Night rangers to be considered in Sydney park to stop public urination
A POPULAR Sydney reserve is becoming a haven for late-night drinkers, who have taken to using nearby homes as a toilet.
Manly
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A POPULAR reserve known to locals as “The Office” is becoming a haven for late-night drinkers, who have taken to using nearby homes as a toilet.
A Manly Community Forum meeting held at Manly 16ft Skiff Club on Monday night discussed the use of East Esplanade Reserve by groups of youths as a “pop-up” pub.
Deputy Mayor Candy Bingham will now push to have night rangers reinstated.
“Manly Council used to have night rangers. Everyone is calling the police, but it is not their job,” she said.
“They are busy dealing with major issues.”
At the next council meeting, Cr Bingham will also call for the reinstatement of a Manly safety committee, meaning residents could address councillors and police on concerns.
“The situation has now become untenable due to increased anti-social behaviour in the early hours with urination, defecation, vomiting on personal property commonplace,” she said.
She will push for the alcohol-free zone to start at 8.30pm instead of 4pm to give locals a chance to watch the sunset with a glass of wine.
But fellow councillor Pat Daley said a 24-hour ban needed to be reinstated.
“There is loud, raucous behaviour, fighting, loud noise, music,” Cr Daley said.
Manly Community Forum chairman Ray Mathieson said the reinstatement of the safety committee was “essential”.
“You had police, rangers, and residents sitting on the committee and it got a lot of things achieved,” he said.
He said night rangers could “go through initially and if they have concerns about people being abusive or not listening they contact the police”.
Resident Luke Hawkins said the council needed to install better toilets and signage showing where they were.
“I don’t think the facilities are sufficient to accommodate the number of people that use the area,” he said.
“There is a small public toilet in the far corner of the park, the next closest is the wharf. ”
Mr Hawkins said he had seen many disputes between his neighbours and park users.
“I’ve walked into my building and someone has been taking a leak next to my front door,” he said.
Another resident, David Gilchrist, said the popular family spot was now a “pop-up backpackers pub with no rules, facilities or closing hours”.
Northern Beaches Police commander Superintendent Dave Darcy urged concerned residents to call 000 instead of approaching trespassers or people acting aggressively. “Urinating on someone else’s property is completely unacceptable,” he said.
But he said more toilets would not solve the problem.
His command issues the most fines in NSW for public urination, most of which are 30 seconds walk from a toilet.
Supt Darcy stressed he was listening to concerns and would consider the best way forward but cautioned that police resources were limited and larrikinism was not on the top of the priority list.
“Most criminal activity on the northern beaches in terms of alcohol-related violence occurs in the Manly Corso area,” he said. “It is crucial that we deploy really tightly and consistently in that area to prevent people getting injured.
“We have successfully cut down the level of that violence over years and years. If we disrupt that, the consequences of that are that young drinkers could be injured. That overarches everything.”
He said reported crime in East Esplanade was very low.