Graffiti. One word that is bound to provoke discussion no matter where one lives in the Western World.
To many people, Graffiti is not seen as vandalism any more, unless it is done on prohibited locations. One could say that Graffiti has evolved over the years and has taken the shape of an art form.Torrevieja, with her many unused building plots that have walls and corrugated iron surrounding them, is a prime target for Graffiti Vandals, who do not practice an art form but delight in leaving their ugly moniker, their ‘tag’, all over the city centre and urbanizations. For the last decade, many residents have complained of a lack of commitment from Police to find and prosecute these individuals, even though the Police have had tip-offs from residents as they witness these acts taking place.
Graffiti is a major problem in Torrevieja. It costs taxpayers over 300,000 euros each year for removal and cleaning. Thus, as purse strings are drawn tighter, The Mayor of Torrevieja, Pedro Hernandez Mateo has decided that enough is enough and has stated that delinquents and vandals will be caught and brought to court in a major measure to stamp out this malaise. The council has hired a Graphologist. His team are photographing and logging every location in Torrevieja that has examples of graffiti. They are producing a dossier so that those apprehended can be prosecuted to the highest degree.
A few weeks, Police apprehended one known graffiti vandal with over 20 aerosol paint cans in his possession and evidence that he had recently been using them to deface a building. It is estimated he has caused over 12,000 euros of damage to sites around the city and is awaiting trial.
On Tuesday morning, the BBC’s Breakfast TV program featured the city of Bristol where residents are voting on whether or not some examples of Graffiti Art should be saved and preserved. They concluded that if Graffiti artists where given walls to paint on, then they did not vandalise property around the city. For 2010, Torrevieja’s council are looking at holding workshops for young people about Graffiti and giving them the opportunity to learn more about it as an art form.
The council shall also be introducing a new denuncia (reporting) form to allow residents to notify the police and graphologist of where graffiti is located around the city. Graffiti vandals should be aware that they shall no longer be tolerated in Torrevieja and the law shall come down on you as hard as they are allowed to do so.
