Still waiting! Casey councillor Steve Beardon rolled up his sleeves after waiting six months for Telstra to clean up a graffiti-covered substation in Cranbourne.
By Glen Atwell
A TELSTRA-owned, graffiti-laden communications substation in Cranbourne is still waiting to be cleaned up.
But one Casey councillor has called time on the telco giant.
A month after the News revealed that the vandalised substation is at the centre of a clean-up dispute between the City of Casey and Telstra, Cr Steve Beardon is rolling up his sleeves and doing it himself.
Cr Beardon slipped on the overalls, broke out the bucket and sponge and warmed up the elbow grease in an attempt to erase the unsightly mess on Cranbourne-Narre Warren Road.
“Cranbourne residents have waited long enough for Telstra to come and clean up their mess,” he said.
“This is a big company with big budgets, yet Telstra won’t put its hands in its pockets to clean this up.”
Casey Council’s graffiti removal team cannot scrub the site itself because the land is a federal government asset.
Casey community safety manager Caroline Bell told the News that the council regularly removed graffiti from private property, but could not clean up an asset owned by another level of government.
“We are disappointed that Telstra has not committed to removing the graffiti as early as possible,” Ms Bell said in a statement early this month.
“Telstra has advised it will schedule the work as part of their maintenance program, but no time frame has been given.”
Cr Beardon said the eyesore has been vandalised regularly for the past 18 months.
“Residents should not have to drive past this monstrosity every day,” he said.
“I’m sick and tired of complaining to council officers about this site.”
Telstra spokesman Jane Oakley said the company was aware of the graffiti.
“Instead of painting over it, we want to engage youth groups in the renewal process,” she said.
“We normally find that after we paint over graffiti, it comes back. We’d prefer to work with youth groups and run a competition to have a young person paint a mural on the substation,” she said.
