As brief as I can, this is in regard to the lack of services for
our youth as in the gang issue. If the Red Phone looks long enough
or remembers back long enough, there used to be a paint program
that GPD did.
Lack of Youth Services
“As brief as I can, this is in regard to the lack of services for our youth as in the gang issue. If the Red Phone looks long enough or remembers back long enough, there used to be a paint program that GPD did. It was no cost, it was one of the (Anti-Crime Team) officers who adjusted his time and the kids who were on probation, as a means of intervention with gang members to have them paint all the graffiti around town.
The paint was basically donated and it was no cost and it was a service. Now GPD doesn’t do it, if there is graffiti, we have to paint over it, not these kids who had probably done it themselves.
The other thing is that at the gang task force meetings, which are actually the mayor’s gang task force meeting, which the mayor does not attend, nor does a city council rep. So I just find it very interesting that we have no services down here and no one from city council has the initiative or the motivation to go. Well, maybe when someone’s stabbed they’ll have motivation to go.”
Red Phone:
“Actually it wasn’t a program run by us but it was run by the probation department,” said Angela Locke-Paddon, community service officer for the city. “They sent a probation officer down on the weekend, kids who were assigned community service would show up and go out and paint graffiti.”
Simple enough, but problems arose because of lack of staffing at the probation department, and also because City Administrator Jay Baksa wants graffiti removed within 48 hours, so if something gets tagged on a weekday, it could be a while until the kids on the weekends would be out to clean it.
Locke-Paddon cited even more problems with the program that left property owners upset. And, the city loaned a vehicle out to the program, but it was destroyed when paint was spilled inside it.
“As community service officer my sole responsibility is graffiti abatement. We get it [the paint] cleaned up so fast we didn’t need the kids, and decided to put money toward our program so it could be removed professionally and faster,” Locke-Paddon said.
However caller, Wipe Out Watch is a volunteer graffiti abatement program run by the city. People adopt neighborhoods, the city provides them with supplies to fix minor graffiti. Wipe Out Watch volunteers, various other property managers from throughout the city and city officials such as Locke-Paddon meet once a month, the city buys them lunch and they discuss graffiti issues and local paint vendors do still donate paint to the city, Locke-Paddon said.
Red Phone sends love out to the volunteers of Wipe Out Watch for stepping up to help keep our good city clean. If you would like to join Wipe Out Watch, call Sandra Sammut, volunteer coordinator at 848-0265. If you need to report graffiti call the 24-hour line at 846-0395.
Motivation is in store for area youth as well as the community. Robert Rodriguez, member of the Gang Task Force Board, said motivational group Radical Reality will be coming to Gilroy soon to send good vibes of motivation and inspiration to the community.
If you would like to help the Gang Task Force plan more events to reach out to the community, catch one of its meetings 6pm the first Tuesday of each month at the Senior Center. Councilman Dion Bracco is the council appointee to aid the group, and he does attend meetings, Rodriguez said.
