Graffiti crackdown gets green light

Property owners will be fined if offending marks aren't removed promptly

Posted By MARLENE BERGSMA , STANDARD STAFF

Posted 14 days ago

St. Catharines' get-tough stance on graffiti has been approved.

City councillors voted unanimously Monday night to require that graffiti tags be removed from private property within five days of being reported, and be reported within three days of being tagged, or the owners will face fines.

Property owners who report in three days can have half the cost of the removal covered by the city, up to $300, with the option of applying for more assistance for bigger jobs. Owners who don't remove graffiti can be issued $150 tickets, or fined up to $5,000.

But councillors said the graffiti bylaw is not meant to punish victims.

The city wants to eradicate graffiti completely, said Merritton Coun. Jeff Burch, and the best way to do that is to act swiftly to remove the vandalism.

He said the removal requirements are only one of many tactics the city is using to get rid of graffiti. It is pledging to clean graffiti on its own property within 48 hours, participate in education programs, and work with other groups such as the green committee, which is using plants to deter vandals.

St. George's Coun. Greg Washuta said the reporting requirement will help police nab graffiti vandals.

He said the city must act because relying on other levels of government hasn't solved the graffiti problem. "This city is under siege," Washuta said. "But the fact is, after you paint over it a few times the vandal moves to someplace else, and graffiti does not fester in one location."

The graffiti bylaw was supported by the St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce, with president Steve Cook telling councillors that tackling the problem is "an important component of the aesthetics of our city." He said the chamber applauds the assistance being offered to property owners.

But Dalemere Crescent resident Kevin Hodges cautioned against the bylaw, saying the teenage vandal who did $8,000 worth of damage to a wall in his neighbourhood in 2005 was quickly arrested and eventually sentenced to clean the wall.

If the neighbours had paid for the cleanup under the terms of the new bylaw, it would have cost them nearly $1,000 each, Hodges said. Instead, the vandal and his father spent two weeks repairing the damage he had done.

The city's bylaw will further penalize the victims who would be forced to "pay for someone else's vandalism," Hodges said.

Assistant city solicitor Denis Squires said very few graffiti vandals are actually caught, and even when they are, the city has no power to force them to make restitution.

Squires said most property owners who don't clean up the graffiti will be issued a $150 ticket. Only absentee landlords who fail to take any interest in their properties are facing bigger fines, Squires said.

The city budgeted $65,000 last year for graffiti removal.