The Vilnius authorities are starting to clean the city from graffiti: they will allocate 1,54 million for this. euros, and during this and the next year they plan to remove 220 thousand. sq. meters of illegal drawings.
The mayor of the capital Valdas Benkunskas on Friday, at the event dedicated to the start of the cleanup, noted that the city "starts the fight against graffiti vandals" after a long preparation.
"The quantities that will be cleaned are at least six times larger than they were until now. It is planned that in the next year we will clean 220 thousand in the city territory. sq. meters of broken, smeared walls, buildings, infrastructure objects", said the head of Vilnius.
According to the municipality, by 2026 it is intended to clean such an area of graffiti that would cover a two-meter-high wall stretching 110 kilometers.
Graffiti is planned to be cleaned not only in the center, but also in other districts of the city. Illegal drawings on the walls will be removed gradually, but an immediate response is promised if obscene, offensive or forbidden graffiti is noticed.
According to the mayor, the owners are responsible for cleaning graffiti from private buildings.
"Private property must take care of itself, this is the general rule," he said V. Benkunskas.
"Again, we are not going away and we will definitely provide help primarily through the prism of prevention," the mayor added.
In order to identify violators of public order and stop them, additional surveillance cameras will start operating in the city, there will be closer cooperation with police.
According to the municipality, video surveillance cameras will be used to monitor frequently vandalized areas of the city, paying particular attention to the territory of the old town. If a violation is recorded by the cameras, the security service will immediately arrive at the scene at any time of the day.
"In places where cases of vandalism are very common, video surveillance cameras will be installed, the signal will be connected to the private security service, which will have to respond immediately, go to the scene and try to catch such vandals by the hand," said V. Benkunskas.
Residents can also report cases of vandalism in the "Manage the City" app or on the website.
Preventive measures will also be implemented to increase public awareness of the differences between vandalism and legal street art.
"We will spend a lot of money in our schools, explaining to people, children, teenagers, what is the difference between street art and graffiti vandalism. I hope that in the long term this will allow us to have that culture, the understanding of who is who, at a completely different level," said the mayor.
Those who wish to implement creative projects on the walls of the capital can apply to the city municipality for a permit to paint on buildings or infrastructure objects.
According to Jevgenijas Liepis, head of the Vilnius Police Public Order Board, vandalism is mostly done by young people.
"I can't answer what that typical portrait (BNS - vandal) looks like, but it's still a young enough person," said J. Liepis.
Those arrested for vandalism for the first time face a fine of up to 160 euros for the offense, and up to 600 euros for repeated arrests.
Nine pre-trial investigations into vandalism have been launched this year, compared to 21 last year.
