The City of Hamilton, Hamilton Police Services and other partners took their first major step in graffiti awareness and coordination. The launch event, which took place at Waterdown Memorial Park, was attended by Mayor Eisenberger, Deputy Police Chief Eric Girt, Clean City Liaison Chair Dan Rodrigues, members of the City’s Graffiti Working group and other interested partners (e.g. Canada Post, CBS Outdoors, Crime Stoppers etc.) who encouraged continued and increased community involvement in graffiti reporting and removal efforts across the City.

A graffiti awareness poster was displayed at the event that will be installed in City buses, bus shelters and other areas throughout the City to heighten awareness about how to report graffiti. The poster encourages the community to call 911 to report graffiti in progress or 905-546-CITY to report existing graffiti. Both the City of Hamilton and private property owners are required to remove graffiti within 19 days of receiving an Order (extensions may be granted due to weather and other circumstances).

“Graffiti is an act of vandalism, it is a crime and we encourage citizens to call police if they see it in progress,” said Deputy Chief of Hamilton Police Eric Girt. “Hamilton Police are committed to being vigilant about responding to graffiti vandalism and making arrests. On a parallel track, our school liaison officers are speaking with students about graffiti and educating them on the negative effects and legal consequences.”

Representatives from Canada Post were also at the event to unveil their new anti-graffiti Street Letter Mail Boxes. Hamilton is one of the first communities to receive 20 of these new mailboxes, which will be distributed this summer with a second rollout in 2010. Canada Post will be working with City staff and the Clean City Liaison Committee to determine the best locations for these new boxes in addition to other initiatives.

All of Council would like to recognize and applaud the current efforts of individual citizens and groups for their work in addressing graffiti. Graffiti impacts Hamilton as a whole; from Fruitland to Freelton. The City and Police are committed to moving their efforts forward and working with the community. Residents and businesses have already played an important role in combating graffiti by providing tips to Police, removing graffiti in their neighbourhoods and discussing solutions. Members of Council would like to encourage additional support; for more citizens to come together to help report and remove graffiti in our City.

The City has numerous programs in place to help provide resources and supplies for organized cleanup efforts. To enhance your neighborhoods’ efforts or to organize new ones; go to www.hamilton.ca/graffiti to see what local Hamiltonians are doing to tackle graffiti, how you can help and what resources and programs are available to assist your neighborhoods.