Graffiti vandals burn bridges

By Dion Teasdale
VANDALS who defaced a Lions Club funded bridge have had their political protest back flip on them.
The vandals painted graffiti on a new wooden bridge over the Don Road drain in Coronation Park in Healesville in late August.
They left messages in thick black ink in protest at the cost of building and installing the bridge, claiming it was a waste of ratepayers’ money.
However, the bridge, which cost in excess of $26,000, was fully funded by the Healesville Lions Club and the Australian Lions Foundation.
Healesville Lions Club president Elaine Doffor said the bridge had not cost ratepayers a cent until the vandals had struck.
“The bridge was totally funded by the local Lions Club and the Australian Lions Foundation. There was no financial contribution from Shire of Yarra Ranges,” she said.
“However, it has now cost the shire and ratepayers money to remove the graffiti.”
Shire of Yarra Ranges acting executive officer of parks and bushland Bert Bresser said the vandals had ended up costing ratepayers after all.
“It has cost ratepayers $260 for the Shire to remove the graffiti from the bridge,” he said.
“We tried using chemicals to remove the ink and when that didn’t work we had to use a high powered steam cleaner.
“As a result the wood on the bridge has been bleached and we will now have to stain the wood to return it to its original condition.”
Mr Bresser said the vandalism was misguided.
“The graffiti labelled the bridge as a waste of Shire money but it wasn’t until the vandals actually left their message that it started to cost ratepayers,” he said.
“This sort of vandalism is a waste of time and ratepayers money and it ends up costing the shire thousands of dollars a year.”
Mr Bresser said the attack was destroying the good work of local community groups.
“The Healesville Lions Club and the local community worked tirelessly to raise funds for this bridge,” he said.
“If the vandals really wanted to make a point about Shire expenditure they could have found a far more constructive and accurate way of getting that message across. There are better things for people to do than actively set out to wreck the good work of others.”
Mrs Doffor said she thought the graffiti had been written by adults. “The graffiti is a political message so we think it is probably the handy work of adults who should know better,” she said.
“The Lions Club is very disappointed by this pointless act of vandalism.”