Graffiti- What to do about it?

The last few years seem to have seen an increasing problem with tagging- and its really soul-destroying if you are the one whose property is getting regularly targeted. A few weeks ago, four out of the five garages across the road from us were tagged, and now,  the only garage that didn’t get tagged then was tagged last night. This time they’ve used a dark red spray paint, which is actually fairly difficult to remove.

It seems to be a major problem in the Southern Ward- Newtown, Berhampore and Island Bay getting more than their fair share- but other areas of Wellington are not immune. While out door knocking  recently, a Hataitai resident expressed frustration that his letter box had been autographed yet again, a Lyall Bay resident adjacent to some vacant land has had the side of his house regularly tagged, and I know around the Kilbirnie shops was bad for a time. I’m sure there are other examples too.

The thing is- these guys ( apparently it is mostly guys) are actually signing their handiwork, and the tags are quite distinctive- so why isn’t it possible to catch them and do something about it? I’m not talking overly punitive measures here, but a spot of cleaning it all off, and/or helping do some other community clean-up work wouldn’t go amiss in my view.

And while I’m on the topic, why can’t we have a bylaw that says you have to provide ID if you want to buy spray paint, and the colour, batch, date of purchase etc is recorded along with your name and address? Yes. it might be a  bit if a pain for those who are buying such products legitimately, but this is an issue we need to be a bit more proactive about getting on top of. The cost of fixing up this damage takes its toll.