Anti-pipeline graffiti upsets Vancouver business owners

Business mural with “No Pipelines” spray painted on it, Commercial Drive, Vancouver.

By Yuliya Talmazan, Global News, March 24, 2014

Vancouver residents are used to seeing graffiti on city streets, but recent work by an unknown graffiti artist is not sitting well with some of them.

The graffiti with a consistent “No Pipelines” message has been popping up on residential buildings and businesses along Commercial Drive, Victoria Drive and Main Street.

Some residents feel the graffiti is vandalizing their neighbourhood.

Wendell Gonyea with Commercial Drive Business Society says they really started noticing the “No Pipelines” graffiti pick up about a month ago.

Gonyea says graffiti is a normal part of life on Commercial Drive and gets reported immediately. But, the recent surge in the “No Pipeline” graffiti has kept them busier than normal.

He says it is costing businesses and store owners thousands of dollars to fix.

But what has compounded the problem is the fact that the elusive graffiti artist is now painting over murals that are well known and loved in the community.

“This is what seems to tick people off,” says Gonyea. “That something that nice, that someone has gone into trouble to create, he is actually maliciously going after. I think that has brought it to a head.”

It is not clear who is behind the graffiti, but Gonyea has this message for them: “There are better ways to express disobedience. You are accomplishing absolutely nothing.”