Some Community Faith

Sometimes my faith in our local community (or a very small minority of it) is sorely tested.  Vandalism and just plain theft have both damaged some new community Council initiatives.  

Just a short time ago we opened the off-leash dog exercise area down in Sir Joseph Bank Pleasure Gardens.  The area was fenced off, landscaped with facilities for dogs to roam free and away from the public. Now some thoughtless individual has seen fit to steal some of the fence panels as well as three of the gates.  It appears someone was looking to build a new fence at home and didn’t want the expense associated with the construction.  What it means is that Council will have to replace the fence panels and the gates – which we’ll do.  

If this theft wasn’t enough, a bit of vandalism at Bridget Tight Reserve in Eastlakes capped off a bad week. New playground equipment was set up in Bridget Tight Reserve which the local really liked and used.  Well, again some thoughtless individual (or a couple of them) thought they’d have some fun and take a box of matches to the swings. The result was a burnt-out mess – and a useless piece of play equipment for the local kids.  Again, we’ll replace it but every time we replace the end result of vandalism, it costs our ratepayers money.  

What kick someone gets out of torching a piece of playground equipment escapes me.  We often get requests to put shade cloth over our playgrounds but I have to explain to people that where we’ve done it in the past it gets torched – again the action of people which I and the overwhelming majority of the community can’t understand. If you see acts of theft or vandalism, don’t interfere just call the local Mascot Police, who do a great job of watching over our City.  Overall, we have a great and caring community but, unfortunately, there are a few who are really out of step with the rest of us.