Dapto Town Centre is the first area to have a one-day cleaning and maintenance overhaul tomorrow, Wednesday May 20, under a new initiative launched by Wollongong City Council.
The Blitz program is a coordinated approach to town and village centre maintenance and brings together teams from city maintenance, landscaping, parks and gardens, and cleansing for a targeted glow-up.
The concept is in addition to the existing works and maintenance schedule, and the program will be carried out across targeted locations across the year as its needed.
"While we've been getting some fantastic feedback in recent years from our community about improvements to town and village centres, we know people want us to do more,'' Lord Mayor of Wollongong Councillor Tania Brown said.
"The concept behind the Blitzes is that we're able to come in and tackle multiple jobs at once in a really targeted way, and so that people can see a real difference rather than the usual works schedules where graffiti removal, plantings and paint jobs can fly more under the radar.''
The Blitzes will be planned well in advance, with council staff visiting each of the locations ahead of time to assess and plan the works needed, and to then coordinate with the different teams responsible for specific tasks.
"The idea is that whether the area needs deep high-pressure cleaning, graffiti removal from Council-owned or managed property and equipment, or the tidying up of garden beds, a to-do list will be prepared and each of the teams can have all the things they need ready at hand,'' Cr Brown said.
"They'll then come in, there will be a flurry of activity and plenty of high-vis in the precinct, and then they will return to their usual works schedules the following day.
"It's an interesting initiative and I look forward to hearing feedback about their value once the Blitzes have been completed.''
The first area to be targeted in the Blitz is the Dapto Town Centre. Future Blitzes are planned for Helensburgh and Corrimal over the coming months with more to be scheduled across the year.
Cr Brown said ahead of any scheduled Blitz, the team provided advance notice to businesses in the area . The teams have already visited businesses in Dapto Town Centre ahead of the scheduled works.
"The teams will work to minimise any disruption as much as possible,'' she said.
