Spring clean-up looks to brush over Stony Plain Road graffiti

By Kevin Penny

STONY PLAIN ROAD — Graffiti has been slowly accumulating on the Stony Plain Road strip over the winter, but now that spring is here, it’s time for Capital City Clean Up to start cleaning up the streets.

“It’s warm enough now that our contractors are out, and we’re taking applications,” said Sharon Chapman, project manager for the city’s graffiti removal team.

“We’ve already cleaned 30 properties so far,” she said. “It’s a really early start for us.”

Capital City Clean Up offers several programs to help property owners get rid of graffiti on their buildings, such as free contract work, graffiti clean-up kits, and community engagement teams. Chapman said 98 per cent of people who participated in the projects last year got their graffiti removed for free.

Graffiti builds up over the wintertime because the temperatures are too cold to allow the paint to cure properly, said Chapman.

“The city doesn’t require [property owners] to remove the graffiti until it’s safe to do so,” said Chapman.

The Capital City Clean Up crew has been cleaning the Stony Plain Road area for three years now.