A six-month cleaning blitz by the City of Melbourne to remove unwanted graffiti and litter is well underway, with additional cleaning crews and footpath sweepers deployed as workers and visitors return to the city.
The City of Melbourne and the Victorian Government have jointly funded the cleaning program through the $100 million Melbourne City Recovery Fund.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp said extra workers and equipment have been used to remove graffiti from hard-to-reach locations along Swanston Street and the focus will now turn to removing graffiti from Elizabeth, Bourke, Little Bourke and Russell Streets.
'We're removing unsightly tagging that's been scrawled on bridges over the Yarra River as well as on shopfronts and awnings," the Lord Mayor said.
"This is all part of our commitment to ensure the city sparkles as we welcome workers and visitors back, to support city businesses and create jobs. We want to make Melbourne as clean and welcoming as possible."
"It's important to send a message that we will not accept graffiti and tagging."
Additional footpath sweepers have been deployed to clear rubbish and clean around outdoor dining areas, footpaths and business frontages.
The Lord Mayor said the crews are high pressure cleaning and disinfecting, with inner city areas cleaned multiple times a day.
"We are high pressure washing an additional 20,000 square metres of surface area each month until June. That's the equivalent of six MCG ovals of additional high pressure washing during the six month cleaning blitz," the Lord Mayor said.
"So far crews have high pressure washed and disinfected the entire length of Southbank Promenade from Princes Bridge to Queens Bridge, including Queensbridge Square and the Red Stair Amphitheatre. We've completed a deep clean of Swanston Street and the popular visitor district at Centre Place."
"The extra funding means we've been able to put on additional street sweeping services and we've been able to deploy an electric walk-behind street sweeper that has a vacuum attachment to suck up litter.
"The new equipment means it's easier to pick up cigarette butts, litter and debris particularly in our much-loved outdoor dining parklets.
"A team of pedestrian street cleaners has also been deployed. This crew regularly chats to business owners about their cleaning needs so we can help make their space clean and welcoming. We don't want cleanliness to be an obstacle to reopening, so we are here to help."
The cleaning blitz is in addition to the $14 million invested by the City of Melbourne on street cleaning each year.
