Left: Blind Bight residents Pat O’Connell, Bob Carlos and Bob O’Connell want to shut hoons out of the boat launching ramp car park by locking the front gates during the weekend.By Alison Noonan
RESIDENTS have been forced to begin closing the gate to the Blind Bight boat ramp car park at the weekend in a bid to shut out hoons.
Residents Bob O’Connell and Bob Carlos claim the picturesque foreshore is being destroyed by car loads of young people who use the parking area as a weekend hangout.
Mr Carlos said the cars cause the damage at night, ripping up the gravel, doing burnouts and racing, and lighting fires using the branches of native trees.
“I live on the corner and I can hear the music from the car park from my house every weekend,” Mr Carlos said.
“They rip out trees and burn them, smash letterboxes and phone booths, and light charity bins.
“They just sit in their cars, drink and make a mess,” he said.
Mr O’Connell said three people had driven into the water after losing control of their cars while tearing through the car park.
“There have been some pretty nasty incidents here. It is really bad on a Saturday night.
“But the biggest problem is that by the time the police get down here the kids have gone,” he said.
President of the local Neighbourhood Watch Bill D’Oliviera said the gate at the entrance to the boat launching area used to be permanently closed at night and open during the day, but had been left open all the time since the foreshore committee disbanded.
“Now the young people are getting in and making a nuisance,” Mr D’Oliviera said. “We have asked if the gates could be closed again during the week to keep those undesirable people out at night,” he said.
Mr O’Connell said he had been locking the gate on the weekend in recent weeks, but claimed it was difficult to find someone to lock and unlock the gates on a daily basis.
“All we really need is to lock the gates of a weekend,” he said. “If the gate was closed on Friday and Saturday nights it would hopefully stop the troublemakers from getting in.
“Several locals have keys to the gate and any fishermen can get a key if they come to me.
“We don’t want to stop locals from using the area,” he said.
Mr Carlos suggested council asphalt or concrete partitions in the car park should be installed to stop people using the gravel area as a racetrack.
“They need to section off the car park,” he said. “They only need to do it using wooden telephone poles as a cheaper alternative to concrete partitions.”
Mr O’Connell said council had been promising to install bollards in the parking area for around 18 months but was yet to act.
“They grade the area at least once a week but every weekend it just looks like this again. Then people have to park their boat trailers in six inches of mud and slip,” he said.
Casey Manager Engineering and Environmental Services David Richardson said council was aware of the problems and was holding discussions to find a solution.
“We are going to look into the area to see if there is any way we can stop the vandalism occurring, but at the same time we don’t want to limit access,” he said.
Cranbourne Sergeant Gavin Buchan acknowledged the area was a trouble spot and encouraged residents to report any incidences of illegal behaviour to police or council’s Hoon Hotline.
“Police will be stepping up their marked and unmarked patrols of the area to curb that sort of behaviour,” Sgt Buchan said.
“That behaviour is not acceptable anywhere and will not be tolerated.
“I encourage residents to call the Hoon Hotline or contact police to report dangerous or illegal behaviour.”
