Belmont's 48-hour graffiti guarantee

by Gwendolyn Goh

April 18, 2008

BELMONT council has pledged to remove graffiti on public property within 48 hours of being notified.

“We provide a graffiti removal service for public and private property owners absolutely free of charge,” the city’s graffiti coordinator, Darryl King said. “We get an average of six to 13 reported cases per month.”

Mr King said graffiti costed his city $180,000 each year to remove. He added prompt graffiti removal played a key role in deterring vandals from striking again.

“I feel that’s the only thing that really works,” he said. “When kids see that their work is removed promptly, after a couple of days, it lessens their sense of achievement.”

A graf’-artist eMU News spoke to at a skate park in Belmont begged to differ.

“It doesn’t matter that my art gets removed almost immediately,” the anonymous source said. “It gives me a sense of satisfaction to see my work being displayed even if it’s just for a short period of time.”

Joyce Snell, a Rivervale resident whose house had previously been vandalised, gave the new service the thumbs up.

 “The removal team was very prompt in responding to my alert and had it removed with much efficiency,” she said. “This service definitely helps to ensure that our environment is kept scenic."