Reykjavík City Council announced its plans to clean the city center yesterday, removing graffiti and increasing supervision of abandoned buildings. The initiative was launched with the removal of graffiti near Hlemmur bus terminal.
“We are going to approach this project from all aspects, increase supervision, cleaning and maintenance, improve organization, fire protection and policing,” said Reykjavík Mayor Ólafur F. Magnússon. “We will always be on watch and are going to continue with this project for one year so the situation will improve long-term.”
According to Morgunbladid, the fire department, police department and many of the highest-ranking city officials are cooperating on the project. This summer the greatest emphasis will be put on cleaning Laugavegur, Reykjavík’s main shopping street.
Fire marshal in the capital region Jón Vidar Matthíasson said his department will be responsible for the nearly 60 abandoned houses in central Reykjavík and make sure they will not be safety or fire hazards from now on. Recently an abandoned building was set on fire.
Chief of the Capital Region Police Stefán Eiríksson said his department will be responsible for establishing more security cameras and increasing presence of police officers. “There is an obvious difference between those places in the city center which are guarded by security cameras and those which are not,” he said.
Click here to read more about this story.
