Funds will allow the Probation Dept. to expand clean-up activities in remote areas of the El Paso County El Paso County Attorney José R. Rodriguez announced today that Commissioner’s Court has approved funding to expand graffiti clean-up efforts in the outlying areas of the County. During a special budget meeting held on Tuesday September 23, 2008, Commissioner’s Court approved $83,000 for the “Graffiti Wipeout” Program managed by the West Texas Community Supervision and Corrections Department (Adult Probation). The funds will pay the salary of a new field manager, and include $34,000 for the purchase of a new truck. The “Graffiti Wipeout” Program operates under a very efficient, cost-effective system in which probationers perform the bulk of the work without compensation to meet their community service hours. During Fiscal Year 2007-2008 the “Graffiti Wipe-Out” Program has cleaned more than 4,600 sites throughout the El Paso County. Restoring the County’s funding of the program was one of the main goals identified by the Anti-Graffiti Task Force in its report issued on June 21, 2008. The report is the blueprint for a new anti-graffiti initiative and contains more than 20 concrete proposals that can be implemented to reduce the incidence of graffiti in our neighborhoods, among them: · Amend state law to enhance punishment for repeat offenders.· Developing a first offender program for juveniles who commit graffiti.· Propose city ordinance requiring property owners to consent to graffiti clean-up or else pay a fine and costs of clean up.· Adopt ordinances to require business to lock up or place spray paint behind a counter. · Implementation of a Graffiti Public Information Campaign.· Promote “Campus Crime Stoppers” at all local schools. El Paso County Attorney José R. Rodríguez, Chairman of the Anti-Graffiti Task Force said getting funding from Commissioner’s Court for the program is very important because it is very cost-effective. “Ten years ago we had the same effort and the County began to fund the “Graffiti Wipe-Out” program. They were so successful in eradicating graffiti that, in 2004, the County cut its funding because anti-graffiti efforts were not considered a priority. As a result, the presence of graffiti has been increasing dramatically in the last few years,” Rodriguez explained. Rodríguez also explained that the Anti-Graffiti Task Force will continue to work on implementing all of the recommendations included in the report.. # # #
Graffiti Funding Press Release.pdf
About edominguez
Elhiu Dominguez was born in Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, México. He moved to the Ciudad Juárez - El Paso area in 1988 to study Mass Communications at the Chihuahua State University (UACH). He later obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1994.
Elhiu began his professional career in 1989 as a reporter for Norte de Juarez newspaper. In 1994 he was employed at Canal 26, the local Univision affiliate in El Paso, as photojournalist, producer, and later as a reporter. In 1998, after a brief period as Weekend Assignments Editor at KDBC Channel 4, the local CBS affiliate, Elhiu returned to work at Univision 26 as a senior reporter. He was later assigned in 1999 as the Texas-New Mexico correspondent for the Univision Network’s news magazine “Primer Impacto”, a position that he held until his resignation in 2005 to become Assignments Editor at KFOX Channel 14, the local FOX network affiliate.
Elhiu left KFOX in 2006 to become the Public Affairs Officer for the El Paso County Attorney’s Office.
During his more than 15 years of experience as journalist, Elhiu has received numerous awards, among them “La Columna de Oro” for a special series of stories regarding the murders of women in Juárez, and several first and second place awards by the New Mexico and Texas Associated Press in the categories of investigative reporting, breaking news, and feature stories.