Elsie Lange
Hume council will explore locations where graffiti can be practiced, using a “carrot method”, to deal with the cost of its removal across the municipality and encourage less antisocial tagging.
Councillor Sam Misho raised the general business item at a council meeting on Monday, May 9, and said graffiti was a “never ending phenomena” which council should not just tackle with the “stick method”.
“I believe that we can use certain measures that will reduce this unwanted practice and ultimately prove advantageous for us.
“By constructing walls in certain and suitable parks around the municipality, where people interested in such activity can go for their life.”
His suggestion was for council personnel to attend the sites on a regular basis to repaint the walls to create a blank canvas for artists.
He proposed it would ensure the confinement of the practice to the allocated spaces, with individuals identified so council can “educate and inspire” by giving them artistic role models in turn producing a “different level of artistry”.
“I also believe that the provision of parks, without active and engaging programs, will not be fruitful,” Cr Misho said.
Cr Jarrod Bell welcomed Cr Misho’s motion and said it created opportunities to encourage and celebrate street art, and could even save council money down the track in creating murals.
Cr Jack Medcraft, who has been a fierce opponent of graffiti and tagging, said the proposed idea might end up uncovering exciting local talent.
“We should really have a competition and see how we go getting the artists from the [Hume], and pick out some walls, and say ‘Here it is, here, you can be dubbed the number one proper tagger, instead of being the idiot tagger that most of them are’,” he said.
He added that putting “meaning” into the project would “give them a different avenue”.
