Auburn Civic Car Park on Susan Street, Auburn is regularly targeted by vandals. Numerous incidents have occurred in the past 6 months causing extensive damage costing Council and the community in excess $45,000.

Vandals have been unrolling the fire hose reels flooding parts of the car park and causing extensive damage to the lifts. The lift repairs alone have cost Council $22,000. Other incidents include damage to light fittings and smashed windows.

 

Mayor Ronney Oueik said: “Damaging public property is a crime and a drain on the public purse. The money that we now need to spend on making repairs to the car park, cannot be spent on services and facilities that are beneficial to the whole community.”

 

“This vandalism is occurring weekly. We want people using the car park to come forward and notify council or the police if they see or know of any inappropriate behaviour.”

 

“We will be taking our own measures to increase security in the car park such as increased security patrols as well as the installation of CCTV cameras. This should act as a deterrent and increase safety in the car park.”

 

Council has consulted fire safety experts as well as the fire brigade about removing the fire hose reels in the car park. Their advice is that the fire safety of the car park building won’t be compromised by their removal. The hose reels will be removed in January to prevent further vandalism. Once the reels have been removed, Council will be able to re-open the lifts for use.

 

Vandalism and theft should be reported by calling the police on 9646 8699 or Auburn City Council on 9735 1222.