Card youth who buy spray paint: Dorval mayor

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

andy.blatchford@transcontinental.ca

In a push to curb graffiti, Dorval is inviting Montreal municipalities to help them lobby for age restrictions on the sale of spray paint.

The city passed a resolution at last month’s council meeting requesting that spray paint only be sold to shoppers over the age of 18, or even 21.

Dorval Mayor Edgar Rouleau said a similar law has been effective in controlling graffiti in London, Ont., where stores face fines for selling spray paint to underage customers.

“The stores are not allowed to sell spray cans to kids,” he said of the London bylaw. “I realize that this is something . . . long-term, but if we don’t start, then nothing’s going to (happen).”

He said Dorval pays $60,000 to $70,000 annually to remove graffiti from public buildings. The total does not include clean-up costs private-property owners are absorbing.

“Graffiti is appearing more and more across the island,” Rouleau said. “In Dorval, it’s not getting (better), that’s for sure.

“It’s money being thrown away.”

He said vandals work fast, so it’s a challenge for police to make arrests.

Still, for the law to be effective, it needs regional support.

The resolution was forwarded to Montreal’s agglomeration council and local MNAs. Rouleau hopes all island mayors — and eventually the South Shore and Laval — will join Dorval’s push.

In Kirkland, councillors supported Dorval’s motion at Monday’s council meeting.

Mayor John Meaney said the city paid close to $70,000 removing graffiti last year.

In the past, Kirkland forced busted vandals to clean up tags on public structures around the city instead of paying fines, he said. However, the strategy to teach them lesson didn’t always work.

“The parents would prefer to pay the fine than have their poor dears clean it up,” said Meaney, who is unsure how effective Dorval’s proposal would be if it moves forward. “How could you enforce something like that? I’m supporting it because I think it’s a great idea, but how practical it is, that’s another story.”

Currently, Kirkland washes graffiti as soon as possible, a method that seems to work, Meaney said.

Cmdr. Michel Lecompte of Montreal police Station 1 said officers encourage local stores, such as Canadian Tire, to be wary of who buys spray paint.

“We’ve got to sensitize the people who sell it,” he said Monday evening after Kirkland’s meeting. “But the thing is, how do you (know if) the kid doesn’t want it to repair a bicycle?”

He said age limits on spray-paint purchases would be hard to enforce.

In the Station 1 territory, officers visit schools and talk to kids about graffiti.

“It’s a problem everywhere, but it’s not a major problem here,” he added. “Most of the kids are very intelligent.”