Now time to fight graffiti
ANTI-graffiti activists have urged the incoming cohort of Geelong councillors to fight local vandalism.
During the council elections, concerned citizens have repeatedly flagged the need for a co-ordinated response to tackle growing worries about tagging across the city.
Former councillor and anti-graffiti crusader Dennis Blake said he wanted to see the issue taken seriously.
“If there’s one message I’d like to send, it’s that they need to get up and get this city cleaned up as soon as possible,” he said. “When we do open up, it’s imperative that the city is cleaned up.”
According to a VicRoads email sent to a constituent, the roads authority said it was in discussions with the City of Greater Geelong about a coordinated graffiti response to be undertaken across the city.
“The City of Greater Geelong’s spend is a far cry from other councils like the City of
Kingston, who have a fiveyear plan to tackle things,” Mr Blake said. “The public has had enough.”
While neither authority confirmed the claim, both affirmed a commitment to working with other regional authorities to tackle the issue.
Acting Greater Geelong chief executive Guy WilsonBrowne said the council would “continue to work closely with stakeholders and regional authorities, like Regional Roads Victoria, throughout the year on graffiti prevention and removal across the region”.
“Our graffiti team is in regular conversation with Regional Roads Victoria about known graffiti hot spots throughout the region as well as responding to customer requests,” he said.
Additional workers had been hired through the Working for Victoria fund, expanding the CoGG’s capacity to tackle vandalism.
“We have recruited staff through the Working for Victoria fund to undertake graffiti removal in the region,” Mr Wilson-Browne said.
Regional Roads Victoria southwest director Vanessa Schernickau recognised the ongoing nature of the issue.
“We know that graffiti is unsightly and, unfortunately, costly to remove,” she said.
“We’re working with the City of Greater Geelong on ways we can work together to remove graffiti from transport infrastructure right around the city.”