City of Vancouver to spend half a million dollars on graffiti removal
Vancouver is going to spend a ton of cash to help business owners who have been impacted by graffiti artists vandalizing their storefronts and places of business.
Business improvement associations (BIA) across the city are apparently fed up with the amount of graffiti they’ve seen in their jurisdictions.
According to a statement from the City of Vancouver, nuisance calls in regards to graffiti went up from 2019 to 2020.
The municipal government is now pledging $500,000 to the 22 BIA’s across the city to aid in their graffiti cleanup efforts.
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In May of this year, a new motion was introduced in hopes of curbing the type of graffiti or tagging that could be considered vandalism. The motion was introduced by Vancouver city councillors Pete Fry and Lisa Dominato.
With the numerous businesses that were either closed down or boarded up, it gave graffiti artists in the city new canvasses to work with.
The City claims they saw an 87% increase in service calls to 311 related to graffiti events.
“The City supports an Integrated Graffiti Management Program that provides strategic direction and programs to manage graffiti and graffiti removal services on City-owned property. Businesses and property owners are responsible for removing graffiti from their property, but we all have a collective responsibility to manage graffiti and be stewards in our neighbourhoods,” said the statement from the City.
Two areas are receiving the bulk of the funding. The Chinatown and Downtown Vancouver BIA’s have seen the most graffiti related vandalism, and are getting $50,000 each.
The City of Vancouver also provides additional support in the form of the free paint program. This entitles businesses to free paint for graffiti removal twice per year.
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