CANOGA PARK : Graffiti Paint-Out Wraps Up Today

Several hundred Valley-area youths are expected to take to the streets with paintbrushes for the final phase of the Great L.A. Cleanup today.

The citywide graffiti paint-outs, sponsored by the city to mark Earth Day, have so far taken place in South-Central and East L.A. This morning, the program will wrap up in Canoga Park and Van Nuys.

Joe Jackson, program director for New Directions for Youth in Van Nuys, said he has signed up more than 200 teen-agers from the Blythe Street neighborhood to paint and clean up garbage in the most blighted sections of the street around Van Nuys Boulevard. Jackson tries to recruit youths who are at risk of joining the gangs that left the graffiti.

Saturday’s cleanup volunteers will work under police protection after Jackson requested extra patrols, recalling past experiences when youths painting out graffiti came into conflict with local gang members.

“They come over and say ‘why are you doing this?’ It can get a little hostile,” Jackson said.

Tom Ernst, coordinator for the city’s Operation Clean Sweep, said organizers also feared youths painting graffiti could unwittingly become victims of retaliation in neighborhoods with frequent gang attacks.

Norma Solis, assistant director of El Centro de la Amistad in Canoga Park, said about 50 youths recruited from counseling services will paint out graffiti near the community center in conjunction with the Van Nuys cleanup. Several thousand volunteers around L.A. have taken part in the Great L.A. cleanup over the past two weekends, Ernst said.