Graffiti clean-up in Paarl
Public-spirited In Line Handyman team steps in; cleans up Paarl bridges.
Paarl is certainly one of the most beautiful towns in the country. The community take great pride in its beauty and some individuals will go to great lengths to preserve Paarl’s appearance.
This is the reason why Ian Laing stepped in and took it upon himself to remove the graffiti from the bridges in his neighbourhood, De Zoete Inval, as well as from the N1 bridge on the Main Road.
When asked what had led him to take on this job, he explained that the De Zoete Inval Neighbourhood Watch had sent a request to the council to have the graffiti removed. In Ian’s opinion, this could have led to many meetings with the municipality first having to decide if they will in fact carry it out and if so, who will they get to do the job. This could take months, even years.
One day when Ian and his team of workers had a few spare hours to spare he thought about how to keep them busy. He took a look at what he had available in his garage and found that everything they needed to clean up the bridges was readily available. So he took his team, they mixed the cement and additives needed to get a good grip on the walls and then they set to work. They started with the bridges in De Zoete Inval and later moved to N1 bridge.
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The whole clean up took two and a half hours. All the graffiti was covered and everyone was happy.
When asked how the community responded to this good deed, Ian says people were hooting and waving as they drove past his team of men at work. One car nearly caused a collision while trying to see what the guys next to the road were up to!
Most of Ian’s team live in Paarl East and when they saw what their boss was doing, they immediately brought up that this was needed in their neighbourhood too. Ian explained that they first needed to start with areas that are very much in the public eye and see what the reaction of the public is.
Well, the reaction has been very positive – the public is extremely grateful that Ian offered up his time and supplies to make their neighbourhood beautiful again.
‘The Main Road is still clean after a month so I think the message got through to the people who were defacing all the walls’, said Ian.
When asked if there were plans to clean up other areas, Ian explained that his team are looking at spots in Paarl East that are mostly in the public eye and he hopes that they can get the message through to the community there too. He is not yet sure how he will go about it but perhaps if one can provide the goods that are needed, the community can take it upon themselves to do the clean-up. He says it is even something one can get the schools involved in.
What an outstanding effort, showing how a small group of community members can make a big difference for the better. Well done Ian and your team. ShowMe salutes you.
Ian is a very well-known and respected handyman service provider in Paarl. To get in touch with him visit In Line Handyman Services or call him on 079 129 7000.