The clean-up bill from Wednesday's graffiti attack in lower Crown Street may not be as high as first thought, Wollongong City Council has said.
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A council spokeswoman confirmed staff had examined the scene of the crime in more detail yesterday, and discovered the culprit had used two different types of paint during the attack.
"One was an oil-based paint and the other was an acrylic paint," the spokeswoman said.
"The acrylic paint is easier and cheaper to remove.
"The overall cost to remove the paint will possibly be a little cheaper than first anticipated."
The spokeswoman said clean-up crews would begin removing the acrylic paint this weekend.
She said it was still too early to give a final cost.
Meantime, Illawarra Business Chamber chief executive Mike Leask, a former member of the now-disbanded state government Anti Graffiti Action Taskforce, yesterday condemned the attack.
"Graffiti is a form of vandalism and it's a criminal activity," he said, adding such acts degraded and undermined the work businesses and the council were doing to make the city an aesthetically pleasing place.
"Graffiti does a lot of economic damage to businesses and to local government, in terms of removal costs and increasing the cost of insurance policies.
"It's something the business community does not condone in any way."
Wollongong police Acting Inspector Robert Vergano said police had requested a copy of the CCTV footage from the council.
He said once it was received and analysed, police would probably release images to the public and other police commands to try to identify the suspect.