GRAFFITI is down, but complaints are up in the Wellington City Council’s six-month graffiti audit of the central business district.
The audit shows 366 general complaints were registered between February and August this year- more than 200 over the council’s target.
City safety manager Robyn Steel says this increase in complaints includes notifications from Walkwise staff.
Walkwise were asked to keep an eye out for any graffiti they saw around town in the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup, so the council could get on top of any problems before tourists arrived.
“We did focus on the central city in general leading up to the RWC 2011, to ensure the city was looking spotless,” she says.
In contrast, there were only 27 complaints about vandalism and graffiti in public toilets, falling short of the council’s expectations by 71%.
The council has spent $70,000 on its anti-graffiti squad during the year prior to November’s report, out of its available budget of $92,000.
Ms Steel says having this extra $22,000 does not necessarily signal a surplus at the end of the year:
“It isn’t a saving; more of a phasing issue,” she says.
“We know that school holidays mean there is more graffiti so it is assumed that this money will be spent.”
Ms Steel says if the money is not spent on cleanup efforts by the end of the year, there are a lot of murals and other graffiti-deterring projects the council would like to support.
A previous audit performed in February scored Wellington’s CBD 61 out of 100 for “ambience”. The council says the latest score of 76 shows significant improvement.
Both audits were carried out by Tasman Research and Consulation.
