behind the stadium, they have turned an empty field into what looks like some sort of concrete baseball diamond. I really have no idea what it is, but apparently, someone realized that given the proximity to the vandalized homes across the street, they should figure out how to protect this new thing.

So as I drive by one morning, I see this little trailer like thing with tall spot lights, flashing sirens, speakers and cameras. The logo on the side of this thing says "Pro Vigil" and of course, I looked it up. You can too, here. The bottom line is, this equipment can detect movement in the area being protected, then it lights up the place, gives an audible warning that the police are being called, takes pictures of everything that happens and if the intruders do not leave the site, police or whoever (private security) are called to the scene.I don't expect the city to go out and purchase something like this for every public space - can you imagine the outcry from the "This is Big Brother" crowd? But how hard is it to use a little common sense in planning to consider physical security of buildings as a factor when funding projects? Blame it all on 9-1-1 and say you are trying to catch terrorists, maybe that will get us some federal funding to assist. But for how much longer are we going to sit back and just live with the continuous, daily barrage of new tagging everywhere around the city?

I do know that the city has tried to take action on a small scale. They have already used surveillance cameras to identify and arrest several taggers. Great. Now that you know what works, let's step it up.

If you live in my part of town, or if your part of San Antonio is watching the value of your home drop because of the increased tagging, I urge you to send a message to your district councilperson. We need a little less of worrying about what entrepreneurs do in their restaurants, and a little more concern with the blatant vandalism.

Or you can confine yourself to beautiful days throwing a ball to your dog in the comfort of your backyard. If we don't get a handle on this situation, that's about as good as it is going to be.

Tell me what you think about it.

GNWatch Update: Park Police to Speak...

If you have been following neighborhood related news, you may recall that I have been tagged to help coordinate our neighborhood watch group. I've started a campaign of calling people on an old list I have to confirm they are still living in the GNW and if they want to still be active in the Watch.

Okay, here is a little advice: E-mail does not work. I don't know if my e-mails go directly into some Spam filter or if people look at them and just delete them for cause, but attempting to contact people you have never met face to face by e-mail just does not work.

Calling people is a little better but, 1) I hate talking on the phone for a number of reasons not worth getting into, and 2) I hate to call people during what might be their dinner time or their TV watching time or whatever. So, that leads me back to e-mail, and it just doesn't work.

So, maybe a few people in my neighborhood will happen upon this Blog. If you do, I'd like to let you know that I can now confirm, Chief Steven Baum of the San Antonio Park Police will be our speaker on Wednesday, the 27th of February at 7:30PM, Lodge of the Great Northwest.

If you have any questions about Oscar Perez Memorial Park or the associated tagging (graffiti) there, now is the time to come and talk to the man who is popping the perps.

Need more info? E-mail me.

Great Northwest Watch Report: My Notes...

Most of you won't give a hoot about any of this, but since I use this blog to tell you about the place I live, mi barrio as they say, hopefully some neighbors will find the information, uh, informative.

My wife and I joined a handful of residents at a meeting of the Great Northwest Watch Wednesday evening – the first one for 2008. We had an informative meeting and I’d like to take a minute to tell you about it. The meeting did get off to a late start because the Lodge was being used as a place to take pictures of various sports teams, but it wasn’t a real issue. Chief Burton of GNW Security had arranged for two of our SAFFE officers, Officers Atkinson and Struxness, to provide the group with some home security tips and a way for homeowners to get a 5 percent discount on insurance. They offer a free service where they will come out to your house, do a thorough inspection of the place, then send a form into the state insurance board. Regardless of your insurance company, if you meet the requirements, state law mandates that you get the 5%. They offered up a handful of tips about different easy and inexpensive ways of securing your doors and the difference between what works and what doesn’t work. As they pointed out – they can't guarantee that nobody will try to burglarize your house, but you can make your house a less attractive target with easy and inexpensive methods, and simply send the crooks on to your neighbor’s house to do the stealing. Gee, I hope your neighbor has some insurance!

They also gave out a few interesting tidbits - did you know that not all burglars are male? Yep, the percentage of female criminals is rising fast. Your burglar will not always be dressed in black or look like that character from the McDonald's commercials. They are going to try to blend in to the surroundings. But the stats show that they still tend to be young, and they tend to be nervous. So if some young nervous girl is hanging out by the side of your house, it may not be because she is waiting for your son to get home, she could be there to rip you off.

One other thing that I have mentioned here before, and that has to do with the City of San Antonio and our SAPD. We have a force of about 2,000 officers (with 400-600 eligible to retire this month), to cover our entire city. The city of Philadelphia which is roughly the same population as San Antonio has 6,000 officers. Last year, our city fielded over 1 million 9-11 calls. If you dial 9-1-1 to have a police officer come figure out who knocked over your garbage can, what are the chances they are going to get to you anytime this week?

Sadly, the same thing is true for my pet peeve, graffiti. Please do not dial 9-1-1 to report graffiti. Call the non-emergency number 207-SAPD (7273) or 207-7484 and report it there. If you are giving a description of a suspect, describe the person from either head to toe, or toe to head. Men: they do not need to know how large Jennifer Broome's breasts have suddenly become. Give them something they can work with while they are looking for the scoundrels. And do me a favor, if you see them, take a picture of them (the graffiti artists) in the act. That might help.

Before the officers skedaddled off, they also mentioned something you might want to do. Get your camera and make a video of all the contents in your house, and do up an inventory of everything and take it to another location. This way, if you get ripped off, you have a list for the insurance company with pictures. Also, do a back-up of your computer. They mentioned people who had laptops stolen and had huge business set-backs because all of their contact information, calendars and work was on the laptop. Good advice.
Up next, Mr. Mike Yager from the GNW A-Team gave a few quick words on how he is trying to revamp the group of area volunteers. His comments were well received and my wife and I even piped up to give testimonials of what a great time we had working with a group a few weeks ago.

Mike hit on one area that I’d like to mention and that is that some people may have a firmer line of what they consider helping out the community and doing personal services for people who should be paying for it. For example I think we can all agree that a group of people volunteering to help clean-up a community park is an effort that the community as a whole benefits from and whether or not you have kids who play in that park, it is still for the betterment of the community. Mike and a few others (myself included), can see trying to help an older couple, disabled person, or perhaps a young mother who has a spouse deployed with lots of little kids around the house who might need assistance with some yard work or something. Some people feel that this crosses the line because suddenly, now one person is upset that volunteers mowed his neighbor's yard, but not his.

My view is, first and foremost, this is a volunteer effort. If you don;t want to support a particular project, simply don't. Nobody is going to hold it against you. Mike has taken it a step further (hence, the reason he is in charge). He says that tough evaluations and decisions will have to be made, and some people may be unhappy that the A-Team could not support their need. But we can't allow that disappointment to halt the good that the group can do as a whole.

So, if you think you have even an hour to give only one time, not even on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, but just one time, please contact Mike. You can get a form for the A-Team and Mike's contact info from the February Passages (online now).

Okay, following the A-Team discussion, it was my big debut as the new coordinator for the watch. I'm happy to report that I did not faint from nervousness, though my wife says that I constantly clicked my pen. Perhaps next time, I take one of those little squeeze balls.

I wanted to ask my fellow watch captains (it sounds almost Tony Soprano-like) how they felt about a few things about how the format of the meetings go and just stuff that was administrative in nature. One thing for sure was that everyone agreed we should make the meetings as quick as possible - they start at 7:30PM, and we should definitely be done and on our way home by 9PM. And, the assembled crowd agreed that we should only have guest speakers if they were on topic. If not, why bring someone in just for the sake of speaking?

If you are reading this and you live in the GNW and you are, or you want to be, a block captain, please get in touch with me via e-mail by clicking here. I will try to contact the folks I have contact info for. Also, you don't have to be a block captain to attend the meetings. The next one is Wednesday, February 27 2008 and we will have a speaker from the San Antonio Parks Department to talk about - what else - Oscar Perez Memorial Park.

GNWCIA Meeting Report: A Real Barn Burner...

This evening, I was otherwise detained until around 8:30PM and was not able to make it to the first hour of the meeting of Great Northwest Community Improvement Association Board of Directors. Based on my brief attendance and by all credible accounts from what I missed, this was quite the event.

Herewith my notes of the short time I was available to dictate. And by the way, if you were one of the many residents who attended the meeting, held at the Emerald Valley facility, or a member of the board, please don't hesitate to pipe in with a second opinion. This particular evening, I wrote as fast as I could, but honestly, couldn't keep up with much of the banter and bickering.

When I came in, the discussion was hot and heavy about the tennis courts. If you recall from my last report, a few residents had voiced concerns about the crappy state of the tennis courts, and some people opined that there was not enough interest in tennis to spend the money needed to repair them.

A counter to that argument has been that if the courts were in good shape, people would use them. I fall in the group of people who probably will never step foot on the courts, but want them maintained simply because in a deteriorated state, they do not provide any added value to my home, and possibly detract from same.

So apparently, before I arrived, Director Guy Pucci must have been talking about spending the needed capital on the courts to bring them back to serviceability. Director Richard Garcia brought a quickly assembled plan before the board to propose a 30-day feasibility study with at least some of the following points:

• 30 days of free tennis lessons to interested kids and adults
• Fixing up/cleaning/painting the courts enough to make them usable
• Paying a tennis pro a reasonable fee to give the lessons

Director Garcia proposed that the board could do this study for $1,500 to $2,000. Director Pucci pointed out that this idea was less of a feasibility study and more of a new program. He countered with the idea that the Rec Director could poll the participants of existing sports programs to see what the interest was. Further, he would like to see a determination of how much other programs charge for participation. In other words, in the same way that the association charges a participation fee for soccer and other team sports, if we engaged in a program of tennis lessons or something like this, it would be for fee.

There was much "discussion". I had seen people in the audience yell out remarks in the past, maybe one or two people with brief comments such as, "Mr. Chair, Director Long is out of order.", but this was different. People through out the audience were making statements; hell, even I piped in with an unwarranted comment or two. One gentleman sitting behind me prefaced his remarks with, "I know I'm not allowed to say anything, but..."

Finally through all of the ruckus, Director SK Sharma, whom I had never heard speak before, gave quite an eloquent statement regarding the fact that he has lived in this association for over 22 years and when he finally retires and sells his house, he expects to turn a profit. Further, he pointed out that the facilities, including the tennis courts are intended to raise the value of the homes, not detract from that value. I don't have the verbatim quote but the gist of it was that even if a single person doesn't play tennis, we need to maintain the courts. At some point or another, he also used the word "Bloody". In the end, his remarks drew applause from the audience, though I must confess, I think I instigated it with my loud clapping.

Director Janet Doherty pointed out that the demograhics of the neighborhood has changed in the years since the original tennis courts were built and there is far less interest these days. Director Sigrid Long rebutted that if the courts were in proper shape, perhaps people would utilize them.

To this, Maintenance Director Fred Murphy made a suggestion that we could go from four tennis courts to two, relocate the basketball court onto the other tennis court, then turn the abandoned basketball court into a parking lot. This would relieve some of the parking issues at the pool. Brilliant!

In the end, Chairman Lee Besing had Director Garcia restate the motion about the feasibility study and it simply was not seconded by any other directors and thus died.

Up next, an issue near and dear to my heart: Grafitti. Turns out that this past weekend, the Lodge at Silver Creek got tagged. It was mentioned that Director Garcia has been going out and painting over the tagged areas on his own and sure could use some volunteers. Director Long brought up the fact that they should take advantage of the A-Team to help, but that drew lots of discussion from the crowd (myself included).

As a side note - and unrelated to the meeting, my wife and I along with several neighbors had signed up to volunteer for the A-Team a while back. Apparently, it has taken some time to get things going because none of us have been contacted by the coordinator. We'd still like to learn more about this program, so if you happen to be coordinating, please leave a comment or e-mail me.

In the end, I did volunteer to assist Director Garcia with his painting efforts and if you feel like you can help out, I'm sure he would love the company.

Given that the meeting was supposed to go to the discussion of the budget, Chairman Besing noted that a lot of time had already been spent on other business and that perhaps they should delay the budget discussion for a special meeting next week.

Director Pucci instead presented a motion to set the 2008 assessment to $222.00. This is a rollback from the current assessment of $235.00. His motion drew lots of quibbling amongst the crowd. Most residents were for the rollback but at least one person, former Chair Joe Martinez pointed out that it was senseless to make such a decision without having come up with a budget. Director Garcia quickly seconded the motion and Director Doherty immediately was in favor.

There was a very humorous exchange between Directors Long and Sharma during the confused discussions. From my seat, it was obvious that Director Long had been out of the room when the motion was made and seconded. It appeared that the other board members did not realize she had slipped out for a short potty break. So when Chairman Besing asked her if she had any comments, she was clearly confused, thinking the discussion was about a budget item. When Director Sharma started to restate the motion, Director Long interrupted him and Sharma quickly and bluntly stated that if she wanted an explanation she should be quiet and let him explain. This drew guffaws from the assembled crowd.

This time, when the vote was taken, Directors Long and Sharma voted against the motion and stating that it would not be prudent to set the assessment, Chairman Besing also voted against, killing the motion.

But this created a further discussion point and that is, that the GNWCIA has $926,000.00 in the bank. Yes, of course there are bills to be paid. But there are also assessments (whether they are $222.00 or $235.00 or more), the pot only gets bigger.

In the end, the board could not agree on a day to hold a special meeting next week to discuss the budget, so they will wait until the next scheduled meeting.

See you there!

Artists in Action...

I'm always yammering on about nobody ever seeing people doing graffiti, only finding the results of it. Well, this afternoon, my wife and I had cause to visit the Pep Boys over by SW Loop 410 and Marbach Rd in the greater John Jay High area. Sure enough, we got to see painting action first hand at a bus stop on the corner of Harness and Marbach.

In this case, I don't think these were your garden variety vandals, but probably members of an art class from Jay. My guess is, the homeowner has approved a mural and these kids were putting up something constructive of artistic value as opposed to the nonsensical "FTW" so prevalent around our area.

Graffitti Report: More Encouragement in the Fight...

I was very happy to read a column in the SA Express-News from writer Cary Clack regarding the vandalism we know as graffiti. Mr. Clack talks of the frustration I have shared here about nobody actually seeing these little vandals doing the tagging. I always enjoy Mr. Clack's column and hope you will take a look at it.

Tagging Report: Nabbing the Little Bastards...

My good neighbor Gus and I constantly talk about the disgrace that has come of the skateboard park set-up for our area youth in the name of a fallen police officer, Oscar Perez.

While many people may dismiss the graffiti as art or the tagging as a reflection of pride by the skaters, I think those of us over the age of 12 see it as the BS it is: Vandalism.

So, you know how I feel about it; no need to ramble on. But, I was happy to see that someone is apparently doing something to combat this crime.

Read about it here. And assuming that WOAI-TV will discard the link within a short time, the gist of it is that there is an "undercover plan to crack down on 'tagging' around the city". Yeah!

The report goes on to tell us how bad the problem really is. They say that, "This year, the city will clean up nearly a million square feet of infrastructure in and around San Antonio neighborhoods."

Am I the only person who thinks we need to issue pellet guns to residents along with a Get Out Of Jail Free Card? I mean, seriously? Are you telling me that you are cool with some punk expressing himself on your fence, car, or public park?

Let's see how things work out for our park.

If you happen to see the little taggers - please, take a picture, get a name or follow them to an address. I'd like to interview a few of them.

Graffiti Report: City Repaints Oscar Perez Memorial Park

At the first GNW HOA meeting I attended, someone brought up the issue of the graffiti that had accumulated at Oscar Perez Memorial Park and it was suggested that people should call the city's 311 Information Line to report any sighting of the obnoxious vandalism so appropriate measures could be taken. I was pretty pleased to see some action taken by the City Manager, Sheryl Sculley and her staff following a complaint by one of my neighbors.

As a homeowner living in a community with an association, I appreciate the amenities offered, the security, the fact that we as a group have agreed to certain standards of appearance etc. But I would give up all of that and continue to pay my monthly association fees if someone could simply come up with an answer to this graffiti problem that has really gotten out of hand in the last 12 to 18 months.

If you are looking to sell your property or rent it out, you can do all the cleaning, painting and "curb appeal" modifications you want, but you cannot do anything about the negative impact a neighborhood full of graffiti will have on the value of your home.

Aside from the diminishing re-sell value to your home, just think about how it makes you feel about the neighborhood in general. I know it isn't a reflection on my individual property, but it is embarrassing to invite friends and family over when they have to drive through an entry way of graffiti marked privacy fences, sidewalks, and of course, Oscar Perez Memorial Park.

To me, this should make the eradication of graffiti of this area (and really, all of San Antonio) a much higher priority than many of the other services offered, not only by this HOA, but by the city and the county.

For whatever reason, there seems to be this mindset that graffiti is inevitable, it is the work of harmless pranksters, and it is art. I'm sorry, but I have to call the Big BS on all of that.

This is art:

This is vandalism:

It is high time that parents teach their little Rembrandt's and Monet's the difference. And it is also time that as a city and perhaps as a community, we invest in technology that will not only deter such crimes, but will also catch these criminals and provide evidence toward their prosecution.

Yes, prosecution. The next time you rely on the fact that the city offers free paint to help cover up such crimes, think about the money that a homeowner invests to install a new privacy fence, only to have it spray painted days later. Simply painting over the damaged section in white paint does nothing to recover the value of the fence. It is ruined. If you don't agree, I'd like to suggest the next time you purchase a new car, you take a paint brush and cover an 18" X 18" square on the hood of your car with regular latex paint in a color different from your vehicle's factory paint job. The new car smell won't change the damage you have done to the new car paint.

Many of us have security systems installed at home that include a glass breakage feature. Essentially, a little sensor is programmed to recognize the specific frequency of glass breaking. The system can then sound the alarm, call the monitoring company or whatever action you have programmed it to do.

Why couldn't the City deploy similar sensors set to recognize the rattling sound of a spray-paint can being shaken? Perhaps when activated, a flood light would turn on, perhaps an eardrum shattering alarm or even a hidden video camera would begin recording. Perhaps the Park Police would be deployed.

Yes, I know this costs money and I know we have many projects some consider higher priorities, but just for a moment, consider what the cost is to each of us as individuals, the loss in property value, and the disappointment of coming home to the vandalism brought upon us by teens and young adults who get off on the thrill of tagging and in the back of their minds know that the most that will happen to them if caught is perhaps some community service?

Why is the destruction of private and public property via the spray can any less a crime than a person who breaks into your car and steals your radio? It is time that we treat this problem as a crime and it is time that the city take some action.

And to the point, I am posting the original e-mail sent by my neighbor to the Mayor, the City Manager, and the Distrct Council person, including the pictures, followed by Mrs. Sculley's prompt response. Mrs. Sculley is a fine city manager and I appreciate the fact that action was taken IMMEDIATELY. More of us need to call and e-mail to get the services we deserve as taxpayers.

((I have edited out the identifying information of my good neighbor Gus, though I do have his permission to use them)).

From:
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 5:21 PM
To: Mayor Hardberger; City Manager; Sandra Garza
Subject: Oscar Perez Memorial Park disgrace

June 25, 2007

Dear Mayor, City Manager, and District 6 Council Woman

I have lived in this neighborhood for over 25 years. Until about 2 years ago, graffiti was not often seen here. Things have changed. The Oscar Perez Memorial Park was built. At first I thought this was a great idea to have a park where kids and families could enjoy the facility. I now wish is was a vacant lot full of sunflowers again. It was certainly more pleasant to look at. This park is covered with vulgar graffiti and is a disgrace to the neighborhood and to the city.

I resent that my tax dollars are spent having to pay park employees to repaint the equipment in this park every week only to have it tagged the very next day. The vandals that do this are criminals and should be dealt with as any other criminals. They are destroying property and should be apprehended and punished severely.

I am sure you are all aware of the problem, as it seems to be happening all over the city I have no suggestions to offer other that to suggest that if the problem continues the park should be returned to a vacant lot again. I am sure that Officer Oscar Perez did not sacrifice his life to be honored by a an eye sore such as this.

And here was the quick action and response taken by the City Manager, Mrs, Sculley.

Subject: RE: Oscar Perez Memorial Park disgrace

From: "City Manager"

Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:32:20 -0500

To: <>

CC: "Malcolm Matthews" , "David D Garza"

Mr.

Thank you for forwarding your concerns regarding the graffiti at the Oscar Perez Memorial Park. Via copy of this email, I will ask our Housing and Neighborhood Services Department to deploy our crews to remove the graffiti from the park property. I will also ask our Parks Police to be vigilant in ensuring appropriate security and safety of our residents enjoying the park and hopefully minimize graffiti activity. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Sheryl Sculley
City Manager

A crew was sent to Oscar Perez Memorial Park first thing in the AM (I saw them there on my way to work) and my neighbor actually stopped and talked to the workers as they repaired the damage.

Mrs. Sculley and her staff deserve our thanks for the prompt action, but the answer is that we need more work to put these little punks out of business.

Let GNW Security know if you see the little bastards in action and by all means, take their pictures and give them to police. If your property gets tagged, call the police, make them make a report, and demand action.

Okay, I feel a lot better - how about you? Do you or your kids know who the little taggers are? Tell me about it.