Bylaw addresses graffiti

Intelligencer.ca
March 27, 2018
Luke Hendry

Belleville council has ordered staff to create a bylaw banning the sale of “graffiti implements” to minors.

First proposed earlier this year by Belleville Police Const. Mark Hall, the bylaw's creation was ordered during Monday's council meeting.

“We are one of the few municipalities in the east” of Ontario without such a bylaw, city clerk Matt MacDonald told council.

Despite having a graffiti-reporting hotline and a cost-sharing program for graffiti removal, he said, "We really haven't slowed it down or stopped it."

Recalling the constable’s report to the city’s police services board, MacDonald said the bylaw may define implements as markers, paint and glass-etching tools.

Tiny cans of spray paint are used often to “tag” surfaces with a culprit's distinctive design, said MacDonald. And tagging can happen within seconds of buying the cans, he said.

“They leave the dollar store and they tag the side or the back of the store as they leave.”
While police can enforce the bylaw, he said, it’s intended to focus more upon education: informing retailers about how the sale of some products can contribute to the defacing of property and asking them to cease selling them.

Tagging can be a sign of declaring an area to be someone's turf, he added, and taggers will add their markings over those of others.

“It can actually lead to violence,” added Coun. Paul Carr.

Council granted approval unanimously to create the bylaw, which will have to be approved by council upon completion.

Bus service in Belleville is expanding as ridership grows.

Council has approved changes to several routes with more changes now being studied.
Transit operations manager Paul Buck said the city had a record 100,000 riders in February and is on track to surpass that in March.

Route 4 will now extend along Bell Boulevard to the new Shorelines Casino. Sunday service on Route 5 has been restored.

The schedules of Routes 6 and 8 have been switched to 40-minute service instead of 30. Each covers a lot of area and drivers were hard-pressed to keep to the schedules, Buck said. The changes should also reduce wear-and-tear on bus.

Route 11’s midpoint will now be Walmart, he added, with the casino as a regular stop.
Buck said all routes now radiate from the downtown terminal but staff are studying the possibility of routes reaching the city’s limits without passing through downtown.

Staff of Glanmore National Historic Site are hoping for an additional space to allow them to exhibit their artifacts.

They’re now drafting a strategic plan for the city-owned museum on Bridge Street East, which last year had more than 7,000 visitors, museum consultant Barbara Vaughan told council Monday.

“It’s a gem. It’s a magical place. It needs to be promoted regionally, provincially,” said Vaughan. She said Glanmore needs more staff and “a new facility to showcase” its collections, programming, education and engagement.

“History is important,” she said, noting historical sites rank fourth on American tourists’ destination choices.

Vaughan said a strategic plan is needed for future funding requests.

The plan sets six priorities: restoration and collections; programming (exhibits and education); community needs, cultural development and outreach; marketing; governance and accountability; and resource management and sustainability.

Staff also want to attract more youth and to expand, said Vaughan.

“The real theme is helping to make history relative in your community.”
Council voted to accept the museum’s report.

Ontario should give schools which have been closed to municipalities, including counties, for no more than a dollar, Belleville council agreed Monday.

Council endorsed, with one change, a request from the Town of Essex to lobby the province to make the change.

“Municipalities are actually having to buy the schools back,” Mayor Taso Christopher said.

He said there would be no obligation for municipalities to accept the buildings.

“We can elect to take it into inventory or just let it go.

“Belleville taxpayers pay for the construction, maintenance and repair” of schools, Coun. Mitch Panciuk said. But he said they then end up paying market value for them once they’re closed.

“We are double-paying for those facilities,” said Panciuk.

“There are many things that we need more buildings for.”

He said the city’s capital budget is proof of the high cost of acquiring properties.
Coun. Garnet Thompson asked Belleville’s letter to the province include the option of counties, in cases of two-tier municipal governments, also be able to buy closed schools for $1.

He said they could be converted into social housing.