• Showroom7561
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    4 months ago

    The park in my parent’s neighborhood got rid of all the benches

    This might not be some nefarious government plan, though.

    Just this past weekend, I came across a fairly popular bench on a local bike path that was completely destroyed by someone who had to break it in half.

    A few weeks back, another bench was burned up.

    And at another local resting area, their (plastic?) picnic table was also defaced and unusable.

    A park I grew up near was completely torched one day (all wooden structures), and it took years for metal equipment to go up in its place.

    People who vandalize and misuse these fixtures are the reason why they end up being removed 99% of the time. And it’s unfair to everyone else.

    Hell, we’ve had entire sheltered bus stops have their glass destroyed, and they just take the whole thing down and don’t replace it. As a taxpayer, I can understand not wanting to flip the bill for another thing for someone to destroy, but it still frustrates me that people can’t behave.

    • TedZanzibar@feddit.uk
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      4 months ago

      It doesn’t excuse it but in my town there is literally nothing (free) for teenagers to do besides one lowly skate ramp. Bored kids find their own fun and some of the blame for their destructive behaviour must lie with the town planners who ignore the younger population.

      • Showroom7561
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        4 months ago

        I really agree! Every time my municipality asks for public feedback on new parks or parks they plan to update, I always make it a point to make sure that all age groups (including teens) are covered.

        But even in areas where teens are expected to be using the space (bike parks, skateboard ramps, basketball courts, etc.), they need to stop vandalizing those spots, or else they will simply not be built anymore. We’ve had basketball courts, soccer nets, and baseball diamonds destroyed by “bored kids”, and there’s no incentive to pay tens of thousands to fix the damage, just so they can do it again.

        We had a new waterfront park built just a year ago, and within days three teens caused over $50,000 damage to it. Like, WTF??