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To / Destinataire	Mayor and Members of Council/ Maire et les membres du Conseil	File/N° de fichier: ACS2008-PWS-SOP-0010-IPD
From / Expéditeur	R.G. Hewitt Deputy City Manager/ Directeur municipal adjoint Public Works and Services Department/ Services et Travaux publics	Contact / Personne-Ressource: John Manconi, Director, Surface Operations / Directeur, Opérations de surface 613-580-2424 ext 21110 John.Manconi@ottawa.ca
Subject / Objet	Update on the Graffiti Management Strategy / Mise à jour de la Stratégie de gestion des graffitis	8 July 2008 / le 8 juillet 2008

On March 8, 2008, the Surface Operations Branch provided an update to Mayor and Members of Council on the plans for implementing the enhanced Graffiti Management Strategy. Since that time, a number of key initiatives have been implemented. The purpose of this memo is to provide the Mayor and Members of Council with an update on the progress of the implementation including challenges and next steps.

The Graffiti Management Strategy is a partnership between the City’s Surface Operations Branch, By-law and Regulatory Services Branch, and the Ottawa Police Service and is based on the widely recognized “4E” model of Eradication, Empowerment, Education and Enforcement. The enhanced Graffiti Management Strategy was approved by Council on May 23, 2007 and subsequently endorsed during the 2008 budget process.

IMPLEMENTATION UPDATES:

To date the following initiatives have been implemented:

· Graffiti Removal Contracted Services: Three external contractors joined the existing City Graffiti Crew on April 14^th to remove graffiti from City assets. As of June 29^th, almost 9,000 graffiti tags have been removed from City assets. In addition to Service Requests, the crews removed graffiti proactively in 10 Zero Tolerance Zones. Now that the intense 2-month period of proactive city-wide graffiti removal is complete, resources will continue to proactively patrol the Zero Tolerance Zones, and respond to service requests outside of Zero Tolerance Zones.

· Public Awareness: An enhanced website is now available at ottawa.ca/graffiti, and includes detailed information on the impacts of graffiti, prevention and removal tips, tips for parents who are suspicious of their children being involved in graffiti, links to local product vendors and removal companies, and citizen reporting of graffiti, including an online reporting feature. Residents can submit general inquiries to graffiti.management@ottawa.ca.

A pamphlet providing information about Prevention, Removal and Reporting is now available at city facilities and Client Service Centers. In addition to on-going presentations by Ottawa Police Service and By-law and Regulatory Services, Surface Operations staff has attended approximately 25 community meetings and events to share information about the Graffiti Management Strategy.

· Graffiti Symposium: A public symposium was held on March 2, 2008 to share graffiti prevention and removal tips with private and business property owners. Over one hundred and fifty participants had the opportunity to learn more about:

· Cost effective graffiti removal and prevention techniques

· How to keep neighbourhoods graffiti-free

· The responsibilities and consequences of the new Graffiti Management By-law

· Public Art and its role in graffiti management.

The event included an onsite trade show featuring local graffiti removal contractors and graffiti removal product suppliers.

· Annual Graffiti Grants to BIA’s: Funding information packages and funding agreements have been distributed to all fifteen Business Improvement Areas outlining the process for accessing the $10,000 annual grants for graffiti removal and prevention. To date, seven BIAs have submitted funding agreements and received graffiti grants.

· Volunteer Program: Support for volunteer groups is available to assist with effective community-based graffiti clean-ups, including training, equipment and supplies. The program is supported by sponsors who donate cleaning supplies. To date, over 200 graffiti removal kits have been distributed to individuals and groups involved in the volunteer program.

· Graffiti Management By-law: The Graffiti Management By-law 2008-1 was enacted on January 9, 2008. Proactive enforcement began on May 20^th and, although voluntary compliance from many property owners is high, in the seven weeks 350 Notices of Violation were processed.

By-law and Regulatory Services has developed a standing offer with local contractors who will remove graffiti on private property if property owners fail to remove graffiti within the timeline specified in the notice. Further, twelve Provincial Offence Notices have been issued to graffiti vandals. Ottawa Police Service have educated all their front line officers on the new By-law and indicators related to identifying potential graffiti vandals.

· Legal Graffiti Walls: Monitoring of the three existing legal graffiti walls located at the Dunbar Bridge, the former Ottawa Technical High School and the Orleans Skate Park began in May 2008 for a one-year period to determine their effectiveness in deterring graffiti in the surrounding areas. The monitoring plan was established based on consultation with key stakeholders.

· Stakeholder Committees: The above-noted initiatives were developed and implemented in consultation with internal and external graffiti stakeholders.

During the initial implementation stages of the Graffiti Management Strategy, some issues have been identified. The program partners are continuously working on addressing the following issues:

· Property Ownership: There are a number of assets where identification of ownership and ultimate responsibility for graffiti removal has been challenging. These areas include fences dividing private and public properties and monuments.

· Skateparks: While skateparks have not been designated as Legal Graffiti Walls in the new Graffiti Management By-law, due to the nature of skatepark users, it has been determined that graffiti will be tolerated on the skating surface. Graffiti continues to be removed on any adjacent assets including benches, litterbins, etc.

· Contracting Out Ruling: In February 2008, Mayor and Council were made aware of challenges with the Contracting Strategy and the Contracting Out Ruling with the Union. It was agreed at that time that graffiti removal contractors would be hired for a one-year period. During the one-year period, management will work with the Union (CUPE) to discuss the impacts of the Contracting Out Ruling on the graffiti removal services for the 2009/2010 season.

· Reporting Graffiti: The Public Awareness campaign strongly encourages the regular reporting of graffiti by the public. This has lead to an increase in the number of graffiti reports to the City. To ensure an effective reporting process, residents, Councillors, and city staff are encouraged to report graffiti by calling 3-1-1 or by using the new online reporting feature at ottawa.ca/graffiti. In 2008, the City has received almost 1,200 pubic requests for graffiti removal on city and external assets. This represents approximately the same number of requests received during all of 2007.

· Budget Pressure: As anticipated, graffiti removal rates related to City assets have increased largely due to the increased public awareness strategy, increased public reporting of graffiti, and the 2-month removal blitz. It is expected that as the 4E approach is fully implemented, the graffiti removal rates will decrease; however, it is unknown how long it will take for graffiti rates to lower. If current graffiti rates continue, it is possible that graffiti removal expenses for 2008 will exceed the approved budget. Staff will continue to monitor the graffiti removal expenses, and present a budget pressure in the 2009 budget deliberation process if needed.

NEXT STEPS:

Over the next few months, the following action items will be implemented:

· Public Awareness: Development of additional public awareness tools to encourage all residents to report graffiti. Additional public awareness initiatives and focus groups targeted at youth are being considered for development and implementation in the summer and fall of 2008.

· Stakeholder Collaboration: Continued collaboration with internal and external partners to ensure consistent and collaborative efforts around graffiti eradication.

· Legal Walls: Continued partnerships with internal and external stakeholders to promote the proper use of legal walls by youth. Staff will report back to the Mayor and Members of Council in the summer of 2009 on the effectiveness of using legal graffiti walls in deterring graffiti.

· Parental Responsibility Act: Use of the Parental Responsibility Act to recover costs of graffiti removal from graffiti vandals and/or their families will continue to be applied accordingly.

· Discounted Paint: Development of partnerships with local suppliers to support discounted graffiti removal supplies, colour matching and paint supplies for use by private property owners to remove or cover up graffiti.

· Mural Program: Investigation of a program similar to the City of Toronto’s Graffiti Transformation Program where unemployed youth and community groups work in problem areas to create a mural.

· Contracts: Discussions between Surface Operations Branch and the Union (CUPE) to address the impacts of the Contracting Out Ruling on the graffiti removal services for the 2009/2010 season.

Please do not hesitate to contact John Manconi, Director Surface Operations at ext. 21110 should you have any questions or require any further information.

Original signed by

R.G. Hewitt

c.c. Director, Surface Operations

Director, By-law and Regulatory Services

Inspector Allan Burns, Ottawa Police Service

Chief, Public Affairs

Surface Operations Branch Management Team
Coordinator, Transportation Committee
Coordinator, Community and Protective Services Committee