REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Wednesday, December 4, 2013

THE hotel that let Justin Bieber graffiti its walls was threatened with being slugged with higher rates until the pop star’s masterpiece was removed.

Mayor Tom Tate proposed reviewing the differential rates to make dilapidated or vandalised buildings, such as Surfers Paradise’s QT Hotel, pay higher council charges to force the upmarket hotel to remove the graffiti, which attracted worldwide attention.

Cr Tate told a crowded full council meeting that buildings with significant graffiti – such as the hotel – would be forced to offset the city’s $2m annual graffiti removal spend.

“I would like to investigate the potential revenue and implementation requirement of adjusting the rate differential for short-term accommodation houses and hotels based on an assessment of the property’s graffiti clean-up performance in a determined preceding period,” he said.

“The revenue generated from such rate differential would be solely directed towards offsetting the Gold Coast’s $2m citywide graffiti removal program costs.

“I am also interested in the cleanup performance assessment period to potentially be retrospective.”

Under existing local laws, the council did not have the power to remove the graffiti, which is on private property and not accessible from public land.

While Cr Tate called on Bieber to return to the city and clean up his work, he later wrote to the QT threatening to issue a show-cause notice to remove it.

• The threats succeeded and the artwork was removed.