FOCUS: Orange County Focus is dedicated on Monday to analysis of community news, a look at what’s ahead and the voices of local people. : PERSPECTIVE : Cities Stuck With Removing Decals Pasted to Signs

Just as cities gained the upper hand in their war against graffiti, a new enemy emerged: stickers.

Lampposts, street signs and storefronts that two years ago were being spray-painted by taggers are now being plastered with small adhesive decals advertising skateboards, sports equipment and underground rock bands.

Cities have long contended with the occasional bumper stickers affixed to stop signs. But in the past year and a half, such defacements have become increasingly common, especially in beach communities where stickers are available for free at surf shops and clothing stores, officials said.

“This is every bit the same kind of vandalism as tagging a wall,” said George Millikin, operations manager for Newport Beach, which spent more than $25,000 in the past year dealing with decals. “The public might not pay as much attention to this because it’s not as widespread,” he said. “But the decals are a big problem for us.”

Cities across Orange County face a similar predicament. In Orange, city workers estimate that they have removed at least 1,500 stickers from public property in the past two years.

Downtown Huntington Beach was hit so hard by vandals this summer that the city formed a special work crew that peeled, blasted and scraped stickers off more than 350 signs in a single week.

The city has also instructed parking enforcement officers not to ticket cars left in restricted spaces if nearby “No Parking” signs are covered with the decals. The policy was adopted after some car owners demanded that their citations be voided, saying the stickers made it impossible for them to read the posted parking regulations.

Getting the decals off is costly and time-consuming. The adhesive used on some decals is so strong that workers have actually damaged signs when trying to remove them. And while painting over a graffiti-marked signpost takes only a minute or two, officials say removing a single decal can take as long as 15 minutes.

“Sometimes it’s easier just to replace the sign than to get the sticker off,” said Jim MacLean, Huntington Beach’s building maintenance crew manager.

The rise of sticker vandalism comes as a more notorious form of urban blight, graffiti, has made a rapid retreat. Just three years ago, taggers ran rampant through the county, marking everything from trees to freeway signs with spray paint and markers.

The crisis spawned an extensive crackdown involving cities, law enforcement agencies and the courts, where judges began imposing tough sentences for youths convicted of tagging. As a result, tagging has decreased dramatically.

City officials acknowledge that stickers pose less of a threat than tagging, as least in the minds of residents who associate graffiti with urban decay and gang violence.

The decals are usually applied by teen-agers who collect the items while shopping at music stores and surf shops. Stickers also come from concerts and community events.

Besides beach areas, neighborhoods near schools are prime targets for vandals, said Leroy Streigel, Orange’s superintendent for graffiti removal. Major intersections also are frequently hit.

*

Though the decals measure only a few square inches each, residents have expressed growing irritation over their proliferation. “It’s just ugly,” Huntington Beach Mayor Victor Leipzig said. “It detracts from the look of the community.”

The stickers also pose a hazard when they are affixed to stop signs and other safety markers. Some vandals use the decals to cover arrows and obscure street names apparently in an effort to confuse motorists, officials said.

“It can become a dangerous situation when a street sign gets covered with stickers and emergency vehicles can’t find the location of calls,” said Dennis Reed, San Clemente’s beaches and parks manager.

Most cities try to remove stickers from public spaces as soon as they are reported. But because anti-vandalism hot lines receive relatively few calls about decals, the stickers often remain affixed for weeks or months.

The problem has prompted some residents and city leaders to demand that merchants stop distributing stickers. In Huntington Beach, Councilman Ralph Bauer recently proposed an ordinance that would prohibit their sale.

Newport Beach’s Millikin asked rhetorically: “If we can restrict sales of spray cans, why can’t we do something about these decals being given away?”

Many merchants, however, oppose any such restrictions, saying they would penalize all customers when only a few are misusing the stickers. Besides, said Stephen Daniel, president of Huntington Beach’s Downtown Merchants Assn., “passing an ordinance is not going to stop this from happening.”

While officials debate the options, the city’s crews keep peeling off the decals, one by one. “We try to make a dent in it,” MacLean said. “But they come back.”