County tests way to fight graffiti by phone

Dried excrement is smeared across a stucco wall of the Thunderbird Plaza Shopping Center at Las Vegas and Lamb boulevards.

The brown clumps also are streaked across the various red, black and blue graffiti tags on the surrounding concrete walls and have been there for weeks, according to business owners.

A stained mattress and a lumpy couch rest behind the building. Broken glass and garbage litter the back parking lot.

On the other side of that brick wall, kids play on a basketball court at Alexander Villas Park.

Joe Baird, who owns and runs a shipping center in the plaza, captured the offending images on her cell phone and sent them to county officials with a new free iPhone application the county is testing to combat graffiti, blight and illegal dumping. Anyone can download the program from the iPhone App Store by searching for "myDistrictD."

"It's disgusting," Baird said. "But this (application) is awesome."

The "myDistrictD" iPhone application, uses built-in global positioning system technology that attaches the location of the offense to the complaint before it is sent to Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly's office.

The electronic complaints are then routed to the appropriate department or agency. Most have gone to the county's Public Response Office, which is responsible for code enforcement.

Some complaints, however, have been forwarded to area utility companies as well as the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, said Joe Boteilho, chief of code enforcement for Clark County.

"We're sort of the clearing house for graffiti, so we'll get the information to whoever needs it. If it comes from another jurisdiction, it doesn't matter," Boteilho said. "(Our) response time depends, it could take three to five days or it could be faster than that depending on our workload."

When it comes to a nonresidential complaint, property owners are given 10 days to clean up. If the owner fails to comply with code, the county sends out a notice of abatement, and the owner has 15 days to request a hearing before a hearing master.

At that point, if the owner does not remove the offending graffiti, trash or blight, the county hires a contractor and tacks the fees onto the property as "a special assessment," Boteilho added.

Some have chosen to remain anonymous when forwarding information about an offense. Baird said she submitted her complaint along with her personal contact information so she could keep tabs on how county officials would respond.

About two years ago, Baird got out of her car to take photos of graffiti and write down the location. When a group of young graffiti artists spotted what she was doing and confronted her, Baird said she was frightened.

"Now, it's a safety issue," she said. "I can hide out in my car while I'm waiting at a traffic light, and take a photo. It takes five seconds."

Weekly, who introduced the application two weeks ago, said about 1,000 people have downloaded the program. His office has received more than 50 complaints ranging from graffiti and urban decay to trash throughout the county.

At some point in the testing process, county officials want to expand to programs to other types of smart phones, Weekly said.

"If you're out and not in your own neighborhood, and you see something inappropriate, it doesn't matter where you are," Weekly said. "That's the message I want to get out to the community, to work together. You're part of the eyes and ears of the community."

Contact Kristi Jourdan at kjourdan@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.