City of Kelowna suing two men over nearly 2,700 instances of graffiti

Photo: Castanet file photo

The City of Kelowna is taking a pair of alleged graffiti vandals to court, claiming damages for nearly 2,700 tags spread across city property over 16 years.

In two similar lawsuits filed Tuesday in BC Supreme Court, the municipality claims Daniel Eide and Dylan Martinello have been painting graffiti across the city for years.

The city claims Eide is responsible for at least 650 instances of graffiti on city property dating back to 2013.

Martinello, meanwhile, is alleged to be responsible for at least 2,043 tags on public property dating back to 2005.

The lawsuit alleges the tags damaged city-owned buildings, curbs, dumpsters, electric boxes, lamp posts, signs and other infrastructure.

“The city has been put to the expense of remediating the property on each occasion of trespass by cleaning or painting over the graffiti tags applied by the defendant,” the lawsuits claims.

The lawsuits seeks a court declaration that the two men are violating the city’s good neighbour bylaw and an injunction restraining them from continuing to do so. The city is also seeking a variety of damages and costs associated with the lawsuit.

Eide did not respond to request for comment and Martinello could not be reached. Neither man has been criminally charged for the vandalism and none of the city's allegations have been proven in court. The City of Kelowna did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.