VANDALS COP A SPRAY
OWNERS FED-UP WITH GRAFFITI
A STRING of East Geelong businesses were targeted by vandals who sprayed lurid orange tags on walls, bus stops, cafes and businesses at the weekend.
And new data indicates the St Albans Rd shopping strip is not the city’s only vandalism hot spot — with Geelong graffiti offences rising 800 per cent since 2013.
East Geelong resident Scott Brew, who has lived in the area for 35 years, said shops including Premix King, Lucky 7 corner store, a computer shop and a cafe had been vandalised.
“There is absolutely no ex- cuse for poor behaviour and it is a criminal offence, it needs to start being seen as such,” Mr Brew said.
The Sprout About cafe owner Christina Lafornara said her Martin St cafe was vandalised at the same time as other businesses on adjoining St Albans Rd. Ms Lafornara’s cafe, which is about 12 months old, has been graffitied at least two times in recent months.
“It’s vandalism,” Ms Lafornara said. “Of course its unappealing for the area and there are a lot of older locals who live here who do not like it,” Ms Lafornara said.
The small business owner is considering commissioning an artist to paint her wall in a desperate bid to curb tagging.
Latest Crime Statistics show the city’s graffiti offences rose from 21 in 2013 to 189 offences last year. The rise in offences follows the City of Greater Geelong’s adoption of a strin- gent graffiti plan of eradication, engagement, education and enforcement.
But Mr Brew said slow responses by council had led many residents and business owners to resort to cleaning and painting over graffiti themselves.
“Home and business owners are becoming very tired at having to deal with the issue themselves, as it seems to be far quicker than notifying the council,” Mr Brew said.
“It’s easier to have a bucket of matching paint on standby and just re-roll the walls.”
Mr Brew has urged council to work with locals to find ways to deter vandals.
“We have anti graffiti paints and substances that can be used these days to deter these kinds of offences,” Mr Brew said. “I would like to see the council step up and engage with shop owners and residents where there are definite hot spots for this sort of activity.”
The rise in vandalism is also costing ratepayers. The City of Greater Geelong said in April council spent $250,000 a year cleaning graffiti.
“We also work closely with the Department of Justice to investigate ways to maximise the amount of graffiti we remove with our allocated funding,” City’s director (of) city service Guy Wilson-Browne said at the time.