WAR ON GRAFFITI: Australia takes a cue from Queens

BY NOAH ROSENBERG

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 7:12 PM EDT

Graffiti and neighborhood crime were the subjects of conversation during a recent meeting between Councilmember Peter Vallone, Jr. and Wayne Smith, a city Councilor from Casey, Australia.

Casey, a city of around 250,000 residents has nearly eradicated graffiti by borrowing from the enforcement strategies of cities like New York and Phoenix.

“There’s a zero tolerance policy down in Casey,” Vallone explained. “Of course, his [Smith’s] city is the size of my council district so it’s much simpler,” he joked.

Under Casey’s government-funded program, a private contractor cleans graffiti within 48 hours of a complaint, a method borrowed from Phoenix.

According to Vallone’s press officer Andrew Moesel, private graffiti-cleaning contractors might not be efficient across New York because of the scope of the city, but might be effective in individual neighborhoods. Moesel said several private groups have approached the city in search of funding for such contractors.

Additionally, Smith said, Casey has increased penalties for graffiti offenders and has begun holding building owners responsible for keeping their property graffiti-free.

Similarly, Vallone is hoping to hold New York business owners more accountable. He is currently trying to pass a law to regulate roll-down gates used in stores so that newly installed gates must be the chain link variety. Moesel cited traditional sheet metal or steel gates as the source of 50 - 70 percent of city graffiti.

The Councilmember is also trying to pass a law that would make it harder for vandals to get their hands on etching acid, a new graffiti medium that causes irreparable damage.

“Graffiti is not just a New York problem or an American problem, it is a worldwide problem,” Vallone said in a statement. He added, “We must pool our ideas and our resources to help each other fight to save our neighborhoods, no matter where we are.”

Vallone has always had a problem with graffiti. “It’s something that’s really bothered me since I was little,” he said over the phone. “My mother always says graffiti and litter always upset me when I was five years old. Only now I’m in a position to do something about it.”

Vallone’s conversation with Smith wasn’t his first international forum on curbing graffiti. The Councilmember has also consulted with representatives from Israel, Russia, Nova Scotia and Korea about graffiti and public safety issues and has spoken about graffiti on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and Canadian radio.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PETER VALLONE, JR.
Casey, Australia City Councilor Wayne Smith, right, has helped to practically eradicate graffiti in his city in part by modeling enforcement systems on those practiced by Councilmember Vallone and the city of New York.