Vandals destroy Rowan Robinson Park ahead of Anzac Day
POLICE are calling for any information about malicious damage to infrastructure in Kingscliff's new $22 million Rowan Robinson Park along the Marine Parade foreshore.
On Monday an eyewitness saw scooter riders using their scooters like hammers to smash anti-skating lugs off one of the blue tiled feature walls in the park.
After the resident's requests for the damage to stop were ignored, he took photos of the scooter riders vandalising the wall, which have been passed on to police. Council has also requested police to step up patrols of the park.
The damage to the seating and cenotaph comes just days before Tweed Shire Council's official opening for the park on Saturday, April 21 and the Anzac Day ceremony organised for next week.
"Sadly, tiles on the Cenotaph were also damaged by bring skated on," Council's Manager Recreation Services, Stewart Brawley, said.
"This is not something many in the community would find acceptable in the lead-up to the opening and Anzac Day next week.
"Apart from the disrespect, this vandalism is disappointing as it may affect the type of community infrastructure we install across the Tweed in the future.
""This is a flagship park and we tried to be more creative and not let vandalism dictate the design.
"We don't want to have to go back to the plain, vanilla design required to ensure infrastructure is vandal proof," he said.
Some seats in the park have been damaged to the extent that they will have to be removed and replaced.
"We just don't have the money to continually repair things and ratepayers would expect their rates to spent more productively," Mr Brawley said.
Anyone with information on vandalism at Rowan Robinson Park is asked to call Tweed Heads Police on (07) 5506 9499.