Vandalism by one group means no more trees for everyone else.
You can see that this area needed the trees Council planted. They would have been excellent once they had grown greatly improving the amenity of the picnic area.
Marrickville Council appears to have chosen defeat regarding the recent tree vandalism next to the picnic kiosks on the western side of Tempe Reserve. Where there were once 7 Gum trees growing in cages that were to provide beauty & shade for the people using the barbeque/picnic area, now there are only 4 trees left.
A row of black beside the kiosks
Council have removed the remaining tree cages & covered the growing area with lawn grass. It’s a shame that because of a few people, the rest of the community cannot have trees here.
I understand why Council would do this because for them it must be disheartening to repeatedly have their work destroyed. After a while you would just give up.
From my observations the vandalism seemed to come from one group of people who use this area regularly & who let their children do as they please. Perhaps signs on the tree cages may have prompted the parents to recognize that their children were misbehaving & stop them. Of course, the presence of Rangers would also go a long way to preventing this kind of stuff from happening.
What is great to see is that a bollard has been placed at each entrance to the Cooks River Valley Garden to prevent vehicles driving along the pedestrian footpath. The path is not wide enough for cars, yet people still drove through & have created much damage to this area.
5 cars in shot. 7 on the day
This is a relatively new phenomenon, so it is great to see Marrickville Council take action to stop it. I’d like them to go a step further & block the entrances to the pedestrian pathway on Holbeach Avenue as this will prevent cars from driving into the park via the pedestrian pathways to the barbeque area.
I’ve written about this many times – the occasional paddock bashing, the visual assault of cars in the park, loud music from car radios which impacts everyone, car tyres chewing up the grass & leaving great ruts, damage to infrastructure & of course the danger to wildlife. I’ve seen cars drive straight into a group of grazing Ibis for what seemed like fun.
Most people go to parks to get away from cars & noise. Those that drive their cars into the park don’t care that their presence takes away from the enjoyment of others. Council could so easily help the rest of us by stopping this behaviour. They also will benefit because damage to the park from vehicles will stop.
A bollard at each end of the pedestrian pathway through the Cooks River Valley Garden will prevent scenic joyrides through this section of the park
Cooks River Valley Garden – for about one month some people saw it as the place to test out their four-wheel-drive. The bollards will help this place recuperate.
2 comments
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July 24, 2012 at 12:57 pm
whimsicat
another thought provoking article, thanks. it must indeed be disheartening for council to keep planting and re-planting, i really sympathise. but other action really really must be taken. your idea of bollards is very sound, and regular ranger patrols particularly on weekends is absolutely essential. if their presence is seen, and some fines are written out for cars parked illegally on grass or littering or whatever, it will hopefully discourage those repeat offenders and send a message to all park users that this sort of disregard and inconsiderate behaviour not only wont be tolerated, it will be punished.
please Marrickville Council, you need to protect our parks from these louts so that everyone else can enjoy them safely and peacefully.
July 26, 2012 at 7:50 pm
brenda
It is so frustrating to see such destruction and vandalism repeatedly.
This type of ignorance and arrogance makes me angry and so very sad that some people have so little respect for the environment.
Unfortunately, I think there is no denying that the community needs park rangers to protect key spots in the LGA and educate some members of the public about the work of council and others to preserve and green the LGA.
Then also, these park rangers can go to local schools to educate children to respect plants and animals as living things. This way our future generations don’t miss out on the life lessons we once all learnt from our parents.