Graffiti in our city: Who cleans it up?

When Tom O'Connor discovered racist graffiti at the McLennan Park skate park last weekend, one of his first moves was to report it to authorities. 

But he was so disturbed by what he saw, he didn't want to wait for city crews to come clean it up. He took on the task himself; he painted over it, and added a message of his own: #NotInMyKW.

"I just thought that there's a lot kids that go through there everyday and go to the skate park before going to school and I didn't want them to see it," he told CBC News. 

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Though the city and the region doesn't condone any kind of graffiti — even if it has a positive message, like O'Connor's — repairs can take time due, in part, to overlapping municipal jurisdiction between the cities, the region and other private entities. 

 A Region of Waterloo spokesperson told CBC News racist graffiti is their top priority when it comes to tagging, but it can take some time to figure out whose responsibility it is to clean up.

According to the City of Kitchener, "content related to racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. is prioritized in terms of a response," and "dispatched right away" but if it happens to be in the city, but not on city property, staff have little power over how long it takes to clean up.

City of Kitchener spokeswoman Victoria Raab told CBC News in an email the best way for residents to get a speedy response when they spot graffiti is to call its 24/7 contact centre — which she said is a more direct process than the automated PingStreet app.

"Because the call centre is 24/7, it can be prioritized immediately and staff will be dispatched right away (during regular business hours)."