Graffiti issue persists

By KATE GIAMMARISE
Gazette Staff Writer

One of Chillicothe's crown jewels is Yoctangee Park.

But along one of the park's best features, the bike path, is one of its most embarrassing items - graffiti, some of it racist in nature.



The graffiti along the bike path, on the abutments of the Bridge Street Bridge and railroad bridge to the east, varies from the political to the colorful and harmless to hateful.


Though most of the graffiti is not racist in nature, it still concerns local black leaders.
Though local NAACP President Robert Robinson said he doesn't use the bike path and hasn't noticed the graffiti, he thinks it still is a concern.

"I'm really not familiar with it," he said. "But I think it's something the city should be concerned with. If we're a respectable city, a respectable community, the ones who are responsible for the walls should be concerned about it."

The Rev. Jonathan McReynolds, pastor of First Baptist Church, said he was under the impression the graffiti had been cleaned up after a June 14 column in the Gazette pointed it out.

"I don't go on the bike path myself," McReynolds said, "I thought it was cleaned off shortly after the article brought it to everyone's attention ... That kind of thing should not be tolerated. I think stuff like that should be cleaned off immediately."


Hate graffiti
The graffiti along the bridge abutments includes several swastikas, the phrase "white power" and the letters SWP, which stand for "Supreme White Power," said Mark Potok. Potok is director of the Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors the activity of hate groups.
Potok said the presence of such graffiti could indicate the presence of hate groups.

"It could mean that there are skinhead gangs or other white power groups around. But it could mean that you just have some teenagers who are interested in this stuff," he said. "Something's going on, it's just not clear how serious it may be."

Stan Mitchell, a Chillicothe resident who uses the path twice a week on bike rides, said he has noticed the graffiti.

"It does bother me," Mitchell said. "I think it reflects on the city a lot. I understand it's not something that can be cleaned up every day, but it's been there after a week, it should be cleaned up, especially if it's racial or sexual in nature ... I think it's a reflection on the community that's negative, A lot of visitors to the city use that bike path."

Mitchell added, apart from the graffiti, "It's a nice path. It's a draw for several counties. You can see on the license plates in the parking lot that people come from a wide area to ride that."

Local attorney and runner Jeff Benson agrees.

"It's such a beautiful part of our city," he said of the park and bike path. Benson said he runs on the path nearly every day, and has noticed the vandalism.

He said he understands cleaning it up may be costly, but thinks it should be dealt with somehow.

"I think publicizing it and asking people to report it," would be the best way to combat the vandalism, he said.


Costly to clean
The city's Parks and Recreation Department has not cleaned up the graffiti, said director Brad Cosenza, mainly because of the costs involved, and because cleaning it off only encourages more vandalism.
"They're such big canvases," Cosenza said of the bridge abutments. "In the bathrooms when people paint graffiti, we try to clean it off the next day."

Cosenza said the Parks and Recreation Department hasn't painted under the Bridge Street Bridge, because it needs a special epoxy paint. "It's extremely expensive," Cosenza said. City officials did not immediately have a price on the paint.

Cosenza said the department has painted under the railroad bridge at least two or three times, but it only encourages more graffiti.

"As soon as we painted it, it's like having a fresh canvas," he said.

He said an attempt to discourage graffiti - a copy of Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night," painted as an art project - failed.

"It lasted for a couple of weeks, and then it got grafittied ... We haven't painted it since then," he said.


Hard to prosecute
Cosenza said the department has considered the idea of using cameras to monitor the area, but ultimately concluded cameras wouldn't be effective.
There's "no easy way to police it, because it's so secluded," he said.

McReynolds said he doesn't understand why the graffiti is still there.

"The city should have a zero tolerance on that. If it keeps reoccurring, law enforcement should enter in," he said.

Police Chief Jeff Keener agreed, but said those who commit vandalism with graffiti are hard to catch.

"The vandalism is reported," Keener said. "But usually when they are doing graffiti, no one sees them. I think they're in and out."

Cosenza also said he didn't think the parks department specifically would target the swastikas or racial slurs.

"If we're going to go to that length, we're going to paint the whole thing," he said. "By painting over it, it gives it a canvas to do it again. I hate to say that, but we can't afford to paint it every month. We thought if we put something nice down there it would preclude it, but it didn't."

The department is stretched almost to the breaking point as it is, Cosenza said, and so cleaning up this graffiti just isn't a priority right now.

"When we've had additional revenues, we've tried to clean it up. But there are no additional revenues now to spend on those kinds of things," Cosenza said. "We have lost three full-time positions over the last two years that have not been filled. We had a small staff before the cuts maintaining hundreds of acres of parkland and public property throughout the city ... with the shortened staff and reduced funding, it's difficult."


Finding solutions
City Councilman Tom Trutschel, R-1st Ward and chairman of the Parks and Recreation Committee, said he is working with Law Director Toni Eddy to set up a reward fund to pay people a reward for turning in vandals.
There already are citizens willing to donate to a potential fund, if one is set up. One of these is Bill Moore, 75, of Chillicothe.

"I use the park quite a bit, and the graffiti just tears me up," he said.