SALINAS, Calif.- Geraldo Gonzales runes the trails of Natividad Creek park three times a week. He said it's no surprise there are people in 9th park up to no good.
"It's just unfortunate. I see kids there during school hours," said Gonzales.
Taggers defaced what was supposed to be a canvas for graffiti art. A slap in the face for the artists who hoped to transform the tunnel.
"It's just really discouraging to see something like this when people take the time to beautify and make it a little attractive and someone cold have the nerve to just ruin it like that. It just shows a lack of value," said Gonzales.
The group behind the mural, Building Healthier Communities, said it was in the beginning stages. The program aims to give taggers a place to do real art. But many parts of walls weren't so lucky. Paint, foul language and even threats are splattered throughout the tunnel's mural.
While murals are one way to keep graffiti off the streets, the community is using other ways to battle taggers. There is a graffiti app for smart phones called "MyDistrict3." The app is free for anyone. Here is how it works : after you open the app, you can select to take a picture of the graffiti and send it to the city. We reached out to the city's Graffiti Abatement office to see if people are using the APP, but we're still waiting to hear back.
As for the tunnel, the graffiti isn't stopping the mural artists - but the clean up will cost up to a thousand dollars.
Geraldo however, thinks it's more about parents paying attention to their kids.
"The root of the problem is that kids are taken for granted here in Salinas, and its sad, but we cant allow this either. This just symbolizes how some kids are neglected around here," Geraldo said.
