My Second Letter to My New City Councillor

image: solarcrash.com

Dear Councillor Layton,

My name is Andrew Woodrow-Butcher, and I am one of your constituents. I have emailed you once before (about the 5-cent bag fee) and am disappointed that that email has so far gone unacknowledged by you or your staff. I am emailing you today about Toronto's anti-art policies regarding graffiti, and I would appreciate if you would let me know that you have received this correspondence. If you would prefer I contact you by some other method in the future, please don't hesitate to let me know. I am sure you will agree that it is essential to the democratic process that there be two-way communication between citizens and those elected to represent them.

I am writing today to let you know that I oppose Toronto's laws that prohibit graffiti and that require property owners to remove any art city staff deem to be graffiti. Today I read about a homeowner who had been found to be in violation of the bylaws because a family member had painted a floral mural to cover up some graffiti; city staff described the mural itself as graffiti, and put the property owner in a position where they had to defend their aesthetics to the City in order to avoid further action against them. This is not acceptable.

When I wrote to your predecessor, Councillor Pantalone, about this issue several years ago, he assured me that the city was not putting itself in the position of arbiter of What Is Art; now we see the City in exactly that position. Not only do I, as a voting and taxpaying Torontonian, believe that graffiti very often has a value in and of itself, but I am disgusted that the City presumes to tell property owners that they must un-decorate their properties or face censure. Graffiti is a sign of life! The City I want to live in is a city of vibrancy, where beauty and expression are treated as boons, not nuisances.

Councillor Layton, I ask that you take my views to Council. I urge you to work to overturn the current graffiti bylaws and - if they must be replaced at all - replace them with laws that take into account the right of property owners to maintain their exterior décor either unadorned or graffiti-enhanced, as they see fit. Please help keep the City of Toronto out of the question: What Is Art?

Thank you for taking my views to Council.

All the best,

-Andrew