Mayor Jaime Martínez has set up a cross-departmental unit at Palma town hall for tackling what he has said will be a priority for his administration - eliminating the city's graffiti.
Until now, different areas at the town hall have operated separately, but they are being brought together and coordinated by the councillor for infrastructure, Belén Soto. As well as her department, others are the Emaya municipal services agency, the police and the departments for citizen participation and mobility.
A pilot project for this coordination will be launched in a part of the city centre in September. This will cover buildings and structures of different types that require different cleaning treatment and administrative processing. A listed building, for instance, needs authorisation from the Historic Centre Commission. Specific treatment is necessary for certain types of stone.
The town hall will be examining regulations as they apply to private buildings. At present, it cannot act unless there is permission from owners. There is to be a citizen awareness campaign to take care of street furniture and to keep it clean.
There are going to be tougher penalties. The town hall intends classifying graffiti vandalism as a "very serious" infraction, for which the maximum fine under law will be applied - 3,000 euros. In the case of listed buildings, criminal proceedings will be initiated.
Entities such as the ARCA heritage association are said to have welcomed the town hall's plan "with great interest".