JULIE Farragher isn't sure how many years have passed since vandals began spraying graffiti on her Charlestown business, but her good will has now officially expired.
Mrs Farragher and her husband own the building at 35 Smith Street, where her salon, Pandora's Hair, and four other businesses trade.
In business for more than 40 years, she is considering installing a gate on the entry to the building's undercover carpark, where the most recent graffiti attack occurred. Vandals have "tagged" some areas which had only just been painted by a company she has paid $17,000 to repaint the building.
"When they first started tagging in the car park we thought, 'Well, that's ok, the carpark is not visible, it's not hurting anyone or really causing damage'," she said.
Gradually, however, the vandals defaced the side and front of the building facade.
"Every time we rang police and they came the CCTV footage would only show vandals with hoodies and caps on and they'd have an idea of who it was but no proof," Mrs Farragher said.
While the latest graffiti attack is out of sight, it is on freshly painted property and she fears worse is to come.
Praising local police for their help, Mrs Farragher has lost count of the cost to get the graffiti cleaned.
She believes the graffiti incidents have increased since a skate park was built nearby.
Charlestown MP Jodie Harrison's office wrote to Ms Farragher to reaffirm a council recommendation that she apply for a Department of Juvenile Justice program that recruits young offenders to remove graffiti.
She is considering installing extra security - lighting and alarms - as a deterrent as the vandal bills take a toll: "It's cost thousands, our weekly cleaner must tear his hair out - he has to work extra time to remove it."
Employing 16 staff, with one former employee being Tegan Martin, she said it had been a tough year because of the pandemic, when she managed to continue trading with reduced hours.
"Obviously we had social distancing in place. Business declined but our team was ok, on reduced hours but with JobKeeper," she said. "We're returning to normal and trying to move ahead, then you get these rats doing this. It's frustrating."
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