As promised in this column published yesterday, I’m blogging details of graffiti reports that I’ve made to the city. I’ll post them one or two at a time — call it building suspense, or having other things on the go. Here’s the first strike from my recent push to test the city’s graffiti-cleaning mettle: Thursday, April 19, the bus shelter near the QE2 hospital on Robie Street.
Here’s the exact text I submitted to the city’s snitching site, typos and all: “Bus shelter on east side of Robie Street just north of Jubillee Road intersection. GoTime number of stop is 0212. Lots of graffiti on this shelter, including a white tag on the shelter’s metal frame on the Robie-facing side and a reddish-orange tag facing Jubilee” and the city accepted my complaint and issued me tracking number 2541014.
That central part of Robie is in the Capital District, the heart of Metro that includes Spring Garden Road, Quinpool and downtown Dartmouth, as well as being a major pedestrian route, so the city is definitive that I should expect a scrubbed shelter in three days. At the page describing “Service Standards,” here’s the promise:
The establishment of priority zones is intended to send a clear message that graffiti is not tolerated in specific areas and that HRM will be aggressive in managing graffiti in these areas.
HRM will remove graffiti from HRM-owned assets in priority areas within 3 days of notification.
Priority areas include:Regional and major streetscapesCapital DistrictHRM gateways and transportation nodes (ferry terminals)Areas of high pedestrian use (ie. parks and playgrounds)
I went by the shelter again this morning, as I’ve done most days since lodging my report, and it wasn’t cleaned. So this three-day job has stretched into 15 days already.
The positive message I take from this is that at least some city employees have their priorities in the right place: They’re doing more important work, letting graffiti slide. Now the message has to get to the people at city hall who are still beating the anti-graffiti drum. I’m hoping that with enough evidence of the futility of their efforts, they’ll give up the fight. So I snitch. And I encourage you to do the same.
This article appears in May 3-9, 2007.