New South Wales’ City of Canterbury is offering residents free graffiti
removal kits in an aim to stamp out graffiti in the local area.
As part of the first ever Graffiti Action Day on 2 May, Canterbury Mayor, Councillor Robert Furolo, encouraged local residents to get involved and use the kits.
“Last year, Council spent more than $140,000 removing graffiti from public property across our City,” he said. “That is money that could be spent on services and programs for our residents, but instead it is wasted on removing graffiti.”
Council has also introduced initiatives to deter graffiti artists. It recently ran a successful ‘Boxed Art Project’, encouraging local residents to transform traffic signal boxes around the area into creative works of art.
The program involved around 200 individuals and successfully transformed 88 traffic signal boxes. The project involved workshops with the community, an exhibition of the art at the local library, and an awards ceremony.
Council also has a graffiti removal squad, comprising seven painters and six teams who are trained in the removal of graffiti. They aim to remove reported graffiti within 72 hours of a report being made.
Council is working with the Bankstown Probation and Parole Service (BPPS) to engage offenders required to undertake community service in a program to remove graffiti from public sites around Canterbury.
“An increase in street lighting in some heavily vandalised areas and the introduction of our graffiti removal team to quickly clean up graffiti within 72 hours in our town centres has also helped us manage graffiti vandalism,” Mayor Furolo said.
