Our Community in Fairfax County, Virginia

Mason District's graffiti abatement program kicked off on 20 November with several clean-up tasks around the Westlawn area.  Walker Newman, Burl Siemers, Howard Rohr, Richard Lunsford and I helped to paint over graffiti on the vacant Long John Silver's restaurant using paint provided by the owner.  The police then demonstrated the use of a power washer to remove graffiti from the brick walls of the Japanese Auto Service shop on Annandale Road.  The old graffiti was hard to remove, requiring dangerous chemicals to dissolve the paint and repeated power washings.

The police got permission to use the power washer to remove graffiti from a wooden fence close to the Falls Church High School, and they removed graffiti from the gray utility box at the intersection of Annandale and Kerns Roads.  The police are still working with VDOT to come to an agreement on cleaning or removing traffic signs that have been vandalized with graffiti.  Cleaning these signs is problematic, as the chemicals used to dissolve the graffiti also tend to dissolve the paint on the signs!

At our 5 October 1999 General Meeting, Lt. Pete Morrow of Mason District Police Station gave an excellent presentation on graffiti in general, the graffiti problem in Mason District, and what can be done to clean it up.  With the help of local businesses donating supplies and storage sheds, Lt. Morrow is starting a graffiti abatement program that has local citizens working with his office to help clean up graffiti in our neighborhood.

There are many issues to work out with graffiti removal.  About half the graffiti in our area is on VDOT property, such as the gray boxes at stoplight intersections, and the police need to get VDOT permission to clean up VDOT property.  For graffiti on private residential or commercial property, the police need permission of the property owner before taking action.

Lt. Morrow has conducted a lot of research on the issue of chemical solvents to remove graffiti, and he has found a whole industry making products that all claim to do wonders at removing graffiti.  In fact, his research and personal trials showed that not all chemicals solvents are effective, and some are downright dangerous to use!

Because of our strong support for this program, Westlawn will be the first community to participate in Mason District's graffiti abatement program.  A small group of us have volunteered to receive some training and participate in the first round of clean-up on 20 November.  Look for new paint on the gray box at the Annandale Road/Kerns Road intersection, as well as the wall of graffiti on the north wall of White Star Cleaners.

Our goal is to remove graffiti as fast as it goes up, sending a message to graffiti vandals that it is a waste of time to vandalize our area with graffiti.  If you would like to help out with graffiti removal on an occasional basis, please call me on 237-8572.

Tired of seeing criminals vandalyzing our neighborhood with graffiti? The next time you see graffiti on street signs, utilities boxes, or buildings in and around Westlawn, do something about it-call Mason District's new graffiti hotline at 256-8035 ext. 5147.

The new hotline will play a recorded message in English and Spanish.  You can leave a message to report the location of new graffiti, provide tips on the identity of graffiti vandals, ask a question related to graffiti, etc.  The police prefer that you leave your name and phone number so that they can recontact you, which they sometimes need to do.  However, you can leave an anonymous message if you wish.

Mason District Police Station is in the process of establishing a Volunteer Abatement Team to combat graffiti in our area.  Local businesses are donating supplies and equipment such as a storage shed, paint, and paint-removing chemicals.  The police need volunteers from Westlawn to provide a little time to help out with cleaning up graffiti.  Right now, Lt. Pete Morrow is testing out various graffiti-removing products to determine which ones to purchase for use by the Volunteer Abatement Team.  If you can spare up to a few hours every month or so to help the police in their efforts to remove graffiti from our neighborhood, please call Lt. Morrow at 256-8035 ext. 2374.

The police also are looking for a volunteer from anywhere in Mason District to help out part-time with the new graffiti hotline.  For about two hours each day, Monday through Friday, the unpaid volunteer would keep track of reporting of graffiti incidents.  Please call Lt. Morrow for more information.