By MELISSA MEEHAN
Pressure mounts on graffiti vandals…
TWO community groups have received a new tool to wipe out graffiti in their towns.
It is a whole of community problem which is being tackled with a whole community approach.
Minister for Crime Prevention Edward O’Donohue joined Gembrook MP Brad Battin to deliver graffiti removal kits to Belgrave South Neighbourhood House and MADCOW.
The Belgrave South and Monbulk communities are not strangers to graffiti, their walls, fences and signs have long been used as a blank canvas by those keen to mark their territory on the law.????????
MADCOW’S Carmel Mitchell said the battle against graffiti would always go on, but said the whole community approach seemed to be working in Monbulk.
“We had a clean-up day in November and the whole community got involved,” Ms Mitchell said.
“When it’s little I can manage it myself, but these kits will really help with the bigger stuff.
“We’ve found if we act quickly and remove the tags it acts as a greater deterrent – they want to see their work up there for all to see.
“So if they can’t see it anymore, they move on.”
Belgrave South Community House’s Graham Bergroth said that graffiti was a big problem.
“It definitely an issue, it always has been,” he said.
“We have to repaint our door all the time, probably at least once a month.
“These kits will save time and money for us.”
Police have raised the issue in the past, particularly in Monbulk, where groups of kids in town were carrying markers in their pockets looking for the next place to make their mark.
Mr O’Donohue said a total of five kits were handed out in the Yarra Ranges, three to community groups and two to the council.
He said they were essential tools in combatting graffiti.
“Illegal and unsightly graffiti is a blight on the local streetscape and can make people feel less safe in their own community,” Mr O’Donohue said.
“It’s a scourge on our community.”
Mr Battin talked the groups into how to use the kits, and said he had seen them in action.
“They really are a useful tool,” he said.
“New, old, it works.”
Since the Graffiti Removal Program began, an area equal to more than 94 MCG playing fields of graffiti has been removed from Victorian communities.
