Dear TBT,
There appears to be an abundance of graffiti in Vilnius' Old Town. I have been visiting Vilnius since 2002 and have been living in Vilnius' Old Town for the last 5 years; in that time I have noticed a change from nearly no graffiti to an abundance of horrible graffiti plastered over walls and doorways of some beautiful buildings, including my own building.
This is annoying and unpleasant in itself, but what makes it unbearable is that one cannot actually call what is on the walls graffiti, but more mindless vandalism by [no-] talented yobs with nothing better to do than destroy and abuse other people's property.
I am confused why the Lithuanian government and Vilnius' mayor and all those public people working for the honest hard working people do absolutely nothing to stop this scourge on what should be a beautiful city.
I am involved in the tourist industry and now regularly get comments from foreign guests commenting very negatively on the state of the graffiti-covered buildings, and why this is allowed to happen.
Of course, we all know the reason, and this is the reluctance by the government to take action against this practice, I guess there is no money in it for them.
The noticeable lack of police on the streets of the Old Town (I think in 5 years I have seen no more than 5 policemen/women, in all that time) being used as a deterrent; of course the police would rather not go out, [but] sit in their offices looking at porno mags and drinking vodka (as I have experienced before) rather than do what they are paid to do, which is to protect the people of Vilnius and protect their property.
There has also been an increase in knife crime and muggings in Vilnius, with 3 of my friends (all girls) being mugged, abused and robbed [at knifepoint].
The annoying thing is that people moan about this but, like all good Lithuanians, they take no action. When will the Lithuanian people realize that nothing changes unless you change it.
Billy Bob
Vilnius
