Nice playground - shame about the litter and graffiti

I took one of the kids to Livvi's Place in Timbrell Park this morning (you'll have to Google it as my browser is not letting me insert links today). It's a great playground, completely refurbished in November last year. It's also popular.

Unfortunately, some of those that visit the playground don't care about other visitors. There was a Jim Beam can and beer bottle at the entrance when we walked in, and as I found out soon after, a smashed bottle in the BBQ area - a girl of 2 or 3 sliced her foot open on some glass when we were playing in the sand pit. That was just the tip of the iceberg - the entire area around the playground was covered with rubbish.

A Council worker showed up just after we arrived and spent about an hour walking around picking up rubbish and putting things back where they should be. I hate to think what it costs the ratepayers to supply a worker and a vehicle on a Saturday to visit our local parks to clean up after lazy people who can't be bothered carrying their rubbish to the nearby bins. I'm glad the Council is doing it, but I wish they didn't have to. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to do the area outside the playground - that would have kept a crew busy for the rest of the day.

And then there are those that leave their mark all over the playground equipment and BBQ facilities. There are plenty of partly visible tags on the playground equipment, showing where older tags have been not quite cleaned off, so I take it that the place has been vandalised a number of times since the re-opening in November.

Five Dock Park

Poor old Five Dock Park really takes a beating.  I wrote to Council last and asked if they have established a "friends of the park" group yet for this park.  (It's part of the Council playground strategy to setup a "friends" program.  This park really needs one.

The Early Childhood centre had graffiti removed from this spot recently, and it has returned once more.  It's like mould in the bathroom - very hard to keep under control.

There are plenty of benches throughout the park, and some of them look like this.  (By the way, that red circle in the top right corner is a vandalised Energy Australia substation, mentioned in the next blog).

Another vandalised bench.  Note that most of the graffiti has been applied with a marker pen, rather than spray paint.  This is why I don't believe that banning spray paint will have much effect.  If you ask me, marker pens are the precursor to moving onto spray paint.  Young kids (12 and up) can easily buy a marker pen from a newsagency and start a life of vandalism, before graduating some years later to spray paint.  

A very rusted ventilation pipe.  I reported this to Sydney Water last month, and haven't seen any action yet.

The bottom of the ventilation pipe is almost non-existant.  If it wasn't for the supporting struts, this would have toppled long ago.

Many of the lamp posts have been defaced, again with a marker pen rather than spray paint.  Note that vandals prefer a marker pen with a fat nib - perhaps an Artline 100 or 130 series.  In my humble opinion, I'd start by banning fat marker pens.

Someone has trashed this rubbish bin.

Some good news though - this sign has been thoroughly cleaned by Council.  The Council anti-graffiti team seems to be the most thorough when it comes to removing graffiti - they really do a good job.  The RTA on the other hand tend to do a really sloppy, slap-dash job when it comes to cleaning signage.  

The gate to the playground has been broken - again.  I'll have to include that in my report to Council on Monday.  This is the second time that this has been snapped off.  I doubt that a small child did this - by the look of the rest of the park, it appears that some teenagers have had a wild time here recently, trashing trees and bins and breaking anything they can.  

When I went to the playground this morning, there were a number of other families there, playing with their kids.  All the adults had noticed this damage - but why, as usual, am I the only one to report it?

I really must remember to get some flyers printed and start handing them out to parents when I see things like this.

Russell Park - followup

I reported graffiti in Russell Park in Drummoyne to Council around 8 August.  Here's what it looked like then:

From Russell Park

The same location now - all clean.

All you have to do is report it, and then it gets cleaned.  Just like magic!

Brett Park - again

The toilet block at Brett Park has been hit again. This was only cleaned up a week or two ago.

From Brett Park

I thought this was a one off tag until I went a bit further down Henley Marine Drive and spotted this parked truck with the same tag sprayed on the side. I guess someone was walking home and decided to spray whatever was available en route.

Halliday Park and Wymston Parade

There is a nice walk around the water from Halliday Park along Wymston Parade in Wareemba. The playground has a small amount of graffiti in it, and some of the signage is a bit messy, but the main problem around this area is run down infrastructure.

Halliday Park and Wymston Parade

One of the bins is badly rusted. There is a rusted, sunken rowboat just below the high water mark. Much of the seating along the waters edge is falling apart - most of it is unfit to sit on. I guess most of it dates from the days of Drummoyne Council, which ceased to exist about a decade ago. By the look of it, not much maintenance has been done on the seating and signage since then.

As I was taking these photos, I passed quite a few people out walking along the path beside the water. All of them looked like locals. Why have none of them bothered reporting this to Council?

Somebody else's problem I suppose. Or imagining that Council has a magic telescope that will tell them where all the problems lie.

I don't believe in any of that, so I've rung Council and let them know.

Putney Park

Someone has been on a rampage down Pellisier St and through Putney Park, pushing over signs like the one below.

From here, you can see three signs either bent over or pushed out of the ground.

A rather suspiciously bent sign on the other side of this playground.

A plinth on its side.

There is a rather faded sign at the playground stating that this area is looked after by Enviro-Serve, but the phone number has been rubbed out. I was going to phone Council from this spot, but couldn't find a contact number anywhere.

Note the bush that has grown up to obscure a sign at the bottom of this plinth, as well as half-smothering some resucitation guidelines (in case a kid drowns in the pool at this spot). Not very smart.

Update - I rang Ryde Council this morning on 9952 8222 and reported this damage, along with the mess down at the wharf.  The reporting process was very quick and efficient.  I won't be back that way for a while, so I won't be posting any updates on getting it cleaned up.

Sibbick St Reserve revisited

The Sibbick St Reserve has not been cleaned up, which is not a great surprise as the Council has a lot to do and it doesn't have unlimited resources.  However, I was interested to find these two new items of rubbish in the park on my latest visit.  The first is a carton of Gnangara wine, dumped next to the playground.

The second is a carton of Clancy's Red Table Wine, 12 x 750ml bottles, which also contains a 6 pack of Corona beer.  Clearly, someone is enjoying themselves in this park after hours, and it isn't the toddlers.

Because as we all know, picking up after yourself is somebody else's problem.

Sibbick St Reserve

And a bit of graffiti goes hand in hand with..........

Russell Park, Drummoyne

I'll have to report this to Council on Monday.