Graffiti, what should the City of Kelowna do?

[Queen K]

I'm seeing more tagging.

It's costing us thousands in tax dollars. Is there a solution that works?

[whitecandle]

Deleted as original title was changed.

[Osoyoos_Familyof4]

As a lover of art, I have mixed feelings.

From a bottom line POV, landlords property and nobody has the right to deface it.

From an art-lovers POV, if the consensus is that most people like it, and the landlord is indifferent, let it stay.

I guess not everything has to be about law, except that eventually some righteous person can be counted on taking it that way.

I like some talented graffiti, if you're gonna spray, put some effort into it at least you miscreants.

[lensbaby]

As a lover of art, I have mixed feelings.

From a bottom line POV, landlords property and nobody has the right to deface it.

From an art-lovers POV, if the consensus is that most people like it, and the landlord is indifferent, let it stay.

I guess not everything has to be about law, except that eventually some righteous person can be counted on taking it that way.

I like some talented graffiti, if you're gonna spray, put some effort into it at least you miscreants.

Going back to the original question - if it doesn't meet your definition of "talented", and if the building owner doesn't appreciate it, and the general perception is that it is vandalism without any artistic merit, is there a solution that works?

[GordonH]

Taggers impo are just as holes who need to nailed with fines + cleanup there tagging at their own expense (all of there tags).

Graffiti if the person got permission from the owner of the building/business, then go for it. Of course City the could come along and have owner remove it.

[Osoyoos_Familyof4]

There is no solution to this one.

Those who care will power wash it off continually and hopefully the neighbourhood artist will give up (or a tagger can go f themselves).

I grew up in a major city, and this has been an issue for as long as I can recall. The way it has been handled in the large city I come from is that natural selection does sometimes take over and obnoxious tagging and scribbling gets removed quickly, and sometimes a piece that has "seemingly" more effort and thought into it manages to hang around for awhile.

[JayByrd]

It's worth pointing out the difference between graffiti that has some artistic merit, and simple acts of defacement such as tagging. At Ben Lee Park in Rutland, there's a retaining wall on the east side of the skate park, below the adjacent apartment building. The wall has a bunch of graffiti-style artwork on it, and while it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it took time and artistic ability to create.

"Tagging" used to be rampant in Kelowna. These are the little squiggly "signatures" people would put on fences, mailboxes, and whatever else, as a means of marking their territory. I think most of the taggers have aged out of that hobby, though it does still occur.

Tagging is nonsense, it's vandalism and should be treated as such. I'll ask those in the thread to hold off on the revenge fantasies though. As for a solution? I don't think there is one. There is a method of shrink-wrapping surfaces (this was done with transformer boxes, though the program has been discontinued). The shrink-wrap had two great features...the busy, colourful pictures on it made tags difficult to see, and anything that was applied was easy to wipe off. But those who want to tag things, will find things to tag. If a surface gets tagged, and the owner immediately removes or paints over it, taggers do seem to move on from that space. That seems to be the only thing that works.

Graffiti can definitely have artistic merit, and I appreciate it if it's in a suitable location.

[JayByrd]

Taggers impo are just as holes who need to nailed with fines + cleanup there tagging at their own expense (all of there tags).

Amen. The problem, is catching them (here's where people's revenge fantasies come in). They operate at night, and their handiwork is usually not discovered until hours later. They also tend to favour areas that are highly visible, but not really "owned" by a person. Those tags tend to last longer.

[kelowna_proud]

Gotta put up some security camera's in known spot's & record familiar dates/times.

Wait in the alley with a cube van. Grab them by the throat, hold them to the ground. Spray there entire face with some BLACK INDUSTRIAL TREMCLAD and use the other 1/2 of the tin and fill there mouth with it.

Wouldn't they look stupid going into the ER or Home to wash that crap off......Maybe KGH could pressure wash there face too.

[JayByrd]

I didn't mean that people should share their revenge fantasies.

But by all means, let us know how the cube van/tremclad plan goes. It shouldn't take more than a couple all-nighters before you catch someone.

[GordonH]

bumped up

Find the idiots who did this and have them clean it up instead of spending city tax dollars.
https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/3 ... h-graffiti

[Mrmarvingardens]

Relax.....the city has the tagging/graffiti problem solved.
Some years ago, the city hired a person to look after such problems.
Last time I checked, this employee was one of the many city hall employees being paid $ 100 thousand a year.

[Hornswoggle]

Put these kids in jail, jail works, but that takes judges with balls.

[GordonH]

Put these kids in jail, jail works, but that takes judges with balls. There is only one option and its not bump

Unlike many on this forum I prefer to find and use threads already here.

[Boarder4]

Graffiti should be a capital punishment offence. You start with the small things and this trailer trash, low educated scum would slowly be eliminated. A lot of this is Fetal alcohol syndrome, but how do you differentiate ?