The Downtown Victoria Business Association and the City of Victoria have teamed up with Crimestoppers and Victoria police to prevent graffiti around the city
The campaign aims to create awareness and prevention they hope will reduce the growing issue.
D.V.B.M. has come up with a three-step stop cycle; report, record and remove, urging everyone to stay vigilant and call and report any sightings of graffiti.
“These individuals come by and quickly spray paint their name on dozens and dozens and dozens of times on building throughout downtown,” Jeff Bray, executive director of Downtown Victoria Business Association, said.
The quicker it can be painted over, the less of a chance other taggers will see it as an area they can also tag.
In 2018 over 10-thousand graffiti tags were covered up, this year they have already surpassed that number.
It is estimated that graffiti in downtown Victoria cost business and property owners around one-million dollars every year.
Local artist Nathan Davis has been creating graffiti-style artwork since he was young and he believes legal graffiti zones should be created to allow individuals to express themselves.
“If you open up some space to just say hey! We’re going to allow this space [to paint] were not going to give you any rules other than, be respectful of the wall,” Davis, artist, said.
He says many youths could benefit from an outlet that creates a supportive environment that allows them to do what they love in ways that aren’t illegal.
For more information on the campaign: https://downtownvictoria.ca/about/graffiti/
Check out Nathan’s work: https://www.stayingcreativestudio.com/
Andrea Ferrari
