All of the people I know in Józsefváros – Hungarians and foreigners – love the area for its beautiful old buildings. But everyone gets very upset by the quite extensive graffiti vandalism which degrades buildings in the area. Many managers of apartment buildings do nothing to remove ugly graffiti even for years. A sad example is the building on the corner of Vas and Köfaragó utca.
The previous Mayor of the First District, Mayor Márta Naszályi, regularly announced on Facebook her local government’s zero tolerance of graffiti and her request to residents to report it so it could be quickly cleaned off. She listed a telephone number and email address for reporting graffiti.
Mayor Tamás Soproni of District 6 has also taken energetic initiatives to remove graffiti on private properties if owners neglect to clean it off.
It would be wonderful if Mayor Pikó similarly took initiatives to remove graffiti from Józsefváros. This would certainly be very popular with local residents.
Greater activism by the Józsefváros council would make the district more aesthetically attractive and would be very popular with the vast majority of local residents.
Presumably it would cost the same as it costs Districts 1 and 6: listing reporting contact details on the Council website, regular clean-ups and an educational campaign to alert house managers to the local community’s expectation that they remove graffiti and to deter graffiti vandals. None of this sounds too expensive.
In District 6, volunteers have participated in graffiti removal. That could also be an option in District 8.
We have the needed equipment mentioned in this idea. You can submit the spaces you want to be cleaned thorugh our application available in Hungarian: https://jozsefvaros.hu/ugyintezes/ugyfelfogadas-es-kapcsolat/2022/01/jozsefvaros-app/ or write a letter in English to the public space maintenance: varosuzemeltetes@jgk.hu
The public properties we constantly clean. However, as you may see, several buildings (private and municipal social housing both) in our district have old walls which are not in good shape – obviously, washing the graffities there with such equipment could cause serious damage, which we do not want to risk.
Otherwise, please, do submit the spaces you want to see cleaned through the aforementioned services!