Rob Ford really, really hates graffiti (but likes smartphone apps)

Roughly one year after Rob Ford began his war on graffiti in a St. Clair West alley, the mayor was back in Corso Italia with a high-tech weapon: a pair of smartphone apps. The apps, the first to be launched after Toronto’s open invitation to mobile app developers, allow residents to report graffiti to 311 Toronto by snapping a photo of the offending tags and sending it directly to the city for processing. At the press conference, Ford warned, “The war on graffiti has just begun”—and then helped blot out a defiantly scribbled “fuck you my turf” on a garage door to make his point. Now that he’s already deployed power washers, hired new city employees and launched two smartphone apps, we’re wondering what’s left in the mayor’s arsenal. Back lane stakeouts? Anti-graffiti vigilantes? [Blog TO]