BY DAKOTA TAIT
A graffiti clean-up campaign over the weekend has been welcomed by much of the community, but the move has stirred up controversy with the City of Newcastle.
Former Lord Mayor Jeff McCloy is behind the plan, with more than 100 volunteers, including Knights players and members of local surf life saving clubs, painting over graffiti in the CBD on Saturday and Sunday.
Mr McCloy says there's been plenty of support.
"It looks a hell of a lot better," Mr McCloy said. "It's so widespread, we missed a fair bit of course, but at least the key points look presentable and as if we care."
"I'm a great advocate of public art, but it's different from someone scratching their name on glass or painting out their initials on something, which defaces the city - huge difference."
Mr McCloy says he launched the working bee in response to the City of Newcastle ignoring his concerns about vandalism.
Newcastle CEO Jeremy Bath has hit out at the calls, however, saying the City shouldn't use ratepayer funds to maintain private property.
The Council spends $1 million a year on anti-graffiti measures, around $200,000 more than was spent at the end of Mr McCloy's term as Lord Mayor in 2014.
But Mr McCloy says he'd just like to see better results from the money.
"I think it needs a bit of a liven-up, because it's everywhere," Mr McCloy said.
"You look around the rest of the world - I was driving through Surfers Paradise the other day, and there's virtually no graffiti, they clean it all the time."
"I see Sally Capp, the Mayor of Melbourne saying she calls them vandals and criminals."
"Wherever there's social decay, in cities around the world and riots and such, what goes with it is graffiti - it's pretty simple stuff."
The City of Newcastle said in a statement on Sunday afternoon, they could have worked alongside the event if Mr McCloy had given them notice.
 |
| Image credit: McCloy Group |
