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How to Decrease Your Graffiti Problem
Phil Bockos, Project Manager, NSW Department of Housing
Western Sydney Region, Blacktown
The Department of Housing has lived with the problem of Graffiti for quite some time but we have recently decided to make a concerted effort to reduce the incidence of this universal problem.
When we sat down and looked at where our most problematic areas were, we realised that in all cases we had helped create the problem. By this, I mean that our designs of the times when these estates were built (early I970's), which aimed to create a better living environment, were actually creating an ideal environment for graffiti to flourish.
Some of these designs were based on the Radburn town planning principle that sited the houses so that the front of the house faced a large open space and the back faced the street. The intention was to separate the pedestrian and vehicular access to the homes. The only fencing to speak of was a 150Omm high stained timber fence separating the house from the street. From the back of the house one could not see what was happening on the street, this in turn gave anyone who wished to "tag" or deface the fence the ability to work without being seen. These tags would be left on the fence therefore creating more and more tags, as well as a free "wall" for some budding Aerosol Artists.
In order to provide pedestrian access to the front of the homes, the Radburn designed estates featured long fenced walkways leading to underpasses, schools and shops. These all provided an unsupervised graffiti target area. The underpasses did not go untagged; they also provided a dark and dangerous place for unsuspecting innocent pedestrians.
Radburn designs were not the only problem areas identified. We also created townhouse development estates where the number of properties built were the maximum yield for the site, creating densely developed neighbourhoods. One site in particular has 300 townhouses located on it. This earlier development strategy has caused not only social problems but also significant and ongoing management difficulties. These townhouses are built around dead end streets and back onto large open spaces, again defined with painted timber fences that can be, and have been, tagged repeatedly. No efforts were made to clean up the problem, the graffiti was just left until the next cyclical painting program.
We are currently doing something positive about these unworkable sites through the Department's Neighbourhood Improvement Program (NIP). In brief, we are 'turning the houses around'. The open space found at present at the front of the homes is being fenced and turned into rear yards and present back fences are being replaced with front fences which afford visibility or eyes on the street. A traffic and pedestrian study of one area revealed that the graffiti ridden walkways and underpasses were not used very often. These are being closed off and incorporated into the new rear yards. One site is near completion and has changed the overall outlook of the area, now the residents have pride in their locality and are calling their house their home. There are now very few places for offenders to tag or paint surfaces. (unless within the confines of private property).
The other initiatives I would like to discuss is a relative new redevelopment site in Seven Hills where five houses were demolished and 35 one bedroom pensioner units built. The main Western railway line is located approximately 50 metres away from the rear boundary. The design of the development required a soundproofing brick wall on the rear and Eastern boundaries (the Eastern boundary faces a large park and the rear boundary has a pathway running parallel to it joining the park to the Seven Hills railway station). The scale of this great wall is 130 metres long and with a height generally varying between two to three metres. As a solid brick wall it presented a magnificent 'canvas', what an invitation to all taggers and aerosol artists.
I suppose you could call it a bit of a kick along, but after this wall was repeatedly hit by taggers and so called 'artists'; we received some criticism in the local press, front page no less. We did not take this lightly, so after some discussion we called a meeting of all prospective stakeholders - Police, both local and Transit, Blacktown City Council, Integral Energy, Department of Community Services, Juvenile Justice Service, University of Western Sydney, Local Press - just to name some. As it turned out, the two agencies that worked very closely were the Transit Police and the Department of Housing. Several meetings took place as we tried to plan the proposed mural that was seen as the best way to deter graffiti and present to the community a superior image of the Department and its properties.
Other meetings were held where the community was invited to have input into the theme of the mural and a possible design. It was agreed to have the mural painted by aerosol artists, possibly by some of the people who had already painted the wall illegally. The Transit Police gave us several names and this proved to be a job all by itself, that is to make contact and arrange an on-site meeting. After several false starts we finally met and it took a lot to convince them that we were on the level as they did not trust anyone. After several meetings we arranged for one of the artists to design a flier to advertise a public meeting.
What a flier, done in watercolour this guy had talent and from that point on we knew deep down we had a chance to complete the project we had started.
It was not easy, but after many hours work including weekend public meetings we finally had a theme which was "The History of Seven Hills". The street artists had this brief to design the mural, an artistic licence if you like.
With a wall so big we were worried that we would not have enough "scribblers" to paint the wall. The other big worry was that we did not want kids to turn up and start painting their own "pieces", so we had the wall painted with a background colour and two of the artists started to lay out the design on the wall two days before paint day. The local police had to be informed as to what was going on prior to paint day so if they had a report that the wall was being defaced, they would not go out and arrest these guys!
Advertising was one of our biggest aids. We had three lots of fliers printed and copies handed out in areas frequented by the people we wanted. As well as using community announcements on commercial radio, both AM and FM frequencies, we had assistance from the ABC through radio station 2BL. This proved to be very successful, so much so that several stations did follow up interviews at the end of the first day.
We also had a starting date which was Saturday January 18th 1997, coinciding with the school holiday period. An estimate for the number of spray cans and colours was made and a supplier found locally which assured that they would have a large supply available in reserve if required. We must thank Krylon Paints and Mitre 10 Stores of Seven Hills and Paddington for their supply of paints. In total, there were 478 cans of paint used.
Paint day arrived and it was fine weather - what a good start, the two lead artists arrived and others just turned up to start painting as did the general public and local residents from the complex whose wall we were painting. At one point, there were approximately thirty "scribblers" painting the wall and it was starting to take shape. The idea behind this was that two lead artists would control the painting and we would hand out the paint to minimise pilfering, where else could these guys and girls get free paint for their own use? This was kept to a minimum with about one percent loss. We could not be seen to be heavily guarding every can of paint.
With the first day complete at five o'clock in the afternoon we had completed about eighty metres of wall. The next day we were at it again at about 9.00am, the same number of painters or scribblers turned up, and it was on again.
It was decided before we started that the mural would be covered with a non-sacrificial protective coating for protection from jealous "taggers". This was applied to the first completed section about lunchtime on Sunday 19th January. We finished painting at about 9.00pm on Sunday night by headlamp light, including a local police car. The wall was not quite completed and the boys came back on Monday morning for a few hours and by lunchtime the protective coating was being applied to the last section.
Then it was all done and what a great piece of art!
Total cost to the Department of Housing was less than $19,000 with the majority of the costs in the protective coating. Other costs included paint, scaffolding, advertising costs, wall preparation and a small payment to the lead artists for flier and theme design.
Now, some four months since completion, the wall has had some very minor "tags" applied to it which were removed straight away at nil cost and with no damage to the protective coating. The contract for the non-sacrificial coating included a three-month maintenance period.
Being so close to the main western rail line and with some 100,000 commuters passing daily, I believe that this mural must be one of the most frequently seen in Sydney, and is one of the highlights of the rail journey between Parramatta and Penrith. You can observe the heads of the passengers turn as the train passes the wall.
As we reflect on what we have accomplished, we have gone from a very long wall of graffiti to one of the most frequently seen murals in greater Sydney. This work has proved that government and the community can work together to solve what is undoubtedly one of the worst features of the present urban built environment.
Now we have seen the best and the worst of designs that attracts graffiti and the next question is, where do we go from here?
Well, as it happens we do have some vision and we have created a GRAFFITI POLICY STATEMENT and a GRAFFITI STRATEGY for the Department of Housing, Western Sydney Region.
As you can see from these from these two papers we are committed to act simply on graffiti attacks within this Region. This can be achieved through educating and training our staff and our tenants. With this knowledge, and working together, we will be able to clean up many areas, which have been subject to vandalism since they were built.
New South Wales Department Of Housing
GRAFFITI POLICY STATEMENT
This policy is to be used in conjunction with the Regional Graffiti Strategy.
The following basic principles and anti graffiti responses are commonly used throughout Australia and around the world (source of some of the information is the Internet);
- Remove graffiti as soon as it appears, Clean off/paint out as soon as possible but no longer than one week.
- Identify the most concentrated areas where graffiti occurs. Use of Non Sacrificial Coating with tag removal within 24 hours. If graffiti continues, look at alternatives involving the transit Police to identify "tags" so that action can be taken on our behalf and offenders referred to the criminal justice system for prosecution.
- Train all teams in appropriate responses to graffiti and its removal.
- Encourage tenant groups to report graffiti and arrange cleanup days. The Department can make paint and clean up material available to tenants.
- Investigate alternative designs to known bad areas. Alternative types of fencing, blocking off unused walkways etc.
- Neighbourhood Improvement Program. The program is assisting to reduce the amount of common areas under the control of the Department.
- Discuss with architects and designers the impact of adjoining public spaces. Use of acceptable surfaces, products and appropriate design where our property adjoins public spaces.
- Encourage tenants to report graffiti. This will be counterproductive if we do not act immediately on such reports
- Encourage tenants to remove graffiti as it appears. The Department can make paint and clean up material available to tenants.
New South Wales Department Of Housing
GRAFFITI STRATEGIES
This is to be used in conjunction with the Graffiti Policy Statement.
We must acknowledge that we have a problem with graffiti in this Region and understand the options which are available to us.
1. Removal of Graffiti within One Week.
The first action is to remove graffiti from all highly visible areas, this would be known as the Initial Clean Up. Initial cost for removal would be high but this gives the Area a platform on which to work, or if you prefer, a starting point.
Application of Non Sacrificial Coatings to areas where "Tagging" is considered to be high risk. A number of proprietary coatings are currently being assessed. Refer the Project manager Phil Bockos for advice.
Quick response to remove reported graffiti.
2. Training Of All Area Staff .
Staff training must take place so they can fully understand graffiti and its removal.
3. Inter Agency Involvement as Key Stakeholders.
Full inter agency co-operation is considered to be essential. Agencies to be included are Local Councils, Local Police, Transit Police, Energy authorities and other major influential utility providers.
Major stakeholders are Tenants, Tenant Groups, Community Groups and the general community.
4. Investigate Building Designs
Where there are high levels of graffiti a thorough investigation into the design of a project and its surrounding environmental factors need to be considered.
Look at the type of fencing material used, consider closing walkways
Neighbourhood Improvement Programme. (De-Radburning estates)
Ensure that external finishes known to be the target of vandalism are minimised in new projects and consider the replacements of existing surfaces to reduce the risk of further graffiti attacks.
5. Education Of Stakeholders
Compile an educational kit for full distribution
Our staff are major stakeholders and by educating them in how to handle graffiti attacks within their Area we can assist to control this problem and elevate the image of the Department.
Make sure that staff are aware of and have a copy of the Graffiti Policy Statement:
Our tenants and the public are other important stakeholders and we must make them aware of our Graffiti Policy Statement. This can be carried out through the Tenants' Council and the various tenant groups within the Region.
6. Goals and Objectives
Our primary Goals is to minimise the amount of Graffiti throughout the Region.
Ultimately, through the education of our stakeholders and the implementation of the Graffiti Strategy, tenants will be able to take responsibility for reporting and in some cases removing any Graffiti that is applied to their property when it occurs.
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