ALTONA traders have been left devastated after their beloved $50,000 mural in Edwards Arcade was damaged by graffiti vandals.
Altona Village Traders Association president Kim Walsh said the group commissioned the artwork in 2002 due the arcade “becoming a graffiti hot-spot”.
The mural was painted by Hobsons Bay artist Vladimir Bykovec and depicts life in and around Altona.
However, last week unknown offenders repeatedly scrawled a phrase across the mural.
“It rips our heart out that these vandals just have so much disrespect for a quality mural which we put so much effort into and which the good people of Altona – the community –love,” Mr Walsh said.
“We spent many thousands of dollars on the mural and it shows the history of the area until the present day up to when it was painted.
“It worked a treat for a long, long time because most of the kids have the decency not to tag it.
“They may tag around it, but not the mural itself. We’ve been a bit lucky for a while.
“But we just seem to have a new breed of taggers, who don’t have any respect and who don’t care what they deface including the mural.
Mr Walsh said he and his wife spent around an hour removing the graffiti from the mural.
“The sad part about it is the vandals just keep on doing it and you can only clean it so many times before you damage it. We might have to move it,” he said.
“It would set us back 10 years and could sadly leave the mural somewhere the general public couldn’t see it.”
Anyone with information about graffiti can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or call Triple-zero immediately if you witness graffiti vandals at work.
