SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - On any given day, John Bolm likes to admire the scenic view of Twin Pine Hill from his living room window. That came to an end Wednesday night.

Trail's End resident John Bolm was not a fan of the new view across Franklin Avenue on Twin Pine Hill. On Friday, the day after this photo was taken, city staff came by and painted the graffiti green, not the colour he would've picked, he said. - Lauren McKeon/NNSL photo

It was then that the Trail's End resident first saw the approximately seven-foot-high, five-foot-wide graffiti emblazoned on the rocks across from Franklin Avenue.

The sloppy yellow letters read, "Curtis + Keke [love] Stacy + Kate." Scrawled to the side is: "BFF" - best friends forever. By all guesses, it was painted the night before Bolm noticed it.

"I'm usually not one to say anything," said the frustrated 60-year-old Thursday.

"But now I have to look at this from across the way."

A Yellowknifer of two years, Bolm purchased his home this May.

"I was really surprised. When you travel around town you don't see very much graffiti, and that's one of the things that's nice."

Yellowknife is pretty clean, he added, a feat he attributes to the pride many Yellowknifers take in what the city looks like. And that leaves Bolm in a pickle. He said he doesn't want to glorify the vandal's actions by reporting it - lest it provoke more - but he also doesn't want to see the vandalism every time he glances across the street.

"It's a nice beautiful hillside here in Yellowknife," Bolm said.

"(The vandals) just defaced it. To me it just shows lack of respect and no consideration for anybody except for themselves."

Luckily for Bolm, the city has a policy in place to quickly remove such less-than-appreciated pieces of public art.

Andrew Morton, Yellowknife's facilities manager at the Community Services department, said his department has made it an objective to address 90 per cent of all acts of vandalism within one business day and to repair damage within three days of notification.

There's only one catch. The objective only covers Public Parks and Recreation properties and Morton isn't quite sure the city owns the offending rock on Twin Pine Hill.

While Morton sent a crew over to look at the rock anyway, he suggested that anyone looking to report vandalism seen about the city check out what zoning it falls under first.

Anybody can alert city officials to vandalism through a new tool available on the City of Yellowknife's website called City Explorer. Of course, Morton added, when in doubt simply call the city. Satisfaction, however, isn't always guaranteed.

While Bolm is glad the city has an objective to eliminate vandalism, its solution in this case - to paint over the yellow paint with a less glaring green on Friday - is not the one he would have picked.

Ultimately, Bolm would like to see the culprits responsible for the graffiti restore his view: "I was in the military. A toothbrush and paint thinner goes a long way."