By Audrey Levine, Staff Writer
All it takes is a coat of the wrong kind of paint to damage a wall and, possibly, a town’s reputation.
Councilman Ed Komoroski expressed concern Monday that graffiti is often the first thing residents and visitors see when they drive through the borough.
”(As a realtor), I drive people through town and sometimes I feel ashamed driving people past the graffiti,” he said. “It is not a good impression for the borough of Manville.”
Mr. Komoroski, in a separate interview, said he noticed red writing on the white fence behind the Rustic Mall, and a light blue building on Main Street with dark blue graffiti on it.
”It’s an eyesore,” he said.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to remove graffiti from almost any building, and, according to Councilman Kenneth Otrimski, spray washing usually does not do the trick.
In a separate interview, Borough Clerk, and Director of Public Works, Phil Petrone said that when the Department of Transportation built the bridge into Lost Valley, the subcontractor applied a liquid protector to serve as a barrier and allow graffiti to be more easily removed if necessary.
”If someone does spray graffiti, it can be power-washed off without affecting (the bridge),” he said.
In addition, Mr. Petrone said, the borough has a specific product that can remove graffiti from playground equipment and other hard plastics. He said workers with the Department of Public Works clean off the playground equipment about four times each year.
Police patrols, Mr. Petrone said, are also increased at the borough’s parks during the warmer months to try and catch those spraying graffiti on the equipment.
”There is a lot of foul language (sprayed there),” he said. “When you have young children going there with their mothers, it is totally unacceptable.”
For those buildings that do not have the protective barriers, as the bridge does, Mr. Petrone said, powerwashing the graffiti off may not be the key to removing all traces of it. He said sometimes the powerwash will remove the color, but the remains of it can still be seen.
”Nine times out of 10, you can still see the paint embedded in the concrete,” he said.
Although some equipment will allow for cleaning of the problem areas, Mr. Petrone said traffic signs cannot be cleaned and, once they are destroyed by graffiti, they must be replaced. He said there is nothing currently on the market that can clean them off.
About three years ago, Mr. Petrone said, damage was done at 35 different locations, on both buildings and traffic signs. The destruction was valued at a total of $11,200, but the borough only received about $124.80 in restitution, and was required to replace $5,000 worth of traffic signs.
As for graffiti on private properties, Mr. Komoroski questioned during the meeting whether there is anything the borough can do to require residents to repaint or clean their land.
”If we want an ordinance for public property, then we need another to clean up on private,” Borough Administrator Gary Garwacke said.
Borough Attorney Francis Linnus said, in a separate interview, that he has been authorized by the council to look into the borough’s ordinances and determine if there is anything that covers cleaning graffiti on public properties. If there is nothing, he said, he will look into drafting an ordinance.
If there is a legal way to require private land owners to take care of the graffiti, Mr. Linnus said, the borough will look into it.
”If it’s public property, the borough has a lot of control,” he said. “If it’s private property, the borough does not.”
Examples of private property that have been damaged by graffiti, Mr. Petrone said, are the fiber optic boxes on telephone polls and some buildings on Main Street near Lost Valley.
”That happened about a year ago (on Main Street), but the graffiti is still there,” he said. “Who will police that? We have to notify the homeowner or building owner. Who has jurisdiction on that?”
In another incident, Mr. Petrone said, he remembers going to the Manville Diner several months ago, and finding graffiti all over the building, after the owner had made façade improvements only three months prior.
”And the borough had paid half the price of the façade improvements,” he said. “Now the owner has to clean that up. It is a double whammy because the town put good money out (for the improvements).”
Council President Sue Asher said the borough needs to make sure there is some kind of punishment for those who spray graffiti in the hopes of preventing it from happening again.
”What consequences are in place?” she asked. “We first have to find the people who are doing this.”
According to Manville Police Sgt. Ron Gazaway, spraying graffiti is considered criminal mischief, and the penalty usually depends on the extent of the damage and how much it would cost to repair. Those caught could be ordered to do community service, serve jail time or pay a fine based on the damage.
”And this is the same for juveniles and adults,” he said.
If it is students spraying the graffiti, Mr. Komoroski said in a separate interview, it could be that they are bored and looking for something to do, and this is their way of acting out.
”They have a lot of energy, and they will spend it somehow,” he said. “If they are bored, we have to address that problem.”
With other alternatives, Mr. Komoroski said, hopefully people will find another way to spend their time, rather than by spraying graffiti. Although the graffiti has not gotten worse as of late, he said, something just has to be done to keep the town clean.
”I don’t understand why people want to ruin their home,” he said. “They should be proud of where they live.”
