Residents who have the misfortune of seeing their property fall victim to graffiti now have help to get rid of it.
Thanks to a partnership between the city and ICI Paints, property owners whose homes or businesses are defaced with graffiti can report the incident to the RCMP and receive a coupon for a free paint kit and 25 per cent off paint to cover or remove the graffiti.
According to Connie Smigielski, Family & Community Support Services’ manager of community strategies, the partnership is part of the city’s work to uphold the new community standards bylaw, passed at the end of March.
“The project is to get the paint off within 24 hours,” she said. “If you leave graffiti alone, it will encourage more graffiti,” she said.
Smigielski added that by making it easier for residents to get the tools they need to remove the graffiti, the more it could help decrease the incidents of tagging homes and businesses.
Aaron Giesbrecht, manager of RCMP administration and community policing, said the current fine for failing to remove graffiti from property is $1,000 for the first offence. He added that municipal enforcement deals with each graffiti situation on a case-by-case basis, and without the knowledge of who has already reported their graffiti to the RCMP.
“It depends on the situation — how bad is it, what does it say,” said Giesbrecht. “We want them to report the graffiti and deal with the nuisance properly.”
ICI Paints manager Gisele Lavoie said she was willing to get on board with the project after receiving a letter from the city requesting program sponsorship. The 25 per cent discount would allow residents to buy graffiti remover for any part of their property, paint to cover it over if needed and a product that would make it easier to clean off the graffiti should it happen again, she said.
“I don’t think they know how to deal with the graffiti removal off concrete or brick. I look forward to helping people learn how to remove graffiti.”
