Newly appointed “hands-on” Mayor Nicholas Rees wasted no time in highlighting graffiti in the city and calling on private organizations and government agencies to take responsibility.
The City of Melbourne has identified more than 98,000 square meters of graffiti on major properties not owned or managed by the City. This includes graffiti that is over 3 meters high and on private and government land.
The council said it would work with key infrastructure and property owners to remove graffiti and improve the amenity and cleanliness of the city, but added it had limited capacity for unsupervised sites.
The Mayor addressed the issue in July at Batman Park, where Big Truck-owned infrastructure along the Flinders Street extension has long been riddled with graffiti. Other major third party sites identified by the council include Banana Alley Vault (VicTrack), Charles Grimes Bridge (VicRoads) and 22 Flemington Road (Royal Melbourne Hospital/State Government). Building facades were included.
“The council has gone above and beyond to keep our city clean, but now we all need to play our part,” Cr Reece said.
We know that graffiti removal can be expensive and difficult. That's why we're asking landowners to help us remove this blight from Melbourne's iconic cityscape.
“We are stepping up our efforts to show taggers that their inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated.”
“Under this plan, we will support major property owners to remove approximately 10,000 square meters of graffiti from buildings and infrastructure in public spaces.”
“Melbourne is a great place to live, work and visit, with world-renowned culture and legitimate street art. Graffiti is an unsightly nuisance and has no place in our beautiful city. there is no.”
The City of Melbourne says it has removed 1,650 tonnes of rubbish and dumped rubbish in the past three months, cleaned up more than 25,000 square meters of graffiti, responded to 17,500 customer service requests and cleared more than 32,000 square meters. The sidewalks and street furniture were pressure washed.
In the past year, the company has removed more than 112,000 square meters of graffiti (the equivalent of five MCGs) and has doubled its investment in cleaning services over the past four years.
