Nor'West News: March 21, 2017
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4 Tuesday <strong>March</strong> <strong>21</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />
Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi<br />
Your Local Views<br />
NOR’WEST NEWS<br />
Community battles graffiti<br />
City councillor<br />
Sara<br />
Templeton<br />
talks about the<br />
city’s graffiti<br />
problem,<br />
particularly in<br />
St Albans, and<br />
how the community has<br />
responded to it<br />
It wasn’t long after the<br />
earthquakes in 2011 that our<br />
city had a sudden rise in graffiti.<br />
Damaged and vacant buildings<br />
were ripe for tagging and our<br />
public spaces became targets for<br />
vandals.<br />
This was true in Heathcote<br />
Valley where I live, as it was<br />
across the city. So a group of<br />
us called the city council and<br />
joined the graffiti volunteers<br />
programme Off the Wall. Supplied<br />
with hi-vis, brushes and<br />
paint, we kept on top of the<br />
local problem, reporting it for<br />
removal by contractors when we<br />
couldn’t do the work ourselves.<br />
The problem soon tapered off as<br />
taggers realised that their marks<br />
weren’t going to stay around for<br />
long, and it’s stayed pretty good<br />
since then.<br />
Graffiti is a problem – it damages<br />
property and makes local<br />
residents feel less safe in their<br />
community. Quick removal is the<br />
key, so reporting it for removal<br />
as soon as it’s seen is important.<br />
Conversely, the graffiti that is left<br />
attracts more graffiti, and we see<br />
this time and time again.<br />
City council can remove graffiti<br />
on road boundary fences,<br />
lamp posts and other similar<br />
public places, but the green<br />
roadside cabinets are looked after<br />
by their owners – Chorus, Orion<br />
or others and the city council<br />
can’t remove graffiti on private<br />
buildings. City council will pass<br />
on the details if you call, but<br />
contacting the company directly<br />
will have a quicker result.<br />
City council does an annual<br />
graffiti survey and the results<br />
are striking. In 2013, there were<br />
11,592 tags spotted and, in 2016,<br />
GRAFFITI: St Albans is the<br />
worst suburb across the<br />
city for graffiti alongside the<br />
central city.<br />
only 1591 tags were seen across<br />
the city during the same period.<br />
Interestingly, reported graffiti<br />
has gone up over the same time,<br />
coinciding with the introduction<br />
of the Snap Send Solve app<br />
and accepting complaints about<br />
graffiti on private property. These<br />
complaints are registered on our<br />
books, but the removal request is<br />
forwarded to the owner.<br />
We have more than 1000<br />
fantastic volunteers helping keep<br />
their communities graffiti-free,<br />
but you don’t have to join to help<br />
out. Call 941 8999 to report it, or<br />
use the Snap Send Solve app on<br />
your phone.<br />
My favourite saying is apt here<br />
– “I used to think that somebody<br />
should do something about that;<br />
then I realised that I was somebody.”<br />
Aren’t we all?<br />
Readers respond to Ali<br />
Jones’ Soapbox in last<br />
week’s Nor’West <strong>News</strong><br />
about roadworks in St<br />
Albans<br />
Vanessa Pollock – Been<br />
frustrating but I know it’s called<br />
for. Also, I’m sure traffic has got<br />
very heavy around the Cranford<br />
St, Innes Rd, St Albans area with<br />
Winters Rd cut off now.<br />
Jenna-Louise Crothers<br />
– It’s only frustrating when the<br />
workers are standing around<br />
not doing anything. The stop-go<br />
dude was on his cell phone the<br />
other night. Traffic both ways.<br />
Give the job to someone who<br />
wants to work.<br />
Readers respond to city<br />
councillor Aaron Keown’s<br />
Soapbox on funding for an<br />
upgrade of the Gardiners,<br />
Breens and Harewood Rds<br />
intersection not being included<br />
in the city council’s<br />
draft Annual Plan.<br />
Miles Dalton – It sounds<br />
like the process is working well.<br />
Instead of spending money on<br />
one person’s vanity project, the<br />
money is spent on the basis of<br />
actual facts. Aaron Keown needs<br />
to understand that being elected<br />
does not put him in charge, it<br />
makes him part of a group of<br />
decision makers.<br />
Anthony Nixon – Turning<br />
bays will not improve safety<br />
for the primary and intermediate<br />
school children who cross<br />
Harewood Rd every morning at<br />
rush hour. There is a lot going<br />
on in that area, including lots of<br />
heavy traffic that moves very fast<br />
up and down Harewood Rd past<br />
that intersection (they are often<br />
breaking the speed limit).<br />
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