wanderer writes: I’ve lived in Bells Corners for 30 years and the tagging (what a delightful term for graffiti!) has worsened over the last five years or so.
Our fence leading into Lynwood Park has seen graffiti, boards kicked in, plants walked over, and generally a disrespect for our property, which we maintain in order to to keep our community looking nice.
Complaints are not responded to. The nicer your property, the more likely it is to be ‘tagged’ or vandalized.
Where does RC live, so we can send these little buggers to his house? We know who they are.
– They are the same ones who light fires near the tennis courts and elsewhere in the park, wherever they find an unwatched space.
They also do damage to the community building even though we no longer have a community association to use it, thanks to RC!
Graffiti is a huge and growing problem just about everywhere in the world. You don’t have to go any further than Montreal or Toronto to see what a costly and complicated issue it is.
It costs the Ottawa taxpayer big bucks (more than a million annually) to stay on top of the problem, but it’s money well spent. If graffiti vandalism gets out of control the plunge in quality of life and property values is alarming to contemplate.
Not all graffiti is bad – legal large-scale murals can be huge community assets.
Tagging is NOT a synonym for graffiti. Tags are ugly scrawls – they’re the lowest form of graffiti, the really irritating stuff. Almost everyone wants to throw the book at taggers/vandals (in Montreal the parents have to pay if the vandal is under 18), but it’s hard to catch them.
Types of graffiti include throw-ups (an elaborate tag with filled-in contours), pieces ( a colourful medium-sized mural based on the graffitist’s name) and productions (collective large-scale murals).
a piece
a production
bellscorners 
They’re brainless punks but you’ll never stop them unless you can catch them red-handed!
And even if you do catch them, what do you do with them? Spray-paint them green?