When a vandal picks up a can of spray paint and tags another person’s property—it not only devalues the property in question but also costs the graffiti management program over $100,000 to clean up.
Graffiti numbers are not going down in the city, even though the city employs a number of techniques to tackle the problem.
The city has seen a 43 per cent increase in the number of graffiti vandalism complaints received this year. The 311 service request data sets reveal that the city has received 535 vandalism complaints this year from the month of January to August, all of which have been graffiti-related. Last year the city received 373 calls up to the month of August. The data for the remaining months of the current year are not available yet.
Graffiti complaints 2013-2014
Heat map showing the top 10 graffiti hotspots:
The highest number of calls received reporting graffiti are from the Capital Ward, which is closely followed by Kitchissppi and Rideau- Vanier.
A close look at the data reveals that the number of graffiti vandalism calls received were highest during the summer months and lowest during the winter months.
Paul McCann, coordinator of the Graffiti Management Program for the city of Ottawa, has been working in this field for 15 years. He says the budget to clean up graffiti this year is $700,000. This amount also covers the cost of employing three cleaning crews that clean up graffiti in different sections of the city.
McCann says dealing with graffiti becomes a problem when people ignore the deadline for cleaning up graffiti for weeks. Sometimes people are uncooperative. Sometimes the property owner is not present at the site which causes delays in the process of cleaning up graffiti.
At times it is unclear who the tagged property belongs to. When graffiti is on a fence or a wall along the property line and it is not clear who owns the property, the city survey and mapping section is contacted to verify who the owner is. If the property or the owner is not on the records, a site visit or a survey is required. Depending on the work load, the process can be delayed and may take up additional time to assess.
“Weather can also delay cleaning graffiti, especially in the winter,” says McCann. “But not in the case of the City Crews or most private companies who are well-trained and equipped to operate all year.”
Sometimes, graffiti does not come off 100 per cent. This leaves property owners with a damaged surface and a property that is degraded and not as new looking.
Graffiti scares some people, says McCann.
“Some people see it as a crime area, or crime to come, or a place where people hang out,” he says. “So it is not a positive thing for the city, if left unchecked.”
According to Statistics Canada, ‘mischief’ which comprises of vandalism, graffiti and other destruction of property, was the most commonly reported offence among police-reported hate crimes, making up over half of all hate crime incidents in 2012.
McCann believes one of the reasons why graffiti vandalism has gone up this year could be because more people may have reported it this year.
There are certain areas in the city that have zero tolerance towards graffiti. In these areas, city crews can proactively clean up graffiti where they see it without receiving a service request.
However, sometimes graffiti that is not seen, or is seen but not reported, may not get cleaned up at all.
Cst. Matthew Hunt, stakeholder on the City of Ottawa graffiti committee, believes that graffiti is a gateway crime that can lead to other more serious crimes in the future.
“I believe that graffiti is vandalism and is done for a variety of reasons such as boredom, retaliation, hate crime, gang or organized crime or tagging,” says Hunt.
McCann believes that one of the reasons why people do graffiti is to gain recognition.
“Their tag is their signature that they put up so that other graffiti vandals recognize them,” says McCann, referring to vandals. “They put it up in highly visible areas because the people they are trying to reach out to, go that way.”
The City of Ottawa’s Graffiti Management By-law was enacted in 2008 and requires all property to be graffiti free. Property owners are given a free graffiti erasing kit and are advised to remove graffiti within seven days of receiving a notice from the city. Offensive graffiti is to be removed within 48 hours of being reported.
“We have three dedicated and equipped cleaning crews and staff that cover the entire city,” says McCann. “This is the most cost efficient method.”
The Graffiti Management Program has grant programs for Business Improvement Areas to help remove the graffiti as soon as possible.
McCann says it is rare for vandals to get caught. But when they do, there are consequences.
The By-law states that graffiti vandals are to be charged with a fine of $615. If a vandal happens to be below the age of 18, his or her parents are financially responsible for the property loss, damage or destruction intentionally caused by their child, according to Parental Responsibility Act.
Under the Criminal Code of Canada, vandals may be subject to additional community service hours or criminal charges.
Not all graffiti is bad, says McCann. There is some amount of graffiti that is embraced in Ottawa. The city has three walls that have been made legal for people to do graffiti on. The underside of the Dunbar Bridge on Bronson Avenue, Albert Street Education Centre Retaining Wall on Slater Street and Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex in Orleans are places where people can freely do graffiti.
Many would think that having a graffiti wall gives space and freedom to graffiti artists to do their art, and in turn decreases the number of vandalism cases. But this is not the case. Councillor Marianne Wilkinson of the Kanata North Ward, asked for having a legal graffiti wall in Ward 4. The Councillor said that it was found that having graffiti walls actually increased the amount of graffiti in those areas and so it was decided not to have any more legal walls in the city.
“We found that what was happening was that when the graffiti walls were filled up, we would find graffiti around it,” says Wilkinson. “Because their own wall was full, artists didn’t want to go over somebody else’s art so they looked for something in the neighbouring area. That actually increased the amount of graffiti in those areas.”
In addition to the legal graffiti walls, artists can also do their art in skate parks that allow it – the Legacy Skatepark at Woodroffe Avenue being one of them.
However, Councillor Wilkinson says, there is a new skate park which is supposed to be graffiti-free and people have put graffiti on it.
The Ottawa Police have a mural program that allows Ottawa youth to create their own outdoor mural graffiti in commonly tagged areas.
“I believe murals can work well,” says Hunt. “That is why I support the ‘Paint it Up’ program.”
Paint it Up is a not-for-profit organization funded by Crime Prevention Ottawa and the City of Ottawa, that organizes outdoor mural projects to support graffiti prevention.
Sarah Lickley, an independent artist and a Coordinator of Aboriginal Art Collection, has worked on community murals. She has helped facilitate and create a community mural at Optimist Park.
Murals are used to cover graffiti walls with artwork to discourage graffiti vandals from tagging those areas and according to McCann, they are a solution to graffiti vandalism.
Lickley believes in regulating graffiti art by offering artists places where they can create work for their communities to see.
“Graffiti isn’t a bad thing, it is an art form,” says Lickley.
The bad part about graffiti is that it is sometimes used by gangs and organized crime to intimidate communities and individuals, she says.
“When you can flip the tables and use it to empower communities and promote arts, it is a beautiful thing,” she continues.
Cristian Aluas, a freelance fine artist and illustrator, echoes Lickley’s thoughts. He thinks Ottawa needs to have another legal graffiti wall but only if the art is organized.
“I definitely admire some of the larger and cleaner graffiti artworks,” says Aluas.
The city will be hosting The Anti Graffiti Symposium (TAGS), a national organization that works towards preventing and reducing graffiti vandalism, next year in October. TAGS is in its ninth edition this year.
“It is a very good event for defeating graffiti,” says McCann, referring to the TAGS conference. “Graffiti will definitely be getting a higher profile.”
The city has many approaches to overcome graffiti but the fact remains that graffiti is still on the rise. “Graffiti is not going down every year as we wish it would,” says McCann. “There is still youth out there who is not getting the message and being active.”
https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1UJGii210twg69y0baBad8uwBKgqjIC0SnW_Nqrez