Vandal attacks on the vehicles of Warrnambool's elderly CBD residents will hopefully be a thing of the past with new lighting soon to shine a light on the culprits.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
City councillors on Monday endorsed a move to spend $50,000 improving the lighting in the council-owned car park next to Heatherlie Homes where the residents leave their vehicles.
Heatherlie Homes executive officer Kathy Snell welcomed the funding which would make it safer for residents to walk to their cars at night. "They should be able to feel safe going out at night," she said.
They made the request after a number of the residents' cars were damaged at night by vandals jumping on the car rooves and bonnets and mirrors smashed off.
She said there had been a number of vandal attacks but because the lighting in the car park was so poor the security footage couldn't be used to identify any of the culprits.
One resident was too terrified to go out at night to the car because she was afraid someone could be hiding in the bushes.
Ms Snell said news of the funding was a good birthday present for Heatherlie Homes which this week celebrated its 41st birthday.
The request for better lighting was made as part of the council's budget submissions, but it was unsuccessful and was instead referred to the small infrastructure fund.
Cr Kylie Gaston said the fund was established because in the past councillors found ourselves looking at budget submissions, but they weren't able to enact any of them because all the money had been taken up with "the big stuff". "So this small infrastructure fund, as its name suggests, has been great in letting us and helping us get some small projects up," she said.
Cr Gaston said it was so important for people to feel safe. "I'm just thrilled we can contribute to the brilliant job Healtherlie Homes does in providing safe, happy and affordable living for many of our seniors who are in our CBD," she said.
Cr Peter Sycopoulis said the fund had been a real success story since it's implementation.
He said he was most pleased to see the lighting at Healtherlie because residents hadto access the cars out of the grounds.
"For the love of God we can't have them going out in the dark when it's a little bit dangerous," he said.
Read more:
Our COVID-19 news articles relating to public health and safety are free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.
