Parks are for People

Back in Cairns after my mum's funeral - the community gave her a great send-off - I was pleased to see that the Cairns Sun did a front page on Cairns City Council's decision to trial the closure of 4 popular parks from 10.00pm to 5.00am daily: Centenary Lakes, Apex Park, Lily Creek reserve and Fuller Park in Edmonton.

I believe this decision is wrong. We need to be encouraging people to use parks and it would be preferable if the Council looked at at alternative solutions such as better lighting to protect ordinary residents who use the parks every day.

Lighting is a proven deterrent to crime as are cameras such as those in use in the CBD. Who is going to enforce these closures? We know Queensland Police have huge demands on their time and it’s unfair to expect them to enforce this ban as well.

Cr Fran Lindsay needs to be congratulated for speaking up for legitimate users. She was one of the minority to vote against the park closures and has been working constructively with local groups to deal with groups of young people and vandalism in Fuller Park, Edmonton.

It's clear that the Council has not properly thought through how to create public awareness of the closures and the costs involved. How many signs are going to be needed to cover all entrances to Centenary Lakes, where are these signs going to be placed and what are they going to cost? People won’t even know about the new law.

Cairns 1st is investigating options to reduce crime through strategies successfully implemented in other cities.