If you were walking on College Street last week, you might have seen a business owner spray-painting his storefront a solid colour while his employees looked on. It’s a frequent scene on a street where businesses and private homes are regularly the targets of graffiti. This man was following the law—the City of Toronto says owners are required to remove graffiti from their property, and do it fast.
The Graffiti Abatement Program and Graffiti Bylaw are only two of the city’s most recent measures, introduced with the goal of cleaning and beautifying Toronto’s urban landscape. The municipal government and Toronto Police have declared a zero-tolerance stance towards any public markings, drawings, or writings that aren’t art murals, especially hateful or gang-related messages. If graffiti appears on private property, owners must remove it within 72 hours, or the city will hire someone and send them the bill. While property owners are assured that city staff will “work closely” with them, often they are simply served notice, and left to paint over the graffiti at their own cost.
“Toronto isn’t as clean as it used to be and the graffiti is just not pleasant,” said Jean-Pierre Centeno, owner of Gamelle restaurant on College, who has dealt with several cases of vandalism. Business owners in the College Street area are well aware of graffiti in the city. Their properties are regularly marked, most often with graffiti artists’ individual tags that reappear as soon as the day after they’ve been removed.
“It just adds insult to injury,” said Cal O’Shaughnessy, a supervisor at Canada Computers who goes through a can of silver spray paint per month. “It is unfair to be punishing a business for being the victim of graffiti.”
Though clearly unpopular, the bylaws aren’t unreasonable, argues City of Toronto official Fernando Aceto. A cleaner urban appearance creates a sense of care for the community and attracts tourists, improves living standards, and raises property values, he said.
“A cleaner city helps the area and helps the business,” said Aceto, who maintains that the disadvantages of graffiti outweigh owners’ inconveniences.
O’Shaughnessy counters that covering up graffiti isn’t enough, stating that the city should address the roots of the problem. Other businesses people in the area, like the owners of computer shop Perfect Solutions, said Toronto could provide the community with greater incentives to stop the graffiti, either by funding its removal, hiring the perpetrators for art work in the city, or banning the sale of spray paint to minors.
