Graffiti vandalism is on the rise in the city, says the president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce.

'There is a lot happening,' Rick Karp said in an interview Monday. 'We are getting a lot of phone calls about the graffiti.'

Karp said he's not sure how to stem the flow of unwanted paint appearing on private and public buildings.

But it will be a topic of discussion at the chamber's next board meeting in a week and a half, he pointed out.

Karp said perhaps there are some additional enforcement measures that can be adopted, though he and others recognize it's difficult to apprehend the vandals as graffiti generally occurs during the late night hours.

Tourists have even commented recently about the amount of graffiti they see, he said.

Just Sunday morning, Karp pointed out, he had to spend an hour cleaning off the exterior glass doors leading into his hair saloon, prior to a fundraiser his business was hosting.

'It's terrible,' he summarized. 'It's making the city look really bad.'

'We are hearing from our members and others that there is a lot of graffiti going on, and something needs to be done about it.'

The Elijah Smith Building and the prospector statue on Main Street were tagged last weekend with the most recent evidence of the problem.

The rear base of the statue was painted, as were several areas around the federal buildings, including sections of the granite wall, large decorative rocks and the green electrical boxes.

Tom Sparrow, director of operations for Public Works, Government Services Canada, was more than dismayed by what he saw when he arrived at work Monday morning.

Like Karp, Sparrow feels there is a pressing need to deal with the issue.

He said he could probably push graffiti vandals away from the Elijah Smith Building with additional security measures but that would not address the root cause of the problem.

In speaking with the head of the RCMP and city bylaw Monday, Sparrow said he was encouraged to hear the issue of graffiti is a high priority on the agenda of the new community police advisory committee.

Sparrow pointed out the committee is made up of representation from all aspects of the community, including youth organizations.

'This is a community issue, this not just a downtown core issue.'

Sparrow said he assured the head of the RCMP that his office would support and assist the advisory committee in its work to address graffiti.

The prospector statue, he noted, is a wonderful piece of artwork which is frequently photographed by tourists.

'To have that covered in graffiti is a real travesty.'

Sparrow said graffiti is not just a Whitehorse problem, but a problem for communities across the country.

Investigating how other cities are dealing with it may provide Whitehorse with insight into the root cause of the problem, and possible solutions, he suggested.

He estimated the cost of cleaning up the graffiti from last weekend will probably be in the neighbourhood of $500 to $1,000, and may be even more.

City manager Dennis Shewfelt said Monday the city does not have any plans to explore additional enforcement methods to combat graffiti, such as developing a new bylaw.

He did note, however, that the city is organizing a graffiti and litter cleanup work party for Thursday to both remove graffiti, and hopefully bring more community attention to the problem.

City staff who are able to leave their regular jobs for two hours are being asked to help out, as are members of the public.

Event organizer Dinah Laing of the city's parks and recreation department said work crews will be assigned to different areas in the downtown core to do the cleaning.

Where it's not possible to remove graffiti within the two hours, crews will note the location of graffiti for future reference.

Shewfelt said the city does not track specifically what it cost each year to deal with graffiti.

But the parks and recreation department alone spends more than $100,000 on vandalism, which includes graffiti, he pointed out.

Karp noted that one chamber member travelling overseas came across a community where there was no graffiti.

The traveller learned the general deterrent was in the city's method of prosecuting vandals quickly and requiring them to immediately do the clean-up work, and sometime more, he said.

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