The graffiti quadrant

Here is a stab at some theoretical analysis.  I have produced a quadrant based on two variables:

• Frequency that a site is hit by graffiti
• Frequency that graffiti is removed

Here is how I see each quadrant:

The money pit

The top left quadrant is the money pit - a site that is hit regularly by graffiti, and requires a regular (and expensive) cleanup.  These sorts of sites are crying out for a different approach - better lighting or site lines, a change in design, introduction of creepers on walls etc etc.  Insanity can be defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  Painting or cleaning a site week after week and changing nothing and then expecting graffiti to not come back is insane.

If you're in this quadrant, you need to be doing something differently.  I think the sound barriers alongside the City West Link were a good example of this - they were being hit again and again, requiring frequent cleanups, until the RTA put in more creepers and plants and covered the bare, graffiti prone walls with foilage.

The dump

The dump is the bottom left quadrant - a site that is frequently vandalised but very rarely cleaned.  It's the kind of place that no one would want to live in.  The area underneath the motorway in North Strathfield is an example of this - I doubt some spots in that area have ever been cleaned. The dump is probably an area of falling property values, a high fear of crime and low pedestrian traffic - especially after dark.

Sloth

The bottom right quadrant is the garbage bin of sloth.  This is a location that is very rarely hit, but also very rarely (if ever) cleaned.

My experience over the last 6 months has shown that there are many, many sites that I would call "targets of opportunity" for vandals.  Like the rest of us, I think vandals have patterns and are creatures of habit.  They take certain paths again and again when they travel from here to there, and most graffiti will be found along those paths.  (If you look at a paddock full of sheep, there'll be clear paths worn into the field where the sheep prefer to travel).  These paths may be on their trip from home to school, from home to a friends place, or to the shops or a leisure activity (like a skateboard ramp).

However, from time to time, the vandal will break their pattern and find themselves in a different area, and because they have a compulsive need to leave their tag, they'll tag targets of opportunity.

They might never go back to that location.  However, if the property owners are slothful, the tags will hang around for years.  

My reasoning behind this is that I have spotted many sites which have "lonesome" graffiti - one site has been hit, but none in the surrounding area.  I've asked for that site to be cleaned, and six months later, it is still clean.  Either vandals are leaving it alone, or they simply rarely if ever get down that way.

These sites are the "low hanging fruit" of graffiti.  Once they are cleaned, they should stay that way for a long period.  The problem we have is that some people have a mindset of "why should I clean it - the little buggers will be back tomorrow to do it again".  No, they won't - because your site is not on one of their regular paths.  You were an unfortunate target of opportunity, and it is unlikely they will be back soon.

Zone of pride

This is the top right quadrant, which covers sites that are infrequently hit but quickly cleaned.  This is where a property is hit at night, the owner sees the graffiti the following morning and has it removed that day.  It might be the first thing they do that morning, before anything else.  Tags on these sites have a lifespan of less than 12 hours.  Owners are vigilant and ruthless about removing graffiti as rapidly as possible.

The thing about these sites is that only two groups of people know about them - the vandals, who see their tags gone when they walk past again in the morning, and the property owners who are removing them.  The tags are gone so quickly, members of the public walking past on their way to work would never know that some were sprayed there the night before.

Ideally, this is where we want to be.  If we can't put a stop to graffiti being applied, we can at least get property owners into the mindset of rapid removal, and surface treatments that either allow rapid removal, or reduce the frequency of vandalism.

Roadside mess

RTA traffic light control box 1181, on the corner of Queen St and Pomeroy St in North Strathfield.  Reported via the RTA web site "contact us" web form.

Railroaded

The last letter that I received from RailCorp suggested that I report their graffiti covered bridge to the local council for cleanup.  I've done that - I rang Leichhardt Council this week and told them about this bridge over Charles St in Lilyfield.  I'm not sure they can do much about it, but they might start annoying RailCorp now as well.  

If you go to this site on Google Maps and have a look at the street view, you'll see this graffiti.  I don't know when Google had the photos taken, but the graffiti has clearly been there for a long time.  

A busted bike has been dumped into the rail reservation.  I'd guess this bike was stolen.  Both tyres and rims and wrecked and the frame is bent.  To those who say that graffiti is a harmless past time, I say this - come and have a look at the mess left behind at this site by vandals.  It is littered with rubbish - beer bottles, paint cans and all sorts of other detritus.  

Here's another view of the bridge.

Just down the line, there is this pedestrian underpass.  I don't know if this is the responsibility of RailCorp or the local council, but I've reported this to Leichhardt Council as well.  I did it over the phone and didn't get a reference number, so I hope something comes of it.

World's worst cleaning job

Bicentennial Park, Homebush.  I went past this sign again a few days ago, and a second attempt had been made at removing the graffiti. It was somewhat cleaner, but most of the sign itself was scrubbed off along with the graffiti.  A sign without useful information on it is somewhat pointless.

A better job has been done on the sculptures at the gates to the park - the graffiti around the base has been properly removed.

Council has also been past this water tank recently to remove a large amount of graffiti that was visible from the street.

Line down

I spotted something quite out of the ordinary today, mainly because it nearly took my head off.  The electricity cable to this house had fallen down for some reason, and at its lowest point, it was only a metre or so off the road.  The arrow is pointing at the low point.

I don't know why it came down, and I don't really care.  When I got home, I looked up the Energy Australia website and found that they have a special number for problems like this - I rang them and it took about 1 minute to report it.  I hope they managed to fix it before someone ran into it.

RailCorp, North Strathfield and other assorted messes

There is a "dead zone" where Parramatta Road goes under the motorway and railway line at North Strathfield.  It is one of those bleak, unloved dumps that has very little pedestrian and car traffic, and is thus a haven for graffiti.  The buildings backing onto the rail corridor at this point are thickly coated in graffiti, as is every brick wall and bridge abutment.  

The photo below shows a stairway that leads from Queen St down to Parramatta Raod - this is next to the "Arnott's Bridge" on Parramatta Road.  

The brick walls of the stairway and almost invisible under coat after coat of graffiti.

Some of it is not very polite.

The concrete traffic barriers that line Queen St at this spot are also covered in graffiti.

The roadsides are littered with beer bottles - there are 8 in this photo.  I've reported all of this to council using their web based reporting system.  I am not sure if this is a council problem or not, but they will send it on to the RTA if it is their problem.

This photo shows graffiti on equipment cabinets within the rail reservation - these cabinets probably have something to do with the signalling system.  There is also graffiti all over the back of the large grey sign - I am not sure if that is within railway property or not.

The last letter that I received from RailCorp said that they normally need to undertake a closedown to remove graffiti.  That might be true of difficult to access structures such as bridges, but surely it shouldn't apply to equipment cabinets?  In the photo below, taken about 300m up the line, the red arrow is pointing to a large patch of graffiti that is well away from the rail lines, and on the right, you can see a cluster of 8 or so rail staff in orange vests, standing beside the rail line - a very busy rail line.  

Here we have another view of the rail staff and some of their vehicles - note their proximity to the rail lines.

This photo shows the exact spot (the gate location is on the sign on the right), with the staff in the background.

I put these photos up to show that RailCorp staff can work alongside active rail lines in the middle of the day, so long as there is sufficient clearance from the track and overhead lines and they've done their risk analysis and so on.  If these staff can work beside the track, undertaking surveys or maintenance inspections or whatever, then why can't someone go into the same location with a bucket of paint and clean up graffiti?  

Reporting 101 - the basics

I'll assume that if you are reading this, you are either 

• a vandal looking to see if your tags are being advertised on this site, 
  
• a manager from an infrastructure company that has googled their own name, and found it mentioned here in correspondence
• someone interested in having a go at improving our built environment

I hope you are the third.  If so, this post is for you.

If you have come to this blog, it's because you are no longer wearing a set of glasses that render all the problems around you invisible.  You've seen stuff that you don't like, and you want to do something about it.  You are an improver.

• 1% of people deliberately mess stuff up
• 98% of people ignore it, hoping somebody else will take care of it
• 1% care enough to do something about it

Welcome to the 1%.

Right, you've started by noticing stuff.  I don't care what stuff interests you - you want that stuff to be better.  What next?

Get a camera.  

It doesn't matter whether it is a stand alone digital camera, or a camera within a mobile phone.  Get a camera that is compact and convenient enough for you to carry it with you when you are out and about.  There are quite a few makes and models on the market today that are as small and flat as a cigarette packet - I recommend getting one of them.

Picture quality does not really matter.  The main reason for taking photos is to jog your memory when you get home.  If you have a memory like mine (ie, like a goldfish), having a memory jogger is invaluable.  You can use a notepad if you prefer, but I have found photos to work best for me.  

I'll occasionally take video as well, if the situation warrants it.  I usually do that when I need to take notes.  I'll start the video and talk to the camera, describing the location and situation. 

You now have a camera.  You have it with you.

Now you need to take photos.

Get used to the fact that people will look at you oddly when you take photos of stuff that needs fixing.  What sort of person stops and photographs a street sign lying on the ground?  Only the insane, obviously.   Get used to being looked at every now and then like you are slightly odd.

In fact, you are odd.  You are one of the oddballs that notices stuff and cares enough to want it taken care of.  That is a rare trait.

When you take a photo of something, take several photos from different angles.  Try and photograph the street signs at the nearest cross-streets as well, so you'll remember where you took the photos.

You now have a bunch of photos.  What next?

Set aside some time to take care of them.  Depending on where you've been and how much stuff you've spotted, you might have a collection of a dozen things that need taking care of.  Or you might have only found one thing.  Who do you report it to, and how do you report it?

With luck, the "who" will be fairly obvious, and if you are unsure of how to report it, click on one of the links on this blog to see how I have reported things in the past.  That is, if you want to know how to contact Sydney Water, click on the Sydney Water link to see examples of how I have contacted them to date (and the results).

As for "how", that comes down to trust.  I trust the RTA website, but I don't trust calling them on the phone.  I trust calling my local council.  I trust calling Energy Australia - but I always ask Energy Australia to give me a reference number.  I never let them take the call without logging it while I am on the phone, and getting the reference number.

I don't trust Telstra.  I think the only way to get my message across will be to attend an AGM as a shareholder and see if I can ask a question from the floor.

If you don't trust an organisation to take care of something, put it in writing.  The less you trust them, the more formal your method.  A letter denotes the lowest form of trust - it is least likely to get lost, and most organisations have formal processes in place for dealing with snail mail.  A letter is a "serious" thing, and most organisations will treat it seriously.  You might not get the answer that you want, but you will get an answer most of the time.

If you don't know how to write a letter to an organisation, feel free to copy one of mine - that's why they are on this blog.  Just remember to put your address up the top - I have removed mine before posting the letters.

Whilst an email also puts your problem in writing, many organisations don't have good processes in place for dealing with them.  Companies are great at putting a "contact us" email address on their website, and then not telling anyone to check that mailbox on a daily basis.  Or the person who was originally tasked with checking that mailbox leaves, and doesn't do a proper handover to the next person in that position.  I have seen this happen time and time again - don't trust email!

Forms on websites can suffer the same fate.  Many systems interface with an email system, so when you lodge an online form, an email is sent to a particular mailbox.  If no one is looking at that mailbox, your form sits there unread and unactioned.  If you send an email or lodge a web based form, be prepared to follow up a month later via another method to check that your message got through.  

I usually find that I might have a number of things to report when I get home, so I review the photos and make a list - I open up Notepad or Word and jot down each item.  For instance, if I am calling Energy Australia, I'll go through the photos and write down the asset number of each kiosk, and then the nearest cross streets.  At times, I have listed 5 or 6 kiosks that need attention.  When I am on the phone to Energy Australia, I ask them to give me the reference number for each job, and I then type that next to each item.  Each kiosk will get a separate reference number - it's worth saving them, just in case.

After that, you wait.

Don't expect things to be fixed overnight.  It might takes weeks, or a month for something to happen.  If you go past whatever it is on a regular basis, keep an eye on it.  If nothing happens after a month, follow up.  Put a note in your diary if you like to follow up after 4 weeks.

In some cases, you will get a response.  The RTA will send you an email if you contact them via their website.  If you write a letter, you will generally get a letter back.  Your local Council may contact you, but don't count on it - it depends on how their processes work.  I've asked our Council to setup a system where they "close the loop" by informing people when things are fixed.  They're looking into it.

With Energy Australia, it's just a matter of eyeballing the kiosks each time you go past.  After a while, you'll notice fresh paint - that is all the feedback you are going to get.  Enjoy it until the next layer of graffiti is applied, and you have to call them again to ask for a repeat.

Telstra are a black hole, which is ironic, given that they are a communications company.  They never communicate back.  

The main thing is this - have a go.  You may find that you have called the wrong mob.  Don't worry - they might point you in the right direction.  It just means you might have to make two calls instead of one.  Is that so difficult?  Enjoy the challenge, enjoy the detective work that it takes to track down the right person to get something fixed.

And always remember this - almost every person you deal with will be grateful that you contacted them.  There are very few people out there that like looking at a mess.  They like seeing pot holes fixed or signs repaired or graffiti removed as much as you do.  You are doing them a favour or the community a favour, and most of them will appreciate what you are doing.  Just don't expect anyone to give you a gold star or a chocolate frog!

A tale of seven letters

Over the last month or so, I have recieved 5 responses from a variety of government bodies.  The purpose of this post is to compare and contrast the different responses, and the actions of the various bodies.

I'll start with the good - the RTA.  The RTA keeps it short and simple.  I logged a short request via their website, and got this response a few weeks later via email.  Postage costs of zero, minimal time spent in writing to them, and minimal time and expense for the RTA to respond - as a taxpayer, I like that.  The outcome was also good - the RTA (or their contractors) usually do a good job of painting over graffiti.  They don't always get all of it (missing out a few small bits here and there), but they take care of the great bulk of it.  The difference between before and after is marked.

Ref: GE08/5731

Dear 

I refer to your e-mail regarding the graffiti on the pedestrian bridge over the City West Link,Charles Street, Lillyfield.

The graffiti has now been removed.

Thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of the RTA.

Kind regards

RTA Customer Services

The next response is from Sydney Water.  This was quite unexpected, and it made me smile - letters like this make me feel like I am doing something worthwhile.  I take my hat off to Sydney Water for being so honest and forthright - many government agencies would be tempted to fudge the facts and send back a mealy-mouthed response, but Sydney Water has done the right thing, and my respect for them has gone up enormously.  They've recognised that they had a problem, and they're working on fixing it.  As much as it's nice to get an apology, I care much more that they are looking into their system and seeking to improve it.

Then we have RailCorp.  This letter is just bad.  Consider the following responses:

RailCorp takes the problem of graffiti on the rail corridor seriously and will urgently attend to an incident if it compromises safety or common decency.

That's a lovely motherhood statement, but it has no bearing on the bridge in question.  Safety or common decency is not compromised in this case, so they don't have to do anything about it.  It says nothing about when this bridge will be cleaned - if ever.  

Then there is the next paragraph:

RailCorp shares the responsibility for their maintenance with other stakeholders such as local councils and the RTA.  External bridge walls and roadside surfaces are cleaned by these organisations due to the need to close roads and section off these areas whereas RailCorp attends to areas within the corridor itself.

I know that.  I was a party to the negotiations between RTA and RAC (as it was back then) to divide up responsibility between the two bodies for bridge maintenance.  I had a small part in helping to write the policy on the rail side.  

However, note that all the graffiti in question that I have been writing about is on the bridge itself - it's on the area that is a RailCorp responsibility.  Talking about other stakeholders such as the RTA and local councils simply fudges the issue.  They have no bearing on this case.  It is an exercise in blame shifting or responsibility shifting, and I'm afraid I have written enough of this nonsense in the past to see right through it.  It sounds good, but it means nothing.

As the rail corridor needs to be closed for safety reasons during cleaning, these areas are usually cleaned at the same time as trackwork closedowns.

That much is true.  I have done plenty of work alongside running rail lines in the past to know all about that.  I've done the trackside awareness safety course.  I've worked with the maintenance people who go out and work on the track.  I've worked with the bridge engineers who do the bridge inspections, and even the engineers who wrote the bridge inspection checklists.  I setup the document management system that was used for the writing of a new generation of infrastructure management documentation.

As for closedowns, a project was setup to roll out Primavera as the project management software for planning and running these closedowns.  I know about that, because I built the servers for the pilot and installed Primavera on them and worked with the project team to get it up and running.  In my reply, I asked for the date of the next closedown on this stretch of track, and an assurance that cleaning the bridge was part of the work package.  

I doubt I will get a direct response - in all my letters to RailCorp, I have asked simple and direct questions, and never had a proper answer to any of them.  The RailCorp letter writers are very good at obscuring the issues and avoiding the questions whilst appearing to give an answer of substance.

For some unfathomable reason, someone at RailCorp just doesn't want to remove the graffiti from this bridge.  It might be an issue of cost, or the difficulty and complexity of arranging a closedown to do the work, or that they have higher priority things to do.  It might also be that due to the lack of rail traffic on this line, they are treating it as a "dead" line and don't want to spend a cent on it if they can help it.  Whatever the reason, RailCorp are not being honest and upfront about their reasons.

The fourth letter is from Australia Post.  I find this letter slightly disturbing - the implication is that if I continue to ask for graffiti to be removed from post-boxes, they'll start removing them because they are too expensive to clean.  You might read that as a veiled threat to shut up and stop contacting them, or I'll be responsible for the removal of the postal service from some areas.

As far as I am concerned, if a post-box is not used, they are free to take it out.  No sense in retaining uneconomic assets if they are not required. With a network of 14,000 post-boxes, I'd think they'd be removing hundreds each year (and also installing hundreds in new suburbs as they spring up).  

That said, I can't see how cleaning them can be so unbelievably expensive that it would warrant their removal on economic grounds.  I can buy 1 litre of metho from my local supermarket for under $4.  Having cleaned graffiti off a few signs in our area, I estimate that a 1 litre bottle should be enough to clean 100 post-box sides (if it was vandalised on four sides, one bottle would do 25 post-boxes etc).  That works out at under 4 cents per side.  You could throw in the cost of a rag if need be.  The labour cost is not that high, given that I have found that I can remove a large tag from a street sign in about 10 seconds.  

If they are using diamond encrusted rags with gold-infused metho, I could understand that it might cost a few dollars to clean up a post-box.  Otherwise, I find this talk of the "significant cost" in cleaning post-boxes to be insulting.  If the management of Australia Post can't find a cheap way to clean graffiti from post-boxes, then maybe we need to replace some managers with more competent managers.

This letter also says that Australia Post will "continue to undertake both scheduled and ad hoc cleaning of our facilities", but I have seen no evidence to date that Australia Post has a system in place to ensure that scheduled cleaning is undertaken.  
The fifth letter is from Ashfield Council.  I like this letter.  The GM has acknowledged that they have a problem, that they want to do something about it and that they are striving to do better in future.  I've noticed that since my first letter, the response of Ashfield Council has improved, so this letter is not a lot of fluff and hot air - it is the genuine article.

RailCorp and Australia Post could learn a lot from Ashfield Council, the RTA and Sydney Water, which is why I have posted all the responses here.  Clearly, some organisations are better led, and their staff more committed, than others.

That's five letters - where are the other two?

I have written to Telstra on a number of occasions, and never had a response from anyone.  I've also written to Energy Australia a few times, and whilst the first few letters generated a response, I've heard nothing from them in months.  I guess they think that if they ignore me, I'll forget about them and go away.

Unfortunately for Energy Australia, since they are a government corporation, they are responsible to a Minister - and I'll be writing to that Minister today to ask them to chase up a response on my behalf.  

How to get get graffti removed from a public school

I started posting back in August about some graffiti tags that have been sprayed on the external walls around Drummoyne Public School.  I know that there is a process that the school has to follow to have it removed - I've been through this process twice with Five Dock Primary.  The school has to report it to the Police, get a crime number, and then use that to make an insurance claim that will pay for the cleanup.

I have emailed the school, and written to them (phoning never seemed to do much) and the result to date has been nil.

The screwball thing is that contractors are currently working at the school to erect a fence around it - and they are putting up the fence right in front of some of the graffiti.  The fence will make it difficult to remove some of the graffiti, so it makes sense to clean it up now.

In fact it would have made more sense to clean it up 4 months ago when it first appeared, but that is by the by.  When I reported graffiti at Five Dock Public, it was removed within a day or two, so I know the Education Department can move quickly when the process is followed.  I think the problem in this case is that either no one knows what the process is, or they just couldn't be fagged to do anything about it.

I rang the Southern Region of the Education Department this afternoon and asked to be put through to the Asset Manager or Project Manager that takes care of this school.  Three minutes later, I was talking to him on his mobile.  I dealt with him previously regarding Five Dock, so I know he will get it fixed.  It's just very disappointing to me that the staff who work at the school do not appear to have lifted a finger to get the graffiti removed.  The tools are there at their disposal.  It took me only a minute or two to find the appropriate person to talk to in order to get it fixed, and I don't work for the Department.  I am an outsider.  The information is all there, for those that care to look for it.

I'm doubly disappointed that this has happened to a school.  What sort of message are the staff at Drummoyne Public hoping to send to their pupils in regard to graffiti?  That they can spray it with impunity, and no one will bother to have it removed?  That they care a lot?  The year six students at this school will be entering high school next year - they will be at the perfect age to start vandalism, or at least commencing an interest in graffiti.  Will they leave Drummoyne Public with a strong moral objection to vandalism, or will they think it is cool and OK?

Disclosure - my son attended Drummoyne Public last year, and is now in high school.  He thinks graffiti is cool, even though I do my best to disabuse him of that notion.  I'm afraid I might be fighting a losing battle against the pressure of his peer group, since few of them appear to have been taught to respect other people's property.

Chasing up RailCorp

I got a letter back from RailCorp recently, explaining again why it was so difficult to paint one of their bridges in Lilyfield.  It's now six months since I first reported it, and the excuses are never ending.

12 November 2008

Mr Ben Johnson

General Manager

Ministerial Correspondence and Customer Relations

RailCorp

PO Box K349

Haymarket NSW 1238

Dear Mr Johnson

Removal of graffiti from railway structures in Leichhardt

I refer to my letter of 13 May 2008, and your responses in June and October, references 5451382-JCF and 5491784 BD.

Would you just paint the flaming bridge and be done with it.

The line in question is a rarely used goods line.  We are not talking about the Main North here or the Eastern Suburbs line.  It’s lucky to get a train a day.  I am surprised that a closedown is required on a line carrying so little traffic.  A risk assessment may determine that a closedown is not required in these circumstances.

Since closedowns are usually planned up to a year in advance, can you please ask the Corridor Manager when the next one is scheduled.  I’d at least like to get an idea of when the bridge might be repainted, and be sure that cleaning the bridge has been programmed into the list of activities for the closedown.  

As for contacting the local council, I will do that.  However, please note that the great majority of the graffiti is on the bridge, not under it or beside it.  It is on that bit of the bridge where the trains go over.  It’s on the bit holding up the two long, narrow bits of steel – you know – the rail lines.  It’s where the wheels interface with the rail.  It’s the long, flat bit that goes over the road, not the vertical bits on the side of the road that hold the horizontal section up.  The flat, train-goes-over-this-part, bit of the bridge is yours.  

Yours sincerely

It just so happens that I was talking to a RailCorp manager last weekend, and I explained the problem of this bridge to them.  Their response was that they had recently discovered that the policy regarding how to deal with graffiti on infrastructure had gone "walkabout" since the merger of the SRA and RIC, and that they were trying to re-establish the old policy.

You might ask that, if I know someone at RailCorp, why didn't I use my inside connections in the first place to get the bridge cleaned up?

The answer is that I wanted to see what the experience was like for an outsider - a normal, everyday private citizen that only has the contact details on the RailCorp website to go by.

It has not been a particularly uplifting experience.

I followed this up today by ringing the RailCorp switch and asking to be put through to the office of the Group General Manager for Asset Management - Gary Seabury.  As the title implies, Mr Seabury is responsible for the management of all of RailCorp's infrastructure, which includes the bridge in Lilyfield.  I left a voicemail with his secretary, asking her to call me back with the name and number of the Corridor Manager responsible for the line to Rozelle/White Bay.  I'm going to bypass the paper pushers and see if I can have a meaningful discussion with the person that "owns" this bridge.

Let's see if we get a response.

BMW - going, going....

This BMW on Wrights Rd in Drummoyne is on its way to the wrecker's yard.  It's been sitting here for months, and the plates have finally been removed.  The rain managed to get into the car a long, long time ago - the interior has been mouldy and wrecked for as long as I can remember.  I doubt anyone would want to buy a BMW that is as mouldy as a student's fridge.  The exterior is a mess as well - a patchwork of dents and scratches.  

This Toyota outside 331 Victoria Place in Drummoyne is ripe to go.  The rego expired back on 19 August, and all it's done since then is collect leaves and rubbish.  Time to report it to Council.

Stop at nothing

I don't think this Stop sign in Drummoyne fell over from old age.  It's been sheared off cleanly at the base, and someone has thoughtfully placed it on the traffic island in the middle of the road.

Reported to Council this morning.

Poor road design

The Canada Bay area is a nice place to live.  It's on the water, with plenty of waterside parks and rowing and sailing clubs.  There are walking and cycling tracks around most of the waterfront areas, including a well known circuit called The Bay Run.

The following video was shot just off the Bay Run, and it shows one of the main bike routes that goes to and from The Bay.  Earlier this year, Council improved the bike lanes along Barnstaple Road, widening the lanes and marking them with fresh paint.  Along most of Barnstaple Road, the bike lane has been sensibly positioned and most drivers keep out of it.

Unfortunately, that's not the case where Barnstaple meets Henley Marine Drive.  Cars coming off Henley Marine Drive and into Barnstaple Road tend to cut the corner, driving into or right across the bike lane.  The video below shows a sequence of cars over a five minute period.  Only the last two cars remain completely outside the bike lane - the rest infringe on it enough that if there was a bike in the bike lane, there would be a collision.

Clearly, there is something wrong with the way this lane has been marked if so many cars are cutting into it.  Some sort of road treatment is required to force the cars to swing out wider when taking this bend, or the bike lane needs to be moved towards the kerb to allow cars to take the more natural line through the bend.

Sousveillance

Sousveillance - what a great term.  The description I like is "watchful vigilance from underneath".  Normally, it refers to watching those that watch the public - ie, photographing the Police or ASIO.  However, in my case, I like to think of it as keeping an eye on the performance of government or private utilities and authorities that provide a service to the wider public.  

Normally, the only way the performance of an organisation is monitored is from above.  Organisations such as the Police Force and Energy Australia invest a significant amount of time and effort into producing annual reports that are essentially a form of self assessment.  The only people judging and commenting on their performance are either those that run the organisation, or those that control the organisation (a Minister in the case of a public utility).  The public really don't get a look in.

To me, sousveillance can be used to provide alternative feedback on the performance of an organisation.  This blog is all about sousveillance.  It shows clearly how well or poorly a variety of organisations perform when faced with requests from the public to clean up or fix up their assets.

November update

Since my last post, I've been quietly plugging away at asking the RTA, RailCorp, Australia Post, Energy Australia and Telstra to clean up their assets.

Energy Australia have been good - there is a bit of a lag between calling 13 15 35 and seeing some fresh paint being splashed on a vandalised kiosk, but the work is getting done.  I'm still not happy with their approach - instead of Energy Australia staff regularly having a look at the state of their kiosks, they still expect members of the public to call in vandalism.  But at least they do fix it when you call them.

I managed to track down the phone number for the Transfield Services division that are responsible for maintaining Telstra's exchanges.  It's 1300 363 869.  I reported the vandalised exchange on Great North Road a few weeks ago, and I'm waiting to see if it gets cleaned up before Christmas.

RailCorp are still trying to avoid repainting their vandalised bridge in Lilyfield.  I got another letter from them yesterday, with the suggestion that I talk to the Council in that area.  They don't seem to get the point that the graffiti is on the bridge, where only RailCorp staff can work, rather than under the bridge, where Council can take care of it.  

I got an incredible letter back from Australia Post implying that if I complained too much about their tardy attitude to cleaning letter boxes, they'd simply close them and rip them out as unprofitable.  

The one bit of good news is that the RTA have been very responsive.  They provide feedback when they finish a job.  They generally do a fairly reasonable job - not perfect, but reasonable.  They come back to sites that have been vandalised, and paint them again if need be.  I don't need to contact them again and again and again if sites are frequently hit.  They are more proactive than all the other infrastructure companies combined.