STOP THESE HOONS
RESIDENTS PETITION COUNCIL IN FIGHT FOR PEACE
NORTH Ward residents are demanding curfews, cameras and traffic controls to curb hoons disrupting the peace and damaging property at all hours of the night.
Of particular concern is the Jezzine Barracks parkland on The Strand where roadways and car parks have become race tracks and burnout hot spots.
Now residents have had enough and are calling on Townsville City Council to act.
A petition signed by about 100 people, tabled at yesterday’s meeting, wants speed limits reviewed, traffic controls built, speed cameras introduced and boom gates and curfews implemented for the barracks. North Ward resident and petitioner David Wise said it was a widespread problem and people wanted something done.
“There are turkeys at night time doing burnouts all the time. There’s hooning laws in place but no one wants to enforce them,” Mr Wise said.
“Every single night there’s a trail of cars and motorbikes going into the barracks. Why don’t they put up boom gates to stop these turkeys doing burnouts at night?”
Mr Wise said speed cameras were needed to gather the footage which could be used to prosecute people and dissuade others.
North Ward residents Heather Mcginty, Rod Mcrae and Margaret Ince said hoons were doing “lappies” and burnouts and people were brawling in the streets at 3am.
“We have objections to the abuse by hoons at night,” Mr Mcrae said.
Councillor Ann-maree Greaney said she was acutely aware of the problems and was happy to present the petition to the council.
But what to do about it was another matter.
Cr Greaney said the council already had some 500 CCTV cameras placed around the city and the cost to install and monitor them was “huge”.
She said when they put bollards in, people would pull them out or run over them.
Sometimes, it seemed people were determined to spoil the city, she said.
“I’ve received a lot of calls from a lot of residents. There are a number of hot spots, particularly around North Ward,” Cr Greaney said.
“I have been speaking with (Chief Superintendent) Craig Hanlon of the police service about it and they have been doing some patrols.”
Cr Greaney said the problems needed investigating.
She said she wanted to see what the council’s staff recommended.