Vandalism spree hits playground toilets
Vandals have comprehensively smashed toilets at the Victoria Esplanade children’s playground in Palmerston North.
Three attacks happened last week, from Wednesday to Friday.
Palmerston North City Council group manager of property and resource recovery Bryce Hosking said the “unfortunate” incidents happened in the evenings, when there were few people around, but before security patrols locked the facilities and closed the Esplanade gates around 10pm.
Three toilets, a hand basin, a hand dryer and a mirror were damaged, with the city council facing a bill likely to add up to around $10,000 for repairs and replacements.
Hosking has confirmed the damage was just the tip of the vandalism iceberg.
The cost of repairing vandalism to public property around the city has added up to more than $250,000 since July last year.
“These incidents are unfortunately part of a larger trend of vandalism and damage experienced across the city, affecting public toilets, rubbish bins, and community facilities,” he said.
Councillor Mark Arnott has weighed in, calling for the culprits, and their parents, to be held accountable.
Arnott said he was frustrated by how little the public was told about the amount of vandalism that was going on.
He had only found out this week that there had been attempts to set fire to tents in Te Marae o Hine/The Square during last weekend’s New Zealand Rural Games. As well, padlocks and ropes had been taken from the flagpoles in The Square so no flags could be flown.
Arnott was particularly upset that the Cenotaph, bearing the names of hundreds of people who died in the wars, had been attacked at least nine times in the past year, covered in oil and obscene graffiti. “That’s so disrespectful.”
He said the community deserved to know, and to be part of the pushback and demands for vandals to face consequences.
Hosking said the plan for the Esplanade toilets was to have them repaired and back in operation by the weekend.