date posted: 2009-07-20
A sure sign of Spring and Summer is the beauty of nature coming to life as trees bud and fill out with leaves and flowers are planted and bloom in our yards. Another sure sign of Spring is not at all beautiful and that is the urban blights that a few people inflict on our neighborhoods. Illegal dumping, putting out garbage and yard waste on the wrong days, neglecting property etc. are all sources of complaints and annoyance. Perhaps the worst of the urban blights is the proliferation of graffiti on both public and private property often in the form of 'tagging'. There are those who think graffiti is some form of art - but it is NOT art - it is destructive vandalism and it is illegal.
Our Town, in cooperation with York Regional Police, has an anti-graffiti program and when individuals are caught, they are charged; and if convicted, the courts will assess the costs of the clean-up of the graffiti against the offender and if necessary, their parents. Most often those costs are usually borne by you and I. That's right, the taxpaying public pays for cleaning up and removing graffiti from our public property such as park benches and planters, stop signs and traffic boxes. But wait, what about mail boxes and cable and hydro equipment. Well, the utilities must clean that equipment up and guess who pays? correct, the consumer, and that is you and me again.
And what about private property? - The owners of the store or building are obliged to remove graffiti at their costs and once again, these costs are passed on to the consumer, you and me.
If you have teen-age children and they are purchasing cans of spray paint - ask them what they are doing with it. If you see individuals defacing anyone's property, call the police, those individuals are committing a crime. And if anyone reading this article is responsible for damaging Town of Richmond Hill property, you will be caught and charged.
Please keep our Town beautiful and help us eradicate urban blights. We all have a role to play and our hard-earned money is better spent elsewhere. Thank you for caring about our neighborhoods.