There is a distinct lack of graffiti in Saratoga Creek Park thanks to Cupertino resident Sandra Yeaton, who has been volunteering her time and energy to clean up the park for almost 15 years.
Armed with a bucket of paint and a chemical graffiti eraser, Yeaton removes unwanted decor by painting over or erasing graffiti that pops up in the park, which is nestled in West San Jose near Cupertino, along Lawrence Expressway. Yeaton says the graffiti she cleans up often includes tagging, lewd pictures and foul language.
"We like our parks without a lot of graffiti, and she is doing a wonderful job," says Vicki Poulos, a Lassen Street resident and Yeaton's friend, noting that graffiti in the park has been reduced by about 85 percent.
"Graffiti has always been a big part of the city's fight," says Manny Perez, interim program coordinator for the city of San Jose's Adopt-a-Park program. Graffiti is an eyesore and a huge problem, he says.
"The parks maintenance system right now is undermanned, so the volunteers are a big part of keeping the parks clean," he says, adding that the city considers graffiti removal to be of the utmost importance.
The city of San Jose has an anti-graffiti department that cleans up graffiti on public and private property, but because parks often require different treatment, such as dealing with graffiti-resistant coating, the Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services department takes care of any graffiti in the city's parks. In the Adopt-a-Park program, the city handles major work but supplies volunteers such as Yeaton with paint and a graffiti eraser for daily graffiti maintenance. But the Adopt-a-Park program is going through a transition; Clifton Gold, the former program coordinator, stopped running the program on Aug. 15, and it is currently being managed by two interim coordinators, both of whom have other responsibilities.
After three months of waiting for new supplies, Yeaton finally bought her own paintbrushes, but still hopes the city will provide her with paint. Perez cited proper paperwork and backlogged tasks in the PRNS department as reasons why volunteers might not get a prompt response.
Regardless of whether the city hands out supplies, Yeaton is committed to the park's maintenance. She checks for graffiti at least weekly, and paints over or removes it as needed. She has noticed "outbreaks" of graffiti, usually when school starts, but in general the park is free of unwanted tagging.
"Her work is important not only because of the beauty of our community, but because it also stops the graffiti from happening," Poulos says. "She goes a little deeper to show children how to be members of the community."
"It's probably the teacher in me," jokes Yeaton, 65, a retired substitute middle and high school teacher. Yeaton joined the city's Adopt-a-Park program in the mid-1990s after she had already been frequenting the park for some 10 years.
"One day, I went walking through there and it was a big mess. I couldn't believe it," Yeaton recalls. "There was never any graffiti in the park until then. I decided to devote myself and clean this up."
As time went on, she found that just being a presence in the park helped to deter people from leaving their mark in spray paint.
By now, loitering teenagers know she's there with a sharp eye, she says.
Her work doesn't stop in the Saratoga Creek Park; she also volunteers in John Mise Park in San Jose and along the Cupertino part of the Saratoga Creek Trail. Most of her efforts benefit the Saratoga Creek Park, which is situated just a mile from Yeaton's house, because she uses the park as often as three times per week.
Yeaton has observed all types of graffiti, but one common theme resounds: "a cry for attention" is what Yeaton calls it, and she says it could be remedied by giving teenagers something better to do.
"I've never caught anyone actually [spraying graffiti]," she says, but if she did, she would want them to have to clean it up themselves. "It's art when they do it at home, but it's vandalism when it's on someone else's property."
