Graffiti cleanup before Canada Games: HRM



The city is pushing to clean up graffiti before the start of the 2011 Canada Games in just 11 days.

With the rest of Canada arriving soon, officials want to make the city look as inviting as possible. And they're asking for help from residents.
On signs, lamp posts and buildings, taggers have left their mark.

Halifax Regional Municipality Coun. Jennifer Watts sees graffiti everywhere she walks in her west end peninsular district.

"It seems over the past six months there's been an increase in the amount of graffiti in the district," said Watts. "I certainly commented to some people it looks like a graffiti bomb has hit District 14."

With the Canada Games around the corner, the city wants the graffiti gone.
Watts and others are asking residents to help. HRM is giving out free kits that include gloves, a brush and a liquid cleaner to those who call the city's call centre.

"I think it's a way for us all to do a little sprucing up, getting ready for the games, recognizing we have a lot of visitors coming and we want to welcome them and show off our best face more or less.

Trying to clean it up when the temperature is below zero can be difficult.
Raj Fernando, who runs Chebucto Grocery in Halifax, said his store been hit numerous times.

"The thing is, somebody else does it and I have to fix their mess. It's really frustrating," he said.

Fernando has come up with his own solution. After graffiti artists tagged his store, he got out his own cans of spray paint to try beat them at their own game.

"If they are going to put anything on it. it's not going to be visible, it's going to look like a design," he said, but he admits it didn't improve the look of the building. "It looks like more graffiti."


Taken from: CBC


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