Merchants in South Port are going after graffiti.
Businesses from the Uptown Merchants Association, Kingsway Crossing, Harbour Quay and Third Avenue have assembled four ‘graffiti busting’ kits comprising graffiti removing spray, gloves, safety goggles, brushes and an extendable pole for the brush.
“We’ve put some of our own money into the graffiti busting kits,” said Kevin Wright, president of the Uptown Merchants Association.
The move comes after the Coulson Group, which owns two buildings uptown that have been hit repeatedly with graffiti, threatened to pull out of the neighbourhood if the problem wasn’t addressed.
The idea is to attack graffiti within 24 hours of it showing up, Wright said.
“If you get on it right away, it goes away (paint). We’re trying to do it in a non-toxic way,” he said.
It also takes exposure away from the graffiti taggers.
The kits will be available for any businesses to borrow, regardless of where they are located in the Alberni Valley.
MacDermott’s Insurance Agency will buy its own kit and will also lend it out to businesses needing to get rid of graffiti, owner Garry Connauton said.
editor@albernivalleynews.com
Twitter.com/AlberniNews
