They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.The thing is, the city doesn't see the beauty in one Kingston Road mural and has deemed it graffiti that must be removed.
The artwork in question is located on the wall of a two-storey building at 921 Kingston Rd., near Willow Avenue.
Having been tagged on numerous occasions, the property's owner Darlene Richards-Loughrin, a real estate lawyer, enlisted the children of a few acquaintances to create a mural on the west side of her building last October.
She said that the illegal tagging of her building stopped once the mural went up.
"One of the best ways to combat graffiti is to paint a mural," Richards-Loughrin said, adding that the piece on her building is free of any derogatory images or messages as her first-floor tenant is a children's math tutoring school.
"Every building on this block has been tagged. I painted over this thing for three years."
Richards-Loughrin said that her mural is comparable to the artwork on some of the Bell utility boxes that were recently painted in the Beach.
She also added that images of scantily-clad women at local strip clubs are far more offensive than her mural.
Even with the best of intentions, Toronto and East York Community Council did not agree.
"I think it's a completely ridiculous position for the city to take," she said, pointing to the city's bylaw that deems a mural as a specific piece commissioned for a specific location with the goal of beautification.
"As far as I'm concerned, community council has no right to say it's graffiti."
Further, Richards-Loughrin said that this decision would result in more illegal tagging in the city.
"It's going to have the opposite effect of what the city wants," she said, adding that she's spoken to several other local business owners who are now leary of taking the initiative to paint murals on their graffitied walls.
She's even collected over 100 signatures from merchants in favour of the mural.
Richards-Loughrin is especially unimpressed with her local councillor's position on the issue.
"(Ward 32 Beaches-East York) Councillor (Sandra) Bussin with her fine arts degree... Nobody can put up a mural because they don't know what she'll find acceptable. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not art," she said.
"This is a waste of my time and money."
Bussin, on the other hand, said that she offered Richards-Loughrin funds from her ward's beautification budget with the idea of hiring a few young people and an artist mentor to create a more "appropriate" mural on the building.
"This was a major issue in the 2006 election. It's part of my mandate to tackle graffiti," Bussin said, noting that the city's Municipal Licensing and Standards (MLS) Department issued the notices to Richards-Loughrin based on a community complaint.
"I think there needs to be a level of consistency. It has nothing to do with my personal taste."
Bussin further suggested local business owners take the cue from the Beach Business Improvement Area's neighbourhood beautification efforts when it comes to commissioning murals.
She also advised building owners to contact the MLS department before they undertake any project of this sort to ensure it falls within the city's guidelines.
"Because somebody put something on a wall doesn't mean it should remain," Bussin added.
Despite the imminent paint-over of her mural, Richards-Loughrin is convinced that her graffiti battle isn't over.
"The tags will be back. I will give you 24 hours to the day I paint over it again."