Council calls out senseless vandalism

Enough is enough as Townsville City Council call out the people responsible for vandalising community assets after more than $5,000 of damage was inflicted on public toilets at Pallarenda this week.

It’s the third time the toilets at Pallarenda Freemasons Park have been targeted by vandals in the last six months.

Mayor Jenny Hill said the actions by a few individuals had broader reaching impacts to residents and visitors and came at a cost to the community.

“In the latest senseless attack, these people destroyed piping, ripped down signage and pulled the cisterns from the toilets, leaving them unusable for anyone visiting the park,” Cr Hill said.

“Council responded quickly to fixing the issue within 24 hours but it is disappointing that some people feel the need to go out of their way to ruin these community assets.

“Our parks are popular with residents and young families and to see amenities rendered unusable because of the actions of selfish and irresponsible people is not good enough.”

Cr Hill said Council was doing what it could to try to stop this sort of anti-social behaviour.

“With some of our assets, like the Pallarenda toilet block, we are limited in what preventative measures we can put in place due to the age, design and construction of the asset,” she said.

“We have been doing what we can to put preventative initiatives in throughout the city including updating toilet blocks with cisterns and plumbing embedded in the walls, improving our CCTV network, better lighting, our continued community patrols and the installation of more boulders around our parks.

“In the 2023/24 Budget, we announced $14.9 million in community safety measures as we try and get on the front foot and give residents the confidence to safely use our public spaces.”

For more information on the community safety initiatives announced in the budget, visit Council’s Budget 2023/24 page.