A granny is not allowed to report teenage louts who have been terrorizing her and the alley behind her house for years.
Maria Sealy installed security cameras at her Victoria Point home in Brisbane to catch the vandals roaming the adjacent Teak Lane and send them to her council – but the local government is no longer accepting her messages.
The avenue is the main access road between her neighborhood and the mall, which has become a hot spot for bikers, exposing themselves and loitering.
Despite more than a decade spent reporting incidents to the council, nothing has changed except for the introduction of a sluice gate and curfew in the area.
Ms Sealy forwarded her footage to the local Redland City Council, which has now blocked her for sending too many complaints.
Lutes in Teak Lane in Victoria Point have been caught vandalizing the public walkway and exposing themselves on camera
Maria Sealy (left) set up cameras on her adjoining home to record anti-social behavior and sent the footage to the Redland City Council. She also immediately speaks to vandals when she sees them (photo)
Her city council has suspended Ms Sealy for too many complaints about behavior on the avenue
Ms Sealy has been uploading footage to a Teak Lane community group since July 2020.
“It’s disgusting to be honest,” she said A current situation.
“We were just a target here and we’re right in the line of fire.
“It was mainly as a security measure for us because we knew we needed some form of surveillance and the police knew something had to be done here as well.”
The footage she uploaded shows hooded people taking to the avenue after hours and throwing aimless-looking bottles over the fence.
Other footage shows motorcyclists dangerously using the track as a shortcut, teenagers uprooting freshly planted saplings, and local louts who have become aware of her security camera regularly stopping to “moon” on it.
There was previously a floodgate that prevented access to the track from 10pm to 6am daily, but Ms Sealy says it didn’t stop people from entering.
The Redland City Council, which encourages residents to report vandalism, sent Ms. Sealy a letter saying she was no longer welcome to comment on the condition of the track.
In a statement dated April 26, titled “Dealing with Complainants’ Unreasonable Behavior,” the board defended the move to prevent future contact with Ms. Sealy.
“The council does not prohibit residents from visiting or contacting the organization, but may implement a communication plan under extreme circumstances to manage unreasonable complaining behavior,” the council wrote.
‘This also applies to repeated reporting on the same subject. The council has been responding to resident inquiries about Teak Lane for over 15 years.
“The council has a duty of care to the community and its employees, and if over time employees receive hundreds of complaints from the same person about the same issue, action can be taken to protect the well-being of employees.”
In the same statement, the council announced that additional security measures would be taken to address the same complaints Ms Sealy had raised.
A curfew from 10pm to 6am had previously been introduced on the track, but this did little to keep people out
Over the years, people have driven dangerously down the avenue on motorcycles
Teak Lane’s daily gate closure has now been extended to the hours of 4pm to 7am, and other changes have also been made.
“The gate will close from 4pm to 7am Monday to Friday and from 3pm to 8am on Saturday and Sunday, effective from approximately the end of May,” the statement continued.
“The council has taken action in Teak Lane in the interests of community safety.”
These new actions include: maintenance of the grounds, additional lighting and signage, daily locking and reopening of the gate, improved access for police and security.
A Queensland Police spokesperson has said the department is committed to keeping the area safe.
“Our service regularly conducts covert and overt intelligence-led operations and patrols in Teak Lane and the surrounding area, complementing the work of the district’s crime prevention unit and local police,” the spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.
The agency charged an adult male with one count of willful damage after a business’s alleged graffiti on Colburn Ave (adjacent to Teak Lane) on March 14. The man appeared in Cleveland Magistrates Court on April 14 and the case is still in the courts.
“Prior to the above incident, police issued a public nuisance ticket to another man for allegedly exposing himself to cameras on Teak Lane in November last year.”
