Railway graffiti riles council

EDRINGTON Ward councillor Brian Hetherton has persuaded Casey City Council to lobby the State Government to remove graffiti from buildings along the railway line within the municipality.
Cr Hetherton said he was appalled to see so much graffiti on buildings when he travelled to the Commonwealth Games by train.
During the 4 April council meeting, he said the government should be asked to respect the council’s policy of zero tolerance to graffiti.
He requested that the City of Casey invite the government to join its program and fund the council to remove graffiti from government controlled property and privately controlled property facing government areas.
Edrington Ward councillor Mick Morland said the council should look at eliminating all graffiti from the municipality.
“I believe the government will be supportive of this. If all councils had the same policy, we could eliminate graffiti from the community. We have the best system of graffiti elimination in Australia.”
Cr Morland said it was good to see how clean Melbourne looked for the Commonwealth Games, but he had been advised that the graffiti was already returning.
River Gum Ward councillor Wayne Smith said the council also needed to look at items such as phone booths and poles owned by the utility companies.
“Casey has proved that the best way to go is fast removal of the graffiti,” he said.