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Town to look at addressing graffiti problems

October 14, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

Orangeville Council will be discussing a Notice of Motion with respect to graffiti, brought forward by Mayor Sandy Brown, at their Oct. 25 meeting.

Mayor Brown said the issue of graffiti is troubling and, in his view, has been getting worse over the past few years, at a regular Council meeting held late last month.

He noted that it isn’t just town property that’s being affected, he sees it happening to private property as well, and sees no place for it in the Town of Orangeville.

“I don’t find it art at all. I don’t think it’s creative. I think it’s just vandalism from what I’ve seen,” Mayor Brown remarked. “I’d like to maybe put a motion out there that we direct staff and perhaps our local police to look into this and come up with some ideas, some solutions to help address this issue.

“We have a beautiful town and I think this is a small number of individuals that are doing this,” he added.

The same graffiti tag is used quite often throughout town, said Mayor Brown, so once the offenders’ signature is identified, they should be easily apprehended.

“We should be able to identify these people, maybe there’s a reward system to turn somebody in that does this,” he mulled.

“I don’t know what all the solutions are, but there are cameras out there, there are individuals that have cameras on their front doors. I think when people see these things, they need to report them, and we need to try and narrow this down.”

Coun. Joe Andrews noted that there was a local committee struck years ago that worked to address this issue, which he sat on.

He said what came out of the committee was ways of responding and educating the public.

“Defacing someone’s property, vehicle, and so on and so forth, can be very expensive to rectify,” Coun. Andrews noted. “I think if there’s an opportunity for us to maybe work with our OPP detachment, to see if there’s a way to take a look at supporting some committee that is reformed.”

He added, “This is not to add more to everyone’s plate, but I think it’s imperative that we take a look at this – this issue.”

Coun. Andrews said the Parks and Recreation department was involved in discussion had at the former graffiti committee, and came up with unique ways of allowing artists to use their creative flair to paint over areas of the local skate park. He said this seemed to alleviate the issue for a little while.

However, Coun. Andrews noted that Mayor Brown was correct in saying there seems to have been some escalation in the amount of graffiti taking place as of late.

Adding, the issue could be better addressed with a community approach.

“The one other point that I did share with you [Mayor Brown] is that we really, outside of some of the neighborhoods, we don’t have a community watch program,” he remarked. “That might be another way of tagging this particular issue with some of the Community Watch areas that could be implemented.”

Coun. Andrews then put it to Coun. Todd Taylor, who is chair of the Town’s Police Services Board, to direct the Dufferin OPP to use their expertise in resolving some of the growing concerns with respect to graffiti in the community.

Coun. Taylor replied saying he thinks Coun. Andrews is spot on and appreciates the topic being brought up, as the town has to use taxpayer dollars cleaning/removing graffiti.

Further discussion and a motion with respect to the issue of graffiti in the Town of Orangeville will be brought forward at Council’s next meeting, slated for next Monday (Oct. 25).

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