By DANIELLE GALVIN
THE clean-up bill for graffiti vandalism in Cardinia Shire is expected to reach $100,000 – and Pakenham is the worst hit.
This week, Cardinia Shire Council started a shire-wide graffiti clean-up after a recent audit revealed 3500 square metres of graffiti on council assets, private property, business and organisations around the shire.
The council found that most of the graffiti was in Pakenham and the growth corridor along the railway line although the outlying townships were also found to have graffiti.
At a recent council meeting, Central Ward councillor George Blenkhorn said the social scourge had reached plague proportions.
The council, Victoria Police and the Department of Justice are working together to reduce graffiti.
Cardinia Shire Graffiti Reference Group chairwoman councillor Jodie Owen recently returned from a trip to Arizona for the Zero Graffiti International 2014 Conference to hear about the international effort to reduce graffiti and the gateway crime.
“We are actively targeting graffiti vandalism around the shire and we are making progress, with more programs on the way,” she said.
“We need to deal with the problem of graffiti vandalism before it becomes worse.
“We are committed to prosecuting those who tag but we can’t do it alone.
“The community also need to take a proactive role in reporting graffiti to police and removing graffiti from their own property using council’s free removal kits.”
The clean-up will continue through to June and July.
On the Pakenham-Gazette Facebook page, some residents welcomed the proactive approach.
“That’s fantastic it’s a major problem in our area,” Kate commented.
“Even back streets of Pakenham are horrible.
“What about local police visiting schools to educate young of consequences should they vandalise property?”
Since December last year, residents have spoken out about the “epidemic” saying that it is worse than ever.
“Why bother cleaning it up when it will just happen again,” Rob posted.
“I can guarantee that 70 per cent of places that get cleaned will be hit again in the following few weeks and cost us more to clean up.
“There are no consequences against vandals, like most petty criminals and it’s not the police’s fault it’s our lenient court system that is only too happy to forgive.
“Unless vandals are caught in the act it’s almost impossible to prove who it is.”
Property owners and businesses have been notified of the one-off graffiti removal.
The audit and clean-up is expected to cost approximately $100,000 and will be funded by the council.
