City of Kingston takes aim at illicit graffiti

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Like many other cities throughout Ontario, Kingston is not immune when it comes to graffiti. It can be found on walls, signs, garbage receptacles and mailboxes, just to name a few.

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In fact, It’s an issue that has been a part of city council’s strategic plan since 2023. As a result, staff have been busy tracking the number of graffiti found throughout the city.  

“There was approximately 750 occurrences of graffiti in the city last year,” according to Karen Santucci, the director of Public Works and Solid Waste.  

“About 220 of those got reported in by the public. The rest are caught through inspections, staff being out seeing it and removing it at that point in time,” Santucci added.  

While it can be an eyesore to see on public or private property, it’s also costly to remove. 

“We estimated it was about $250,000 in 2023 to do the graffiti removal for those occurrences,” Santucci said.

To help develop solutions to the problem, city council has approved a new communications plan that will begin in 2025. It will work to inform residents on how to prevent, report and remove graffiti.

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Santucci said there will also be a new web page dedicated to anti-graffiti.  

“It will talk about what do you do if you have graffiti, who do you call if it’s on public property,” she said. “If it’s private property, what should you do? How do you clean graffiti off of different types of surfaces? It will talk about our street art program. It will link into some of our hate crimes.”

The report categorizes graffiti into three areas: vandalism, hate graffiti and street art.  

The report also said that when graffiti is applied to property without consent, it is considered vandalism and can cause public safety issues and negatively impact the city’s image.  

Hate graffiti refers to symbols, images or text that promotes hate, discrimination and violence against individuals or groups based on attributes such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability. The reports stated that Kingston has experienced several incidents involving hate graffiti in recent years. 

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Street art, however, is a specific style that is approved by the property owner or occupant, such as the wall at Doug Fluhrer Park.  

Most of the graffiti that was reported or discovered by city staff was in the downtown business area, the Lions Civic Gardens, Shannon Park and Victoria park.  

According to the city, there are a number of ways they deal with unwanted graffiti.  

“We put on special coatings that will allow us to clean it off. There are special peels where you can peel off the surface on those. Painting over it is also possible,” Santucci said.

In terms of preventing it, extra lighting, cameras, and less open space are a few ways the city has found works.  

“You may notice there are a lot of new street furniture down on Princess Street or the side streets. The more you can attract people to an area, the less likely you are to get graffiti,” Santucci added. 

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Staff also contacted several other municipalities to examine what practices worked to prevent, abate and eradicate vandalism. Many follow the 4E model, which stands for eradication, education, empowerment and enforcment.  

Eradication encourages removing the vandalism quickly to prevent further damage. 

Education brings awareness to the community about the negative impact and costs associated with vandalism. 

Empowerment maximizes the amount of available resources for community members. 

Enforcement applies to by-law enforcement, including the Criminal Code when necessary.  

The Environment, Infrastructure & Transportation Policies Committee will report back to council in 2026 after the communications program has been implemented and another years’ worth of data has been collected. From there they will provide council with an update on whether or not they’ve seen improvements with graffiti throughout the city.  

mkulchar@postmedia.com

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