The very sad park in Gordon.

I was at Tidbinbilla today and the flying fox wasn’t there. There were a couple of blokes poking at it in a desultory fashion so I asked them where it was. They said a girl had been injured at John Knight park by a flying fox breaking, so every single flying fox in the ACT had been taken down until they could be checked. Gawd only knows how long it will take them to check every one!

Maybe the government has simply given up trying to maintain parks that are constantly trashed/destroyed by vandals?? Perhaps this very sad state of affairs is more a reflection on the disrespectful, bored and destructive Tuggeranong teenagers than the government? After years of trashings, they haven’t even bothered trying to resurrect parts of Fadden Pines (the flying fox and older children’s equipment) because week in and week out the equipment is wrecked by vandals. It has literally taken eight months to fix up the last severe lot of vandalism, which resulted in most of the major climbing structure (a favorite spot for kids) being burned to the ground (it still isn’t fixed). They government recently installed a beautiful new skate-park and half-court in Macarthur, which stood untouched for about three whole days before the graffiti, wreckings and broken glass appeared (I actually though the feral and revolting bogan youths might spare the skate-park, but apparently not). I am waiting for the major park trashing – which is probably well-overdue. This really is one of the things I least like about living in Canberra.

Perhaps the park needs a street sculpture? Maybe another Optimus Primus’ pubic hair? IT will definitely blend in with the tall grass and broken flying foxes.

A solution: use the Government’s Fix My Street website. I have once and the problem was addressed very quickly.

the parks in canberra have a lot to answer for. spending 2 weeks in wollongong, there are so many well maintained and modern parks for kids to try, it was amazing.

even the parks that used to be good, like Gordon and kambah are crap now. quite sad really.

We went to the little kids area a few weeks ago and all seemed fine. Maybe the weather and increased use in the holidays has limited the time available for maintenance