The city of Burlington is hiring a team to clean up graffiti in the city after an uptick in complaints.
The Burlington City Council received a briefing Monday night on the city’s plans to remove the growing amount of graffiti on private and public structures. But the city is trying to strike a balance between removing unauthorized tagging and appreciating art.
“The team recognizes that not all graffiti is vandalism and that graffiti is a valuable artform and an outlet for social commentary that our vibrant community should support,” Burlington’s Director of Business Support Kara Alnasrawi wrote in a letter sent to Mayor Miro Weinberger, which was given to councilors.
Weinberger and Chief Administrative Officer Katherine Schad tasked Alnasrawi with developing a team to address complaints and concerns the city received from residents and business owners regarding the increase in graffiti in Burlington.
The city is hiring 10 temporary staff members to work 40 hours a week for the next month removing the unwanted graffiti. They’ll also document how many tags they remove and where they are found in the city. Alnasrawi told councilors the staff initially will focus on the downtown area and remove graffiti most visible from the street because that’s where most of the tagging has been found.
Residents can report instances of graffiti they think should be removed to the city’s SeeClickFix app.
Burlington Police Deputy Chief Wade Labrecque told Seven Days in February the department has recently seen more complaints concerning graffiti. The BPD received 20 reports of graffiti from November 2019 to late January 2020, he said, which more than doubled to 48 reports from November 2020 to early February 2021.
He attributed the uptick to an unseasonably warm early winter and a lack of activity during the pandemic, such as people leaving bars or restaurants, so there are fewer eyewitnesses to catch those in the act. He also blamed the increase in graffiti on the reduction of the BPD’s street-crimes unit, caused by the overall reduction in the police force instituted by the City Council last summer.
Alnasrawi also told councilors that the city is working on alternative ways to showcase graffiti art. She said Burlington has plans to host a large aerosol art mural on a public building celebrating Juneteenth. The city is also investing in a fully outfitted graffiti removal van and plans to engage youth groups and the arts community in other graffiti projects, she said.
Councilor Brian Pine, P-Ward 3, asked if the city might be willing to construct some form of designated spot for graffiti, such as a city wall, where the practice can continue for artistic expression. Alnasrawi said the idea has been brought up.
“There has been discussion about perhaps whether we could have a wall up for example where the old Midtown Motel was, which has now been taken down,” she said. “That might be a nice central location where people could express themselves.”
Councilor Ali Dieng, I-Ward 7, requested a task force be formed to include other community voices in how the city approaches the removal of graffiti and the celebration of it as art.
“I do actually agree with you,” Alnasrawi responded. “That I think more voices at the table will be helpful in terms of addressing how the community views graffiti; how we value it or don’t value it.”
A handful of residents called in to express support for the program. Some critiqued the project’s vision as potentially exclusive.
Burlington resident Lilla Fortunoff called into the council’s public forum and criticized the wording of the letter Alnasrawi sent to the mayor outlining the project. She called it a “dog whistle” that did not directly address the Black artists who have been unfairly policed for the graffiti.
“It’s really important to acknowledge that graffiti originated as a practice by Black people,” Fortunoff said. “And regardless of who the artists are of the graffiti in Burlington, there is a history of graffiti being undesirable because it’s directly tied to anti-Black racism.”
Resident Dan Cunningham said he appreciated the graffiti removal project.
“Graffiti is not art,” he said. “When it’s done on other people’s property, it’s a crime. It’s damaging property, and it’s costing individuals and business owners significant time and money.”
Human resources director approved
The council also approved Kerin Durfee’s appointment to the city’s human resources director position and Jared Pellerin’s appointment to a city assistant attorney position, both of whom were recommended to the council by Weinberger.
But Durfee wasn’t approved before Councilor Jack Hanson, P-East District, brought up the city’s January 2020 investigation into Deputy Chief Jan Wright’s problematic social media use, where she disparaged the press and the Police Commission under a fake social media account. The city’s human resources department found 16 comments by Wright. A following investigation by VTDigger found 40.
“VTDigger really uncovered, much, much more than what the internal investigation did, and they did so in a much shorter amount of time,” Hanson said. “So I was wondering if you’d be willing to just speak a little bit to your approach in the role around independence and thoroughness in terms of investigating if and when issues do come up.”
In response, Durfee said she is a “very transparent person” who has experience investigating employee misconduct. Durfee, who also sits on the Police Commission, said she’s excited to work with the police department in her new role. “I think we have enough tools at our disposal to not have something like that happen again,” she said.
The council also passed a resolution to create the Burlington Aging Council, which aims to raise the voices of the city’s aging population and elevate issues important to the community. The council will focus on issues such as health care, accessibility and civic engagement for older residents.
