Beardon to speak on graffiti

CASEY councillor Steve Beardon will speak at a graffiti conference in Adelaide tomorrow (Friday).
Cr Beardon was asked to talk at the Graffiti Management: A Shared Responsibility forum on the council’s graffiti strategy and the underlying problems of graffiti.
The council’s policy is to clean up graffiti as soon as it is detected, at the council’s cost.
“Our graffiti program actively cleans up mess, putting residents first,” Cr Beardon said.
He said it was also important to develop programs to work with problematic children.
“We need to get the kids engaged and help empower them,” he said.
“Over time I’ve started to understand that a lot of kids go off the rails. I’ve definitely changed my tune in the last couple of years when it comes to these kids.”
Cr Beardon has long been involved with getting rid of graffiti in Casey.
In 1998 he, along with other locals, began actively lobbying the council to clean up graffiti.
He also formed a clean-up crew to improve safety at Merinda Park Railway Station.