Graffiti cleanup a hit

Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

A pilot program to clean up graffiti in Penticton's downtown core has council's support.

After hearing the effort is working, council directed staff to budget $28,000 for next year to continue the partnership with the Downtown Penticton Association.

"It was a unanimous decision to move forward," said Mayor Andrew Jakubeit. "We have seen progress in the last seven months, and it has been good."

DPA executive director Kerri Milton says the graffiti management strategy has been "incredibly successful."

About 800 tags have been removed since March, with both visitors and downtown business owners noticing the difference.

Some of the more noticeable areas were between the Lakeside Resort and SS Sicamous, where 50 tags were counted before the program started. The back of businesses on the 200 block of Main Street were also covered, but have since been cleaned up.

"To see this working successfully and downtown merchants pleased with how clean it is and feeling safe is a huge positive," said Milton.

Penticton RCMP Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth says the downtown situation is much improved.

"I am just not seeing it like it was," he said. "And there were zero comments from tourists this summer."