Private landholders limiting the City of Melbourne’s graffiti crackdown

Residents are concerned that Lord Mayor Nick Reece’s quest against graffiti has been curtailed by private landowners.

For several months, EastEnders residents’ group president Dr Stan Capp had been pressuring the council to remove graffiti from the Telstra Exchange building at 300 Exhibition St, but to no avail.

As part of the City of Melbourne’s (COM) graffiti blitz, it pledged to remove graffiti in the central city within three days, but this was not the case for the Telstra building.

Telstra manages its Exhibition St site and is responsible for cleaning up any vandalism. However, due to not contacting the City of Melbourne, nothing was done to clean up the graffiti despite it being reported in November last year.

When Dr Capp contacted the City of Melbourne, he was referred to other bodies like City West Water, CitiPower, VicRoads and the Royal Botanic Gardens. He felt that the council had shifted the responsibility of the clean-up rather than proactively engaging with the landowner.

However, within 24 hours of an inquiry made by CBD News to Telstra, the tags were cleaned.

A Telstra spokesperson told CBD News, “As soon as we became aware of the graffiti on our site, we organised to have it cleaned as quickly as possible, and we expect it to be removed this afternoon.”

Dr Capp believes more needs to be done to streamline communication between the City of Melbourne and private landowners like Telstra so all cases of vandalism are proactively addressed.

A report on the “outcomes and next steps” of the council’s cleaning and graffiti management program tabled at the February 18 Future Melbourne Committee (FMC) meeting acknowledged this presented an ongoing challenge.

“The report also addresses the growing need to manage major assets not owned by the City of Melbourne in alignment with city standards, particularly in terms of graffiti management,” the council’s document stated.

Moving forward, it is necessary to explore new agreements with private asset owners and extend these partnerships to ensure a consistent and cost-effective approach to graffiti removal.

However, the report also highlighted “the success of private and public partnerships that have enabled the delivery of cost-neutral services, particularly in the removal of graffiti from privately owned commercial properties.”

City cleanliness and safety were at the heart of Lord Mayor Nick Reece’s election campaign, and since the cleaning contract was renewed in April last year, there has been an increase in resources allocated to removing vandalism.

Cr Reece told CBD News that cleaning and safety were his most “pressing priorities” and that the council was working “harder than ever” with private landowners to remove graffiti.

“Since our new cleaning contract began … we have supercharged our cleaning efforts, with boots on the ground 24/7, seven days a week,” he said.

According to City of Melbourne data, the resolution time for graffiti removal requests has reduced from an average of 3.2 days to 2.1 days, except in cases where private landowners manage their properties.

For graffiti deemed offensive, such as the recent defacing of the John Batman monument and the Parkville War Memorial, the response time has improved from two hours to one hour. There has also been a 38 per cent increase in graffiti removed.

Where possible, according to Cr Reece, the council has worked alongside private landowners to improve their response times and has recently partnered with Metro Trains and VicTrack to complete their first major joint project along Flinders St.

As part of the project, they will be cleaning dirt, grime, and graffiti from the Flinders Street Station façade, which has experienced increased vandalism over the past 12 months.

The council has also launched several initiatives to reduce graffiti, including installing murals and green walls, applying anti-graffiti coatings, and restricting access for taggers.

According to a spokesperson from the City of Melbourne, “These protective coatings make future graffiti easier and quicker to clean, maintaining public spaces more efficiently and cost-effectively.”

Additionally, under the new cleaning contract, street cleaning, graffiti management, and pressure washing services now operate 24 hours a day, and the electric vehicle fleet has tripled, with 10 new electric vehicles introduced. •