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The ugly curse of graffiti

LIVING in such a beautiful part of the world, pride of place is one of many things our communities share as residents of the Yarra Ranges – all bar a very small minority who choose to scar our local areas by vandalising buildings, fences and other surfaces with unattractive and often offensive graffiti tagging.
Graffiti tagging has long been a scourge on our community with hundreds of hours and dollars spent cleaning up the mess made by the unthinking few.
I know in my role as both councillor and police officer that countless hours have also been spent trying to find a solution to the problem.
One new approach that I was recently privileged to witness was a creative performance event that toured some Mooroolbark schools.
The pilot Graffiti Education school program was jointly funded by the Department of Justice and Yarra Ranges Council.
It involved performers from Warner Awareness Education bringing a 45-minute presentation to selected students in Grades 5, 6 and Year 8.
Students at Manchester Primary School, Rolling Hills Primary School and Mooroolbark Secondary College enjoyed the performances.
The presentation very successfully engaged students to raise awareness about the impact of graffiti tagging on the community.
It was great to see a program developed especially for students that focuses on making positive choices by not heading down the pathway of graffiti tagging.
As a pilot program, the performances were impressive and I’m hoping we might be able to bring it to more Yarra Ranges schools in the future.
Council is also doing a variety of other things to combat graffiti tagging in our community.
We have a graffiti management plan which contains a spectrum of prevention, early intervention and pro-active responses to graffiti issues. Our approach involves business, local communities, government and non-government organisations.
Another initiative is in this year’s budget where council has allocated further funding for a dedicated graffiti clean up crew.
The crew will be able to respond to areas of need as they arise and by removing it quickly, will act as a deterrent to other would-be vandals.
Council is committed toworking to reduce the incidence of graffiti and making Yarra an attractive place for our residents, our businesses and thosevisiting this wonderful part of the world.
Terry Avery
Yarra Ranges Mayor

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