Pride of Place
On Tuesday 14 October 2008 Newcastle City Council agreed to convene a Pride of Place Taskforce.
The taskforce has been working to address issues that impact on the overall amenity of the city including graffiti, vandalism, community safety, cleanliness and appearance.
Representatives from business, government agencies, young people and the community are represented on the taskforce.
Achievements
Graffiti hotline
The graffiti hotline – 1800 223 840, is now up and running. Members of the community can call the hotline to report any incidents of graffiti. Council will then activate its response team to work on removing the graffiti.
South Newcastle Beach
The launch of the registered mural wall at South Newcastle was held on Saturday 28 February. From now the area will only be used for pieces not tagging or other graffiti. Find out more
Lucky Country Hotel Mural
The mural outside the former Lucky Country Hotel is an initiative of the Pride of Place Taskforce. It looks great, check out the mural image gallery.
Clean up
Local community engagement in clean ups such as Wickham/Throsby/City East. Youth representatives have been active in establishing new rules for use of designated spaces and management of these areas.
Other agencies including Energy Australia and Telstra have agreed to remove offensive or widespread graffiti within 48 hours of it being reported.
Individuals undertaking community service for the Department of Juvenile Justice will assist in removing graffiti across the city.
Graffiti Team Leader
A Graffiti Team Leader has been appointed to manage the implementation of Council’s Graffiti Management Plan, the day to day operations of the graffiti hotline and coordinate media and community education.
In Progress:
Vacant buildings
Work has begun to clean up a number of derelict buildings in Newcastle. The run down Empire Hotel site has been inspected and the focus has now shifted to removing rubbish from the site.
Anti-graffiti products
The Hamilton Business District Committee and Council staff have been investigating anti-graffiti products to assist in the cleaning and removal of graffiti on public and private assets. A trial of an anti-graffiti coating on the James Street, Hamilton public toilets started in January 2009. The trial will be monitored by the Hunter Business District Committee and Newcastle City Council to evaluate the performance of this product.
An E-Nose device has been installed in Newcastle. E-nose is an electronic nose which detects aerosol paint in real time. The system can detect a paint spray up to 40 metres away.
Council has been issuing graffiti removal wipes to help residents and businesses so they can manage their own graffiti removal.
CCTV
Newcastle City Council will install CCTV in the Civic Precinct for a 12 month trial period to assist with crime detection. Council is investigating options for providing CCTV.
The City Centre Precinct Committee and the Newcastle Liquor Accord will fund an additional six cameras for the trial.
