Getting busy again

Vandals must be fair weather creatures. At the first sign of a bit of cold, they disappear indoors and don't emerge for 4 or 5 months. However, once things warm up, they emerge from their caves and go to work with a vengeance.

I've reported a couple of Energy Australia kiosks twice over the last few weeks. They get cleaned up quickly, but are then hit again within a short period of time. I'm starting to forget which ones I have reported and which ones I haven't - the Energy Australia website sends you an email when you report a problem, but it doesn't include a description of your report in the email, so I can't tie reference numbers to assets. Small problem, but annoying when you are making dozens of reports.

For instance, I reported a light pole along the City West Link that had been smashed up by what appeared to have been a truck. It still hasn't been fixed, and I can't tell if that report has simply been lost in the Energy Australia system, or whether they take months to fix mangled light poles.

The playgrounds around this area have also been hit every week for the last few weeks. Council is very good about cleaning playgrounds - the mess usually seems to be gone the day after I report it. I might get around to putting in a report at 11pm at night, and it will be gone by the time I am on my way home the following day. There's no flies on our Council in that regard. However, the message isn't getting through to the parents of the young kids that use these playgrounds that if they report a problem to Council, Council will fix it.

That's not just graffiti - that includes worn out or broken equipment in the playground, or broken safety fences and gates. Council even replaced a rather holey shade cloth over a playground that I reported during winter.