Closing Shop

Due to other priorities...I have not, and won't have time to continue with this blog.

If you are interesting in taking over and keeping a watch on Ottawa graffiti...please feel free to contact me.

Where Graffiti Meets Art / Where Art Meets Graffiti

When it comes to graffiti...sometimes things get blury.

Not all graffiti is pure vandalism...sometimes the people putting up graffiti actually do have a broader and more community-minded intention. And aren't just trying to "get up" at any cost.

This is where "street art" come into the picture, and where the definition of graffiti takes on shades of grey.

Take for instance, the street artist Elmaks.

Elmaks puts up "Swap Boxes" that dot around downtown Ottawa.



The idea behind his Swap Box project is to install art pieces in public spaces. These art peces are intended to add colour and character to the streets of Ottawa, to bring a smile to the faces of passers-by, and encourage citizens and pedestrians to interact with each other and share treasures and gifts.

Also, these Swap Boxes have an added bonus of attempting to engage neighbourhoods and communities in beautifying and caring about their public spaces. In fact, a few residents have taken on putting up their own Swap Boxes to encourage a form of community dialog.

From Elmaks own mouth:

"If I smash the windows of a bus shelter or tag up someone's storefront sign, that's vandalism to me," he said.

I work on boarded-up storefronts, on lamp poles and on construction sites, and my art probably has as much impact as a pasted-up poster. Plus, I'm actually not only visually improving the area but also creating a new way for people to interact with it."

http://www.ottawasun.com/News/OttawaAndRegion/2008/08/16/6468836-sun.html

Reporting Graffiti Online

Another tool available for reporting graffiti is the City of Ottawa's Online Graffiti Reporting Form.

This online reporting form is a great tool for reporting graffiti outside normal business hours...and for providing detailed descriptions and information on Ottawa graffiti.

The form is very easy to use...and even forwards the reference number for the report to the email address that you specify. Also, once you complete the form and submit a report, you can use your browser's Back button to enter additional reports by simply modifying relevant fields in the completed form (instead of having to complete a blank form from scratch).

Property Owners Feel the Pinch

Now that the Graffiti Management Program is in full swing...property owners are starting to receive notification to clean up graffiti on their property.

Here is a recent CBC article on the public outrage that is starting to form over these letters.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/07/18/graffit-notices.html?ref=rss

The comment section of this news posting is an interesting read.

Property owners are definitely getting slammed for the damages that vandals and kids are doing.

Typically, the majority of graffiti vandalism is against businesses. This is because there is a loose rule in the graffiti sub-culture that you don't tag homeowners...but instead go for businesses and urban sprawl. Partially because they condone advertising on their properties (which is one excuse for graffiti responses) and partially because businesses typically won't get as angry and reactive as homeowners.

But more aggressive vandals will tag anything. Especially if it is on a highly trafficed street. And sometimes not even.

Interestingly, a lot of the comments from property owners who are upset are along the lines of this one:

"Hunt said it's pointless to repaint his garage because the graffiti will just keep coming back."

Defeatist attitudes like these are precisely what led to the rampant graffiti situation throughout Ottawa.

A property is tagged. The propert owner come to work on Monday and see it for the first time and instead of even attempting to repair the damage they throw their hands up in the air and decide "that's it...I've been graffitied....it's all over, I give up".

Now that they have given up, the next tagger comes along...sees the wall with the first tag on it. Leaves their tag too. And little by little the wall is filled with graffiti.

And who is to blame?

First off the vandals are to blame for tagging private property and causing damage.

Secondly, the property owners are to blame for rolling over and accepting this situation.

If a property owner cares about their property it's their responsibility to keep it maintained. If someone breaks a window....they repair it. If their roof collapses from too much snow...they repair it. If their paint starts to peel and chip...they repair it.

The one thing property owners neglect to realize is that the kids vandalizing their property have to pay money for the paint they use to do so (unless they steal their paint). So it's simple economics that if you are a tagger and you are tagging a wall that gets buffed or repainted promptly...you aren't using your paint effectively. So, after a few attempts to "stay up", a graffiti writer will give up...and move on to more "chill" spots where property owners don't care...and will allow the graffiti to have a "longer run". Also, once a graffiti writer notices that a wall is being cleaned regularily...they'll typically get spooked that someone might be watching the wall at night. Which should be the case once a pattern of vandalism is established.

Life is an endless process of repairs and maintainance. To our property, to our bodies, to our lives, to our relationships, to our possessions. Giving up as soon as we see the first cracks or feel the first pains just isn't an option.

If property owners are upset about being footed the bill for vandalism...it's their obligation to find solutions. Whether that be starting up a neighbourhood watch, sharing information with their community, calling the police each time they are vandalized (which few do), monitoring or surveilling their property, or calling their City Councillor to communicate their anger, frustration, and outrade.

If anything it should have been the obligation of the property owner to find solutions a long time ago...before things go so out of control that the City had to come to their door and scold them (like the Mother they appear to need) and tell them what they already knew they need to do.

In one way graffiti actually plays an important role in our communities. Graffiti is the litmus test that points out delinquent property owners.

It highlights which communities don't care. It highlights which property owners don't care. It points out where the crack dens are, where the rundown properties are, and where the weak links in our communities are.

And if you think there is nothing that can be done to monitor and improve this situation...you lack imagination, creativity, and will.



The following link is to a youtube user who is collecting and posting videos of graffiti writers tagging in Ottawa.

http://youtube.com/user/ottawagraffiti

Note: We are not involved with and do not condone the posting of this video on youtube. Instead we advocate the need for community vigilance and close interaction with the Ottawa Police.

Understanding Graffiti Writers

If you've had personal experience with graffiti...you may be puzzled about what is going on. Why are people doing this? What are they getting out of this? How can they be stopped? What can you do?

These are complex questions. But the start of any learning process is to be able to understand divergent perspectives...in the hope of encouraging dialogue.

So we'd like to present a couple brief promo videos for a recently released documentary on graffiti called Bomb It, that sheds light on the perspective of Graffiti Writers. Please be aware that these videos contain harsh and frank language.

BOMB IT - Trailer One


BOMB IT - Trailer Two


In the spirit of understanding and dialogue, it is always important to be able to appreciate the reality of those that have differing view points, perspectives, and experience. This is essential to entering into a meaningful and informed dialogue so that we can all build and foster community...in its many forms...and to be able to understand that which is foreign and strange, though we may not agree or like it.

HoP Festival - Sunday June 15th, 2008

Over the last few years the local Ottawa hip hop community has been organizing and celebrating its culture with the HoP Festival, which include demonstrations of breakdancing, DJing, MCing, and graffiti.

The HoP Festival is named after the "House of Paint", a legal graffiti wall under the Dunbar Bridge between Brewer Park and the Carleton University Dunbar Bridge (where Bronson Ave crosses the Rideau River) where graffiti writers are allowed and have the time to put up complex pieces. The House of Paint is also the location for the HoP Festival.

This year the HoP Festival will take place on Sunday June 15th, from 1 to 9pm.

1:30-2:00 - Hip Hop History
2:00-2:30 - Bboy Basics
2:30-3:00 - Graf Writing
3:00-3:30 - Rhyme Spitting (Rapping/MCing)
3:30-4:00 - DJ/Mixing Basics Schedule is subject to change

Over 30 local graffiti writers have registered for this event, including:

• Adept


• Alveno


• Anode


• Aspyre


• Barfo


• Cabin


• Cayr


• Cens


• Cer


• Daser


• Dem


• Egor


• Elicsr


• Fone


• Gero


• Globe


• Homesick


• Jerk


• Liza


• Mai


• Media


• Mopes


• Motel


• Nemo


• Net


• Notime


• Peru


• Pes


• Prank


• Sberk


• Sectr


• Sewer


• Size


• Vivid


• Wire


• Worth

Some of the graffiti writers scheduled to participate at the HoP Festival have transitioned from vandalizing property to focusing their creativity and energy into art and legal walls/commissions. Others are still active in the more illegal graffiti culture and regularily deface businesses and private/city property.

If you are interested in learning more about hip hop culture, or the graffiti writers in your neighbourhood, the HoP Festival is a great opportunity for local community members to interact with the graffiti community... and even to talk to graffiti writers that are active in your neighbourhood and for whom you have had to clean up after.

How and Why to Report Graffiti

An important aspect of the new Enhanced Graffiti Management program that the City of Ottawa has rolled out is the by-law enforcement of graffiti removal.

Over the last 3 years graffiti has been slowly accumulating on properties as tags and response tags have been stacking up. Some property owners have chosen to be diligent about removing graffiti from their properties promptly…while others have chosen to ignore it and let graffiti remain on their properties (in some cases for years). And year by year this slow accumulation of graffiti on properties that have not been maintained has allowed graffiti in Ottawa to reach a tipping point.

This, in conjunction with aggressive “bombers” who have been heavily tagging highly visible street-facing locations, has created a “bubble bursting” effect. Graffiti that once had been invisibly to everyone has abruptly come into the consciousness of many, as if almost having sprung up everywhere overnight.

By allowing graffiti to slowly accumulate to a critical mass point graffiti writers have run out of innocuous places to place graffiti and the hype and visibility of graffiti has increased and increased to the point that aggressive bombing now seems acceptable and common.

In order to bring graffiti back under control in Ottawa it is essential for concerned citizen to report graffiti to the City of Ottawa.

So How Do You Do That?

First step is to go out and identify what properties are graffitied and how. To do so, take down the street address of the property, and the location of graffiti on the property. Also take note of the type of graffiti (e.g., small tags, large tags, throws, pieces). And as you are checking out the property, take the time to look a little deeper. Is their graffiti on rooftop surfaces? Is there a back alley to the property? Try to take account of the full complexity of graffiti on the property so that you can pass this detailed information on to City By-Law officers and reduce the need for follow-up reports on the same property.

Next you’ll need to submit your graffiti report by calling the City of Ottawa’s Contact Centre at 311.

Once you’ve reached a 311 agent, identify that you are calling to make a graffiti report and that you will want to take the reference number of the report.

As the agent opens up the report they’ll ask you for the following information.

- Your name
- Your phone number

Note: This information will not be disclosed or provided to anyone. It is contact information that is required for each report in case the City of Ottawa needs to collect additional information on the graffiti you are reporting.

- What type of property the graffiti is it on (City property or Private property).
- Is the graffiti just vandalism, or hateful/racists/sexist?
- The street address of the property
- The location and type of graffiti on the property (i.e., location on the building, description of the graffiti).

In order to follow-up on the status of your graffiti report make sure to ask for the Reference Number for each report that you submit. If you are making multiple reports (for instance, of a few properties along a street), make sure to make individual reports for each property and take the Reference Number for each. If an agent is gathering multiple addresses into a single report, ask them to create individual reports for each address (the City actually requires that by-law reports be for a single property, so if the Call Centre agent is collecting multiple addresses in one report they are doing so mistakenly and will have to break them out into individual reports anyways).

And that’s it.

What Happens Next?

The City will send out a By-Law Enforcement agent to inspect the property based on your report…and if there is graffiti on the property a warning will be provided to the property owner. If the property owner chooses not to remove the graffiti, after a reasonable timeframe the City will send out a contracted graffiti removal agent to clean the property, and will charge the costs of removal to the property by adding it to the property tax of the building.

So if after a month you notice that the property you made a report on hasn’t improved at all, you can call back into the City Call Centre at 311 and using the Reference Number (or your name and address) ask for a status on the graffiti report you made.

Is This Really Necessary? It Sounds a Bit Mean Spirited!

Unfortunately taking control of the graffiti situation in Ottawa is necessary. Through apathy graffiti has flourished and proliferated throughout Ottawa. Property owners have turned a blind eye to graffiti on their properties…and chosen to ignore it; by doing so graffiti has been allowed to spread to adjacent properties and throughout whole neighbourhoods.

The only way to wake property owners from their slumber and to get them involved is to force them to take accountability for the graffiti on their property….and the cost of its removal. In doing so property owners will become fed up and angry, and will find ways to secure their properties (e.g., by limiting access to rooftops, by being vigilant of their property, by taking a more proactive role in patrolling their neighbourhoods and communities to make graffiti writers unwelcome)

Untold Victim: The Destruction of Art

Unfortunately graffiti isn’t always just vandalism. Some graffiti writers and street artists are incredible creative and skilled. They add colour and beauty to what can often be a drab and sterile cityscape. But due to the wanton vandalism of a handful of attention-seeking delinquents and copy cats, graffiti has been tainted in Ottawa. And vandalism has made it hard to see the art that peppers our city from the noise. Where once secluded “chill” spots were allowed to exist and add creative colour to our city…now untalented “bombers” have invaded those spots and spoiled these quiet oases for everyone. And sadly, street artists and creative graffiti writers will pay the price for the attention-seeking bomber that have stomped their chill spots. And most sadly of all, in the process many historical works of graffiti art and street art will end up buffed in the process.

So some advice to the Ottawa graffiti crowd (both legit and illegit), police your own community before you end up having your community policed by someone else.