Graffiti: are we seeing more of it?
La Presse says graffiti is blossoming all over town but city hall has no one whose job it is to get a handle on it. But someone in the story makes a valid point: it happens most often where there are vacant storefronts.
(I seem to see Glenn Castanheira’s name more and more often in news reports, and this article has a photo as well. I know Castanheira has an official job, but he also has the ear of someone at La Presse. Wondering if we’ll see his name on a ballot in four years’ time.)
Meezly 11:08 on 2021-11-28 Permalink
Maybe the best way to get a handle on the graffiti is to do something about vacant storefronts?
Kate 11:19 on 2021-11-28 Permalink
I agree. The Shiller Lavys of this town who would rather leave storefronts vacant than rent them affordably have to answer for this problem too.
Ephraim 13:44 on 2021-11-28 Permalink
Let’s catch-22 this and do something about tagging of vacant storefronts by requiring upkeep of vacant storefronts and requiring them to keep it clean and proper to not draw tagging… and require them to clean tagging, even though they are essentially victimized by the taggers. We could also require taggers to pay the cost of cleaning or require them to clean tagging as part of their sentence. All of which isn’t going to solve any of the problems, anyway. And going to mean we have to pay someone to supervise the cleaning of the tagging by the taggers themselves.
Em 11:33 on 2021-11-29 Permalink
Actually Castanheira (among others) has pointed out in the past that you can tackle both graffiti and vacant storefronts together with bylaws requiring property owners to keep their empty properties in good condition, including removing any graffiti and fixing any vandalism within 24 hours or whatever.
The idea is that it becomes much less attractive to leave commercial spaces empty if you have to be available to fix issues all the time, with the added bonus of much nicer streetscapes.
I think he mentioned Chicago as a city that has done it.
Kate 14:24 on 2021-11-29 Permalink
Unfortunately, the Shiller Lavys and similar landlords apparently have zero interest in the streetscape and the quality of life in the neighbourhoods – they’ve shown that over and over.