Have you ever wondered who painted over the graffiti you saw on a wall or building yesterday?It could have been any one of a Dunedin City Council team.
It has quietly been going around painting over graffiti in the city for the past 18 months.
Two people working with council-assisted work schemes - Activity in the Community and Taskforce Green, in conjunction with Keep Dunedin Beautiful - have been driving around Dunedin three days a week, looking for graffiti on council and private property, and painting over it with recycled grey paint.
The paint is supplied free by Resene.
Out with four workers in South Dunedin yesterday, cleaning up after an overnight tagging spree, Taskforce Green organiser Alex Griffin said the programme was so successful that another two Taskforce Green workers would join the patrols next week, armed with coloured paint purchased by the council to better match paint colours.
Graffiti begot graffiti, and painting over it discouraged people from tagging in the same spot, Mr Griffin said.
The team targeted public buildings and private properties where people wanted the tagging covered up but might not be able to do it themselves.
Council consumer advocate Adrian Blair said an analysis of the programme's success had not yet been done but, two months ago, it officially became part of the wider City Safety Project.
The value and cost of the team's work would be monitored over the next six to nine months.
The team was also auditing tagging in the central city, as well as painting over it.
