Maybe someone’s a bit shitty about the alcohol ban imposed by Yarra Council on New Year’s Eve. Maybe they preferred the urine-encrusted brick aesthetic of the old toilet block to the new “modern outhouse” feel of the newly installed facilities. Or maybe they just got towelled up on the outdoor table tennis bench and are going a little too far to exact their revenge.
Whatever the reason, there’s no getting around the fact that some absolute loon is putting what’s generally agreed to be an absolute dog act into practice and laying down hundreds upon hundreds of homemade tacks across the public grounds of Melbourne’s Edinburgh Gardens.
The Yarra Council was alerted to the issue after a park user found two tacks in the grass on Friday. Council workers, using a high powered magnet, have since swept large parts of the park and uncovered over 600 (SIX HUNDRED) additional tacks in the park grounds.
The tacks are about the size of a ten cent piece, and appear to be handmade from chicken wire.
Yarra Council Mayor Phillip Vlahogiannis stated the the spreading of the tacks was a “malicious and cowardly act” that is senselessly criminal and designed specifically to cause injury.
“Our parks crews have been working through the extreme heat of the past few days searching the gardens both manually and using a high powered magnet sweeper.
Our crews will be back at the gardens tomorrow to continue sweeping.
In the meantime we strongly advise people who are walking, jogging, enjoying the playground with their children and exercising pets to be extra careful. Cyclists too need to be aware that some tacks have may have ended up on the paths.“
Signs have been erected at the entrances of the Gardens – as well as on public restrooms and garbage bins – alerting park visitors about the tacks.
The park is a public space and a wildly popular institution among residents of Melbourne’s inner north, particularly the Fitzroy area. This shit absolutely cannot be tolerated.
If you’ve got any information about the identity of the person responsible for this, please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
And if you’re in the park and come across any additional tacks, please report their location to Yarra Council by calling 9205 5555.
via Yarra Council.
