Altadenablog has been a litte overwhelmed by personal business (end of school week and all), so it's unfortunate that updating will be light for a few days when important things are going on.
We spoke Monday with Helen Wong, the Regional Park Superintendent for Eaton Canyon, who has been grateful for the response to the graffiti and overwhelmed at the same time. The park and nature center area, which Wong is responsible for, actually comprises a small part of the area and a small part of the graffiti -- the most egregious graffiti is on land supervised by the National Forest Service. Law enforcement over the canyon is, depending on the section, the responsibility of the Pasadena Police Dept., National Forest Service, county police (who patrol county parks) or the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept. While the park's area was cleaned up (i.e. painted over) fairly quickly, the National Forest Service land apparently still has tagging, and the Eaton Park staff have no jurisdiction over it.
In addition, the complaints about the graffiti, and phone calls seeking information and offering help, have made it difficult for the budget-squeezed Eaton Park staff to do the other jobs they're supposed to do.
Eaton Canyon Park neighbor Benita Oekawa, who has been in the thick of this since it started, called us to say that a letter is being prepared to help direct the folks who want to help. We'll share that with you once there's something definite to say.
