Giorgio Mammoliti compounds irrelevance by hinting that Toronto should be more like London, Ontario
Mayoral candidate Giorgio Mammoliti, fresh from saying bylaw officers ought to be armed with guns, is now backing a proposal by councillor Sandra Bussin to crack down on graffiti. Bussin’s idea is based on a London, Ontario, regulation that fines retailers who sell “graffiti implements” (markers, spray paint, glass-cutting tools) to minors. Mammoliti says that he would go even further and fine a person up to $5,000 for tagging a building.
For a second, let’s ignore the obvious problems—minors don’t create all graffiti, they don’t have $5,000, and very few people want Toronto to be more like London—and jump to how hilarious it is that this ban puts graffiti implements in the same category as booze and smokes. But maybe that’s the real plan: create new job opportunities for the homeless. Does this mean high school kids will have to pay panhandlers to buy them art supplies as well as Mike’s Hard Lemonade?
