Surge in graffiti adding to South Tahoe’s rundown look
By Kathryn Reed
Art isn’t usually the first word business owners or residents think of when they see graffiti marring structures.
While tagging is nothing new on the South Shore, it has been cropping up in more visible locations in the past six weeks.
Adidas was hit in early May just below the roofline, with taggers covering up a good part of the high wall along Highway 50. It took several weeks for it to be painted over.
Graffiti on the back of the Miller's Outpost. Photos/Kathryn Reed
A large tag still remained Thursday afternoon on the back of the old Miller’s Outpost with the word “kind” and the number 420 in a circle dotting the I. The number represents California Senate Bill 420 regarding medical marijuana cards. And April 20 is known as an international pot smoking day.
Some businesses do patch jobs to cover up the graffiti; others like at the Y Factory Stores do a better job so there is no evidence of the vandalism.
The cumulative cost to businesses to clean up after the vandals is unknown. But it definitely is an unbudgeted expense.
“It’s not just the Y, but there it has been the most brazen and more public,” Detective Nick Carlquist said.
Carlquist is South Lake Tahoe Police Department’s point man for gang and graffiti activity. He works odd hours – much like the taggers. He’s not in a uniform most of the time – much like the taggers who don’t want to be easily identified.
His is a world where people don’t like to talk. While interviewing people about all the tagging on the interior and exterior of the old C&M Lodge on Bonanza Street, one guy said he wouldn’t name names for fear of retaliation from the gang members allegedly involved.
Taggers don’t stop at the state line. Law enforcement believes some of the same people are working that area – at the casinos, and the run down, closed motels on Cedar Avenue. Nearly every pillar at the bankrupt convention center site is tagged.
Experience counts
Carlquist has been with SLTPD for about three years, having come from the Hollister department. Even when departments like the K-9 unit were cut there, the gang unit stayed intact.
Taggers like large areas where they can leave their mark.
His experience in these matters helped him get the job in Tahoe.
What he noticed when he arrived is not a lot of talk going on between neighboring jurisdictions. Now gang investigation meetings are taking place on a regular basis for detectives of various agencies to share info. That wasn’t happening a year ago.
When Carlquist asked about South Tahoe’s “gang registry” his bosses had no idea what he was talking about.
The department now has that registry which is allowed per a California law passed years ago. It works in somewhat the same as the sex offender registry. Once a gang member is out of prison they must register with the law enforcement agency where they reside.
But there are no limitations of where they can live or with whom. However, it gives cops an address for at least a one-time gang member, if not current.
While Carlquist won’t give the exact number of people on the registry, he said it’s high for the size of city South Lake Tahoe is. But it has become a tool for law enforcement.
“It has proved to be a deterrent,” Carlquist said of the registry. “About 95 percent of registrants are not repeat offenders. It has helped some get of out of a gang and some have moved to another town.”
Who is doing the tagging?
As is tradition in Tahoe, the taggers come out as the snow melts. Winter isn’t a big season for them.
It’s not that there are necessarily more of them, but there are more places to vandalize. Carlquist has noticed the sagging economy in South Tahoe has left more vacant buildings – commercial and residential – for taggers to use as a canvas.
Brick is hard to restore after it's been vandalized.
People aren’t at the buildings so there is more opportunity to get away with the crime.
He sees the graffiti being a mix of taggers who think what they are doing is creating art and gang members marking their territory. Either way, it’s criminal activity. When these men and boys, that is the predominant gender, are caught they are often charged with vandalism, burglary, breaking and entering, and trespassing.
About two-thirds of the crimes are committed on commercial sites, with the other third being a mix of residential and city property like pump houses and street signs. Businesses are easier to hit because usually they aren’t occupied at night.
The culprits don’t fit into a nice profile. It’s all races, ages and genders. With gang members, oftentimes the affiliation is passed from parent to child or sibling to sibling.
They are a bit like male dogs, though, in needing to leave their mark without any regard to the property they are doing it on.
In 2009 and 2010 the Surenos hit the Ski Run Boulevard area, putting out a roll call with all the monikers the individual members go by. While this helps law enforcement put together a profile, those monikers don’t always stay the same. Some have four or five ways to sign a tag.
This gang also has been known as the Southside 13.
South Tahoe also has Nortenos. N is the 14th letter of the alphabet and represents northerners.
With the convictions in three Cyclones gang members in 2010 for the 2009 stabbing of a South Tahoe teen, it basically wiped out that group.
Carlquist doesn’t believe the gangs mentioned above are responsible for the spike in graffiti at the Y. He won’t say anything more until arrests are made.
With the South Shore being along the triangle of Reno, Carson City and Sacramento, the area has a lot of transient gang members. Some stop a while, some pass through.
Drug sales, trafficking and transporting weapons are common.
When it comes to taggers not in a gang, it’s all about being creative.
“It’s a mindset thing. Taggers really think they are doing artwork. They say ‘we are great artists and want to show the world’,” Carlquist said. “They say the world is their canvas and there is no such thing as private property.”
These people know about the websites touting which tips on spray paint cans will do what, what markers are good, how to tag or bomb or scratch.
And taggers in Tahoe don’t just need a wall. They hit granite rocks and bike trails.
Proactive possibilities
Property owners can make their buildings less attractive to taggers by using motion sensor lighting, cutting vegetation away so taggers can’t duck behind it, and putting up chain link fences instead of wood so there isn’t a surface to tag.
It’s creating defensible space to stop would-be taggers.
Heavenly Village rarely has graffiti because security officers are constantly roaming the area and lighting plays a role in deterring that kind of behavior.
Dumpsters are a common item to be tagged.
Carlquist recently met with security for that center to talk about gang awareness so they understand indicators.
The city has a graffiti abatement program to provide some assistance with cleaning up tagged buildings and structures. But call officers before painting over the crime scene.
Parents and teachers can pay attention to what might seem like innocent doodling when in fact it’s miniature graffiti on their notebooks or in their rooms – sketches possibly before hitting the streets in a bigger way.
Carlquist wants to talk to concerned adults about whether something might be an indication a person is in a gang or potential tagger. He may be reached at (530) 542.6121.
He wants to do more outreach with the community and is hoping grants the police department is applying for will pay for that. In the mean time, when he’s not out searching for the bad guys, Carlquist is doing what he can to talk to local groups.
“Enforcement and prevention are the two important points,” Carlquist said to ridding the area of graffiti and those responsible for it.
It’s time for a community clean up day. This graffiti needs to be covered up as soon as possible (after being reported to police and documented). We can’t let these punks tarnish our beautiful town. They are just like male dogs. One tag leads to 10 as the rest of the pack comes by to mark the same spot.
Good to hear we have someone with experience (Carlquist) working on this problem. Removing graffiti is costly, so businesses should welcome his advice on prevention.
Shouldn’t taggers be required to remove graffiti? Their entire sentence should be spent on the streets removing graffiti, no matter who put it there. Doesn’t make sense to slap them on the hands and let them rest in jail while a hard-working business has to pay to have it removed.
There should be a 50 percent tax on the marajuana shops to pay for extra police in this town.
We definitely need a better graffiti program up here. When people come to a place and see a lot of graffitti their tendency is to percieve the crime rate as much higher than it actually is.
Getting rid of the chronic commercial vacancies in this town would do a lot to make sure graffitti got cleaned up promptly and didn’t linger for months or years on end.
Gus you’ve got a good idea.
In the meantime everyone should report suspicious activity which they think is tagging related.
I notice that there is no mention of the ethnicity of the majority of taggers. How very politically correct. Perhaps the principal of Whittel can give a speech on the subject in Spanish to show respect for them…. The more you deny a problem, the worse it gets.
Dumbfounded, read again:
“The culprits don’t fit into a nice profile. It’s all races, ages and genders.”
Romie, you DO understand the word “majority” or would you dispute that the majority of grafitti has an ethnic connection? If so, I concede on the basis of bias. It is not worth the time to debate, the facts are clear. I stand by my comments. Any other opinions?
Right on dumbfounded. Being PC like Romie defies reality and retards solutions.
Has anyone seen the boulders facing the landslide at Emerald Bay? Such an ugly defacing of our natural beauty. Take away those guys’ spray paints, then make them clean up their mess!
I agree with Jenny. Make THEM clean up the town!
“…the facts are clear…” – dumbfounded
To what facts do you refer? That the “majority of graffiti has an ethnic connection?” What ethnicity, and where did you learn this fact?
You DO understand the word “fact” or would you dispute opinions instead?
First of all, i agree that something needs to be done about the gang grafitti. Gang activity in this town seems to be increasing, but thats what happens when you have a majority of young males with little economic opportunity.
Has it not occurred to anyone that possibly providing a place or outlet for those that are not involved in gang activity and are actually looking for a creative outlet would actually be something that might help to build bridges between the tagging community and the community at large. Maybe a property owner would donate a wall of their building for a rotating tagging art project. Taggers get to put their work on the wall for say a week or two, its then painted over and new taggers get to put their work up, and so on and so on, thereby bringing the tagging community out of the shadows.
Tagging is just the underlining sign of a much greater problem we face in this town. Until we fix our basic problems trying to fix the results is useless. We need some creative management decisions and guidance on how to revive our economy and spirit.
dumbfounded – it’s a gender group that’s causing the problem – men and boys. they are the problem. and tney’re part of more than one ethnic group.
your racism doesn’t help the town or the problem.
I find it difficult to use the word “art” when referring to graffiti. Vandalism, which implies a form of destruction is more appropriate.
Not only are businesses and empty buildings being targeted, but some of you might recall the recent tagging of rocks at Emerald Bay, “The Jewel of the Sierras.”
Last week I saw graffiti on a rock along Highway 50 on the other side of Cave Rock near Glenbrook.
Several weeks ago the Washoe Indian Tribe closed Pyramid Lake unconditionally and indefinitely to everyone due to tagging of rocks.
It is not artistic freedom nor is it a way to express one’s self. It is a sick mind destroying other people’s property or nature. It is not OK to rationalize the behavior of these criminals due to economic crisis, social ills or whatever. Wrong is wrong.
These “crimes” are spreading at an alarming rate. If the perpetrator’s can be identified, severe penalties should be implemented. Recently on the Bill Mander’s Radio Talk Show in response to the tagging at Pyramid lake, a caller suggested a public caning in lieu of prison time, but also financial restitution to clean up their messes.
Last August a friend of mine and his wife came up to visit. The man is a retired 35-year veteran of the LAPD.
One night they went to the casino area and walked around. They came back early. When I asked “why,” they responded that the area was very “seedy” and they did not feel safe.
So it is not just the financial implications of the businesses having to clean up the destruction, but it does and will continue to affect the appeal of Lake Tahoe as a tourist destination.
Talking about it does nothing to stop it. Enforcement of laws would be a good start.
Everything costs money, and the city does not have an excess. But somehow things need to be prioritized, and graffiti needs to be identified as the plague it is and to recognize there are consequences to graffiti that will negatively impact each and everyone of us.
Why aren’t cameras being placed in the areas hit most?
It’s very sad to see, but SLT is a total dump. That tends to happen in places where there is little to no middle class. SLT, the land of vacation homes, potheads, marijuana collectives and graffiti.
Great work city fathers…great plan. It’s worked well, as you can plainly see.
Dude, “tagging community”? Really? Correct speech is getting ridiculous.
As for there being nothing for those taggers to do here, well, if you can’t find stuff to occupy yourself here in Tahoe, you’ve got to be a total loser. There’s SO much to to do here! Some people just prefer to be destructive. And we should make those people unwelcome.