Council & Business
4 December, 2017
Program to get CGS graffiti-free
Maryborough Education Centre students, Victoria Police, the Central Goldfields Shire Art Gallery, Nacho Station and the Central Goldfields Shire have teamed up to reduce the prevalence of graffiti within the shire.
With councils spending up to $60,000 in graffiti clean-up costs every year, Victoria Police, the Central Goldfields Shire Council, Central Goldfields Art Gallery and Nacho Station have teamed up, kicking off an intervention program last week in a bid to reduce the prevalence of vandalism within the shire.
The Sorry About Your Wall program will engage with up to 220 local students, aged 10 to 18 years of age from local schools, with Maryborough Police Senior Constable Richard Jane saying vandalism is fairly common within the region, including a V/Line train recently being tagged at the local station.
“Graffiti is a blight on the community, it costs the community thousands of dollars every year,” he said.
“We encourage people who want to do graffiti as an art form to do it safely and legally.”
Sen Con Jane said if someone is caught doing graffiti, they could be charged with possessing graffiti implements or face criminal and lawful damage to property charges.
Central Goldfields Shire Youth Advisory Council coordinator Audrey Bartlett said the program is about tackling graffiti “head on”.
For more on this story see Page 4 of The Advertiser, Tuesday, December 5