Graffiti now goes gratis

By Shaun Inguanzo
HOME and business owners are now entitled to free graffiti removal from the City of Greater Dandenong Council.
The council upped the ante on the war against graffiti at Monday’s council meeting when councillors voted in favour of a once-a-year blanket removal of all graffiti in the city.
They also voted to subsidise one graffiti removal per private property each year.
Residents can now call the council and book a free graffiti removal – a similar system to the city’s hard waste collection.
The service is a response to residents failing to remove graffiti from their properties.
The council can remove graffiti rapidly from public assets, but can only encourage private property owners to act.
According to statistics compiled by council community safety officer Amanda Paul many residents had failed to rapidly remove graffiti.
Ms Paul’s report to council stated that during the past six months, 25 per cent of residents and business owners failed to remove graffiti when prompted to do so by the council.
The old system gave private property owners the options of sharing removal costs with council, a free graffiti removal kit, or volunteer assistance to paint over the graffiti.
Dandenong North Ward councillor John Kelly, who has been lobbying for better graffiti removal from private properties, said the change was welcome.
“It’s a 12-month trial, and a vast improvement on what we had,” he said of the free graffiti removal service.
“I don’t think anyone likes to see graffiti around the place, and if we can eradicate graffiti then it’s a step forward.”
Cr Kelly said the council should also approach local real estate agencies to offer their maintenance contractors removal kits for rental properties.
But he said the next ‘big step’ for council was to work with police on strategies to prevent graffiti vandals from striking.
“It’s fine to talk about removal, but the other issue is the people who place graffiti on buildings and private property,” Cr Kelly said.