China News Service, January 27th. According to the Greek "China Greek Times" report, on the 25th local time, with the completion of the graffiti cleaning operation on Akademia Street in the center of Athens, Greece, Athens has achieved the first round of the city cleaning plan. .
Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis expressed his hope that the “real Athens in the stain” will be revealed through the cleaning operations and subsequent related legislation.
On November 7, 2020, in Athens, Greece, a cat strolls on an empty commercial street.
According to reports, for decades, many corners of Athens have been "occupied" by unsightly graffiti.
Many people also took advantage of the omissions of the Athens municipal regulations to leave graffiti lacking design and planning on the walls of buildings.
As a result, many monuments, exterior walls of shops and parks in Athens were "submerged" by paint and slogans, and city landmarks were "hidden" by stains.
Based on this situation, the City of Athens decided to adopt a systematic cleaning plan to improve the appearance of public places throughout the city.
In the first phase of the plan, the Athens Municipality organized 40 graffiti cleaning operations, cleaning and painting the sculptures, marble and glass surfaces in the main blocks of the city, and the total cleaning area reached 19,000 square meters.
The cleaning team also used special anti-graffiti layers in all work areas to make it easier to remove the paint in the subsequent stages.
At the same time, the municipality has also left space for graffiti artists to create, encouraging them to paint on large surfaces such as cafes, walls, and building exteriors to "light up the indifferent corners of the city."
In order to improve the appearance of the city in the long-term, the new cleaning regulations of the city of Athens are also under preparation. It is expected to impose bans and fines on two types of behavior, including graffiti on archaeological sites, monuments, public and municipal buildings; and Place advertisements on walls and telephone poles.
Bakoyannis said that through the "clean-creation-feedback" model, the Athens Municipality is expected to "uncover the real Athens in the stain" and at the same time show respect for the quality of life of the citizens of Athens.
(Xu Yining)