WATCH ABOVE: A city program aimed at cracking down on graffiti vandalism is getting great reviews. Eric Szeto has more.
EDMONTON — The results of the 2014 Graffiti Audit show an overall decrease in the number of incidents and locations of graffiti vandalism.
In 2014, there were 1,071 incidents of graffiti recorded in Edmonton, compared to 1,413 in 2013, according to the Capital City Clean Up audit. The same 20 neighbourhoods were included in the audit both years.
The numbers show graffiti vandalism incidents decreased 24.2 per cent from the previous year and nearly 46 per cent from 2010, when the audit started.
“These results are very encouraging,” said Katie Hayes, graffiti project manager.
“We will however, continue to rely on Edmontonians to help the City and Edmonton Police Service fight graffiti vandalism by reporting it.”
You can report graffiti vandalism using the city’s free 311 app.
READ MORE: Three-year investigation leads to arrest of alleged Edmonton graffiti artist
One Edmonton artist believes the city’s Open Source Street Art program has played a huge role in reducing the amount of illegal graffiti.
“It provides us with a place we can share our work in public,” said Aja Lowdon. “For the public, it provides a constantly changing, rotating venue of amazing public art that’s really created right here in the city.”
Lowdon admits his artistic path got off to a rough start.
“I definitely got in trouble a lot when I was younger, but I’ve learned to kind of harness a lot of those skills and share them with other people through a variety of programs.
He says one thing that made him reconsider the way he was expressing himself artistically was his frequent brushes with the law.
“I was…tired of putting my lawyer’s kids through college instead of myself… But also, I was able to discover new venues and new opportunities for myself to be able to do art legally and legitimately and not have to worry about getting arrested for it and maybe even getting paid for it.”
Lowdon praises the street art program, which is a two-year pilot project developed by the City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Arts Council.
“The best thing the city can do, and these recent audits are perfect proof of it, is create more free spaces for people to create great art.
“It’s great for the public, it’s great for the city in that, from their perspective, they’re seeing less illegal graffiti.”
There are three sites designated for public graffiti art: Tweddle Place Tennis Court Building (8320 Millwoods Road), the back wall of the Tire Craft Building (10021 82 Avenue) and the north side of the LRT Portal on 95 Street and 105 Avenue.
According to the audit, graffiti vandalism was also found in fewer locations in 2014 than the year prior. In 2014, it was recorded in 352 locations, down from 395 in 2013. The 2014 number represents a 45.5 per cent decrease since the audit started.
The downtown and Strathcona neighbourhoods continue to rank as the top two most-vandalized neighbourhoods, accounting for one-third of all tags.
“Graffiti vandalism is one of the most visible and prominent crimes in a neighbourhood, often leading to more crime in the area,” said Const. Ryan Katchur, graffiti coordinator with the Edmonton Police Service. “That’s why it’s so important it gets addressed quickly and efficiently.”
The audit identified 400 taggers who were responsible for 74.7 per cent of all graffiti vandalism surveyed in 2014. Ten of those taggers were responsible for 14.3 per cent of the overall number of tags.
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