Little free libraries are awesome. I love putting stuff in there and seeing it’s been taken & replaced. I put a lot of zine type stuff in them. The thought of people destroying them just for giggles or because they personally oppose them is sickening. It’s free books and food! You have to be a monster to oppose that.

This is pretty much the solution. Just rebuild/restock.

I have a little library that also contained snacks. It was always used by the neighborhood kids. Camera attached too. The first few weeks, books all over the ground or all the snacks taken. And the cameras pointed to a few homeless people.

But after three years (and constant maintenance), I now even see the homeless be respectful and take only the snacks they need.

It doesn't feel good to turn the other cheek those first few times, trust me. But now it's a part of the neighborhood and other neighbors even come and add snacks.

I’m so disappointed in people. It’s more than a few bad apples that spoil a bunch.

My city has a bunch of those free food boxes scattered around and I've never seen the vandalism like you're talking about. I wonder if there's a difference in environment that could be causing that. I bet if the churches kept stocking them and not giving up eventually the vandalism would stop just like it did with the little free libraries

There's like a dozen of the little free libraries within a half mile of my house and I love it

Little Free Libraries were actual grassroots things, this is obviously a corporation trying to squeeze into a new market by offering the first one free (because the city is paying for it).

If I'm reading the side of this thing correctly, it requires an app to get the ball out which means using it opens someone up for potential legal/money issues if they get blamed for using the balls. It looks like a trap to me, and I'm not someone who already had to deal with stuff like being blamed for damage to those rental scooters or other app tracked things.

Always disappointed, never surprised.

Holy shit, I didn't even notice 💀

Looks like the service itself is real: https://equip.sport/

But maybe someone just wanted to farm outrage using it?

Sometimes we NEED the red circle.

And the broken glass is completely different between pictures.

Of course 6Buzz is posting this, they're basically a right wing disinformation vehicle.

Yep and the photos are otherwise the same just switched around

Also like it would ever be glass on those things… Let alone individual panels

Dude can piss through mesh.

Or glass with wire mesh in it - security glass

They clearly dont even have a locking mechanism, they are literally just shelves.

World*

This country

The city in question is in Canada, if you're thinking that it's the US (as you appear to be in the US).

Mike "the knife" Harris is the person you should thank for the state of ontarios mental health care system

Are they shitty or stuck into a corporate hellhole that only reward antisocial behaviours so they could get ahead for the 1$ per hour promotion ?

I could tell just by looking at the photo that this was done by someone without balls.

get the app and check one out

So it's not free. You pay with your privacy and data.

Yeah. I don’t think this is too hard to parse, nor is it likely to be some cogent political protest.

1. New flat surface attracts graffiti.
2. Within a short time, someone else breaks the glass to get access to the balls because they can’t or won’t use the app.

There could easily be an element of “fuck that app,” but the “reward” here is access to a basketball while at the park. I think Occam’s razor is an appropriate initial framework.

It also looks like the city was prudent and avoided a major investment of tax money.

Why do you have to use an app to unlock it? There doesn't seem to be any functional reason for it

Can't say I'd blame anyone for destroying them then. No doubt the app collects your data. There's no reason I should have to pay for the locker once with my taxes, then again with my data. Net positive for the world, imo.

You had a mission. It was really time to stop browsing and put away the phone to recharge, but you said "No, I must investigate and share!"

Edit: This was meant to be a supportive joke commenting on the battery level in your screenshot

GenAI is mentally unwell

https://www.mississauga.ca/events-and-attractions/parks/borrow-sports-equipment-in-parks/

Be careful suggesting there's missing context. You might summon the downvote brigade lol.

I would guess that the City of Mississauga has installed public equipment lockers for people to store their things in, and within days, all of them had broken glass because someone has stolen the equipment stored inside by other people.

But I'm just guessing based on the picture. I wouldn't expect the context to be much different, tbh.