Document Ev6nQ3oQ08RaBBxR5g637JJd4

Some Graffiti Facts While graffiti is not a new phenomenon, the 1990s saw an explosion of graffiti and graffiti-related crimes in almost every major urban area. Graffiti vandals are known as "taggers," due to the repetitive use of their personal or group initials, or "tag." Most taggers are fairly young: however, the profile of the graffiti vandal crosses race, gender and socio economic lines. Since the early 1980s, the paint industry has worked with officials in cities across the country to provide viable solutions to graffiti, through the National Council to Prevent Delinquency. The paint industry also has worked with Lifetime Learning Systems to provide anti-graffiti educational packages to more than 5.000 middle schools in targeted areas. (Source: National Paint and Coatings Association) is anxious to address lead hazards in his state, believing Providence to be the "lead capital of the world." Ad ditionally, Whitehouse's counsel said that filing lawsuits helps the in dustry and the public "focus" on the problem. However, in a recent meet ing, N'PCA reminded the attorney general's office that the paint indus try has indeed focused on potential lead hazards and was working on creative solutions long before "the threat of law suits." One program already at work in Providence. R.I.. is the Community Lead Education and Reduction Corps, or CLEARCorps. The paint industry helped to launch CLEARCorps sev eral years ago to help communities identify and eliminate lead hazards, as well as to educate residents about how to keep their homes lead-safe. "CLEARCorps is just the most re cent example of how paint manufac turers have been at the forefront of responsible and conscientious efforts to prevent exposure to lead dust, re gardless of its source." stated NPCA President Andrew Doyle. "Instead of wasting precious state resources on unwarranted and unsupportable litigation. Rhode Island should work with us to promote con structive solutions--communitybased programs that identify and eliminate lead hazards." Doyle said. 64 January 2000 P D R The issue of lead-in-paint is sim mering elsewhere across the country, especially in urban areas. In just one month last year, there were as many as 14 new lead bills in various states and also four proposed regulations. Most of these rules will not affect re tailers directly. However, if litigation continues to replace regulation, paint manufacturers may have to find al ternative ways of generating addi tional revenue. If so. dealers might have cause for concern. One issue that could impact re tailers in the immediate future is post-consumer paint management. With paint recycling initiatives pop ping up all across the country, retail ers in many locales might be re quired to collect fees and take back products. This is the case in British Columbia, which several years ago imposed a "take-hack" requirement on all sellers of paint. (The program has since expanded to include more than just paint, i The industry re sponded by creating a Paint Care As sociation. funded by the placement of "eco fees" on paint products. At first, designated paint dealers' stores were established as drop-off stations. Since then, the PCA has established additional depots for dropping off leftover consumer products. Other prov inces in Canada are exploring similar programs. In the United States, Minnesota al so is strongly considering a take-f - ' program. So far. the paint industry has been successful in stalling off a British Columbia-type program, complete with eco-fees. However, the matter is not yet resolved. "We've been talking with regulatory officials there." said Lloyd, "and we've made progress. But they still insist that the costs be shifted (onto the retailer)." Then there's the matter of graffiti prevention. Many urban communities are fast at work tackling tnis issue, with retailers on the front line. Some cities, primarily on the West Coast, have adopted lock-up ordinances that require retailers to keep spray paint under lock and key. Other cities have considered even more stringent mea sures. including Chicago which sev eral years ago made it unlawful to sell the product altogether. Here, too. though, the paint in dustry has taken a proactive stance in adopting Responsible Retailing ini tiatives under the auspices of the Na tional Council to Prevent Delinquen cy. The program urges retailers to in stitute a combination of in-store ac tivities to reduce shoplifting of po tential graffiti tools and to help stop the illegal sales of these products to minors. The program includes edu cation of store employees, strategic placement of signs at display and check-out points, and information and suggested guidelines about the product display of spray paint and markers. The Council also prov ides community counseling to cities, as well as recommendations on poten tial remedies to graffiti vandalism. Proactive programs like this can go a long way toward warding off regulations and. in some cases, liti gation. However, paint manufactur ers and retailers shouldn't expect that either will go away too soon. It may be the beginning of a new mil lennium, but some things seem des tined to remain the same. 49 TOC 001889 "M!es deceive Millions m,, : ; 3^jnt Hazards [ n late October. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew .Cuomo awarded $56 million in grants to protect 30,000 children and their families in 13 states from the health hazards of lead-based paint. The HUD grants will go to state and local governments. The funds will go toward removing lead-contaminated paint, dust and soil from privatelyowned low-income housing. "All parents want the same thing for their chil dren that I want for my three daughters--the opportunity to grow up healthy and to achieve their full potential," said Cuomo. "These grants will protect thousands of poor children from being robbed of these opportuni ties by lead poisoning." The announcement came during the first official National Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. The grants were awarded to: Arizona--Phoenix, $2.9 million: California--State. $4 million; San Diego County, $1 million; Colorado--Denver, $ l million; Connecticut--Norwich, $3.4 million; Manchester, $ 1 million; Delaware--State. $2.7 million; Illinois--State, $2 million; Chicago, $4 million; St. Clair County, $2.8 million; Maryland--Baltimore, $2.9 million; Prince George's County, $1 million; Massachusetts--State, $1 million; Lowell, $2 million; Cambridge. $2.8 million; Nebraska--Omaha. $2 million; New Jersey--Hudson County, $3.5 million; New York--Albany, $4 million; Syracuse, $4 million; Ohio--Toledo, SI million; Mahoning County. $2.9 million; Wisconsin--State, $4 million. Additionally. HUD. the Environmental Protection Agency and the Cen ters for Disease Control and Prevention continue to jointly fund a toll-free phone line (1-800-424-LEAD) to give callers information about lead haz ards and disclosure requirements for people selling and renting homes. Information also is available on HUD's Internet site at www.hud.govilea. advocated uniformity across state lines. "Our nightmare for those man ufacturers selling in more than one state or even in all 50 states is that they would have to comply with as many as 50 different rules." Dealers in one state might find themselves selling entirely different products from dealers in another. Lloyd added. This scenario could disadvantage dealers in more strin gent states since customers might be inclined to cross state lines to buy products they can't find at home. In the meantime, the EPA's newly tightened standards for ozone and particulate matter also have been the topic of litigation. NPCA was one of many organizations that challenged the standards last year in American Trucking Association Inc. a al v. USEnvironmental Protection Agency. U.S. Court of Appeals. The paint in dustry worried that the new ozone standards could disrupt plans already under way by manufacturers to refor mulate and re-label their products in compliance with the national VOC rule. After hearing arguments, a three-judge circuit court panel threw out the standards last May. The deci sion was upheld on appeal by the full 'circuit court and at this writing was headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, with a decision expected sometime in the spring. The circuit court decision was on ly a partial victory for the paint in dustry. however. As Lloyd explained, the court not only tossed out the stan dards for ozone and particulate mat ter but also for nitrogen oxide i NOx,/. the other major component of smog. "Our fear is that the EPA will turn its attention back to VOC regulation: conceivably, it might even decide to rework the VOC rule." said Lloyd. In general, and depending on the geo graphic location, the contribution of NOx and VOC emissions to the for mation of smog will vary. Additionally, the court decision has caused disarray among non attainment areas around the country. As Lloyd explained. "When the court threw out the new standards, the EPA was forced to consider re-applying the old standard. And under the old standard, a number of regions and counties would probably be of com pliance. It's in a state of chaos." At this point, manufacturers are continuing to operate under the VOC rule. But until both air-quality matters are fully resolved, "Unifor mity of regulations is threatened," said Lloyd. Other Issues In still more litigation. Rhode Is land is suing members of the paint and lead-pigment industry in w hat could be a ground-breaking case. The lawsuit seeks millions of dollars from several paint companies named in the case, to pay for removing leadpaint from homes and reducing ex posure to children. Rhode Island Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse reported that he ^ PDF? January 2:c: 63 49 TOC 001890 TOPICSHi '-Hit '> Paint &The Environment The Focus Is Shifting From Legislation to Litigation By Tamela Adamson-McMullen, contributing editor "ACK IN THE MID-1980S, when the notion of regu lating VOCs in paint was first bandied about, few people could have imag ined that it would still be brewing today. But the controversy over paint and air quality continues, as it does over lead-based paint haz ards. post-consumer paint manage ment and graffiti deterrence. These issues have been hotbeds for paint manufacturers for the latter part of this millennium and. as it draws to a close, are boiling and bubbling for re tailers as well. One of the major issues that could affect retailers in the years to come is air quality. How these issues are re solved could drastically affect the way, paint goes to market--how it is for mulated. specified and sold. The na tional rule limiting VOCs in architec tural and industrial maintenance coat ings went into effect Sept. 13. 1999. However, the rule has been challenged in court, as have the Environmental Protection Agency's new National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone and particulate matter. And this time, their outcomes won't be decided on the floor of Con gress but in the halls of justice. According to David Lloyd, vice president of government affairs for the National Paint and Coatings Associa tion. the shift from legislation to liti 62 January 2CCC P D R gation in pending paint issues could have far-reaching consequences. "Of real concern is the strong pos sibility, with certain exceptions, of an evolution--some call it 'devolu tion'--of power and responsibility from the Feds to the states, not be cause of anything Congress does but what the courts are doing." said Lloyd. Clean Air Requirements The national VOC rule is a case in point. The law is being challenged in circuit court by a group of regional manufacturers as being unfeasible. While the rule was some 10 years in the making and the challenge involves rules governing other consumerproduct industries, "It's entirely pos sible all of the challenged rules could be thrown out," said Lloyd. In the absence of a national VOC rule, states would be forced to adopt their own laws to comply with the 1990 Clean Air Act requirements. This could lead to a "state-by-state patchwork quilt of rules." said Lloyd noting that NPCA has consistent!' Some Lead-In-Paint Facts Most paint manufacturers voluntarily discontinued the use of lead pig ments in consumer paints back in the 1940s and 1950s, switching to supe rior substitutes such as titanium dioxide (TiCb). Government studies reveal that children become lead-poisoned pri marily by hand-to-mouth lead dust ingestion and only rarely through eat ing old lead-based paint chips. In 1995, NPCA launched the Community Lead Education and Reduc tion Corps in conjunction with the Shriver Center at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. With the help of federal funding, the pro gram's focus is to establish lead-safe housing at an affordable cost and to educate communities on lead safety. CLEARCorps has pilot projects op erating in six major L .S. cities and will expand to more than 12 cities over the next two years. According to a report released last year. "America's Children: Key Na tional Indicators of Well-Being," the number of children with lead poi soning has dropped significantly, from more than 88 percent in the late 1970s to around 76 percent today. (Source: National Paint and Coatines Association) 49 TOC 001891 _________ __ in fact. !ive> in a iOO-v ear-old house in Bahama. N.C.. which is 16 miles from Durham. "People like to move into the historical homes and do it properly." he says, adding that "doing it proper ly" often means a new coat of paint, among other changes. As Mark and George add more stores to their chain, they will experi ence more competition from the box stores and the company-ow ned stores. They welcome this competition and firmly believ e that they will get a good share of area customers. "We'll beat them with service." dark saves flatly. "You don't get nuch serv ice in the box stores. The tuy who waited on you in their paint apartment last time may be in adifrent department when you come in ext time. Also, their tinting can be consistent. Our big advantage over e big boxes is expertise. "We also work contractors' hours." dark continues. "We open early in he morning and have delivery availble." Mark, who lives in Raleigh, ays lie is perfectly willing to deiiv'r paint on his w ay home from work achday. As the company expands. Mark anticipates that Shades of Color w ill become more price-competitive in comparison to the big boxes and company-owned stores. Yet. he fully expects the business to maintain its emphasis on serv ice no matter how large it becomes. One of the kevs to ereat serv ice is employees' enjoy ment of their work, which in Shades ot Colors' case is a lot of dealings w ith contractors. "We work to make good, strong relation ships w ith our contractor customers. They become our Inends, and that's a great way to do business--with friends." Mark says. George agrees. "In the paint and decorating business. 1 really enjoy the relationships I've been able to make with customers. ! just really enjov helping customers." Mark w ill go as far as saying that friendliness in his business is ab solutely crucial. "As far as I'm con cerned. friendliness and the ability to interact smoothly with people is the first skill that's needed." Mark states. "Even if you're the best paint match er in the world, if you're not good at talking to and interacting with cus tomers, you won't survive." And Mark and George certainly plan for Shades of Color to do much more than survive. "We want to have a refreshed business with grow th as pirations." Mark says, "one that would not stagnate in the market hut would actuallv thrive." P0R 61 49 TOC 001892