AND lAwNDAle News The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - February 28, 2013 Inside Casino Night Fundraiser, March 1Education Foundation Hosts This Issue The Lawndale Elementary School District, LESD, Educational Foundation will host its annual Calendar...............................2 fundraiser on March 1 at the Lawndale Com- munity Center from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. LESD Educational Foundation provides opportunities for students to achieve their potential by sup- porting programs and additional resources that engage students and enhance curriculum Classifieds ...........................3 in extraordinary ways. For more information, interested persons may visit www.LESDEF.org. Photo courtesy of Liz Ramirez. Food ......................................8 Hawthorne Happenings......4 Legals ...............................5-7 People ..................................2 Lawndale Graffiti Removal Project Brings Out Artists in Community Members Police Report......................2 By Nancy Peters artistic abilities on the railroad wall. savings of a community project against the There is an ongoing problem in most cities Previously, the wall was tagged many times Public Works staff applying flat paint over Sports...................................4 will “mark” their territory and do so making painting it, only for tagging to appear again. removal of the graffiti by community membersand over again on a wall or large area. Theover and Farmer’s Public Works group keptwith graffiti marring the landscape. Taggers their canvas as small as a sidewalk patch or a Trying to match the color of the wall adjacent has become a source of great camaraderie full blank wall. We have all seen graffiti on the to the tagging area became a nearly impossible between those who come out to participate. walls of overpasses on the freeways (how do task. But Farmer just knew there was a way The Rotary Club members were recruiting they do that anyway?) and also on the walls of to best the taggers at their own game. Using the students to participate in the Interact Club tunnels. While some are actually great works the tagging as a “base” for community artists, (Rotary Club high school division) at their of art in this pop culture age, graffiti is illegal. the wall is now painted with trees, leaves respective schools. And the Lawndale High Lawndale has a wall near the railroad tracks and some other designs chosen by the artists students were able to become friends with Weekend Boulevard that is a canvas for taggers. However, unrecognizable and can no longer be claimed “work on the wall.”EHS students they would not meet under anyother circumstances, admiring each other’sas their spirits move their paintbrush. Thetagging may still be there, but it is basicallythat separates the railroad from the backyardsof homes at 170th Street west of Hawthorne Forecast Director Debby Holland came up with a plan property or City-owned property, is detrimental reported, the crew will go out and remove it in-Graffiti can be reported through the Lawndale Graffiti Hotline at (310) 973-3264. OnceGraffiti on any surface, whether on privateby a tagging group.City of Lawndale Public Works SupervisorSteven Farmer and the Municipal Services to deter the taggers from abuse of that wall. to the property’s value, regardless of the aesthetic between Graffiti Removal Days. Most graffiti In the last year on Saturday mornings in ruin to the building, wall, sidewalk, etc. Tagging can be easily removed with the citrus-based Friday brought out community members who can a message to rivals, but many times taggers the community members of Lawndale are verywipes and not all requires a painting day, butis at times related to “gangs” wanting to sendeach quarter, the Graffiti Removal Project has Sunny walk the streets with removal wipes that are are just competing against other taggers to see happy to participate when there is a Graffiti 79˚/55˚ and markers from sidewalks, walls or any other a wall has already been painted, taggers are ties are showcased and with the approval of-Removal Project Saturday. Their artistic abiliwhich group can paint the better mural. Whenespecially made to remove all kinds of paint flat surface--even glass--with a citrus-based deterred 90 percent of the time from adding the City, and even the Sheriff’s Department, wipe. Over the course of this time, more than their own mark to that surface. Taggers want which came by and took pictures of “legal” and 250 tags have been removed or cleaned off. their painting to be purely their work. approved tagging, the recent Graffiti Removal Saturday But the best “revenge” for the tagged graffiti There is no way to specifically evaluate the Day in Lawndale was a success. • is the community paintings that have emerged, Partly supervised by Farmer and his one-man graffiti Cloudy removal crew, on these designated Saturdays. Project SaturdayGraffiti RemovalRecently, the staging took place at Hawthorne 79˚/59˚ Boulevard and Manhattan Beach Boulevard was a great suc- cess for those where about 25 volunteers came out to either community par- walk the town with wipes or paint at the ticipants who railroad tracks. came out to Sunday Members of Mr. Bartz’s Economics class at legally tag the Mostly 20 hours of community service per semester, road tracks and-wall at the railLawndale High School, who are required to give Cloudy were joined by a few students from the Envi- 170th Street. ronmental High School (EHS) in Lawndale, 66˚/52˚ whose community service time must total 80 Photo by Lauren hours in a school year. A few Lawndale Rotary J. Peters. Club members also participated to show their
Lawndale 02_28_13
To see the actual publication please follow the link above