BETSY BELSHAW
June 29, 2004
I keep hearing people say they do not understand the thinking of park vandals. What pleasure can one get in destroying something beautiful or useful to others?
I imagine that vandals and graffiti writers never think that the result of their work has a negative impact on their standing with their friends and families. And they probably never think about the cost of all this destruction.
On the other hand, maybe they do know what a negative effect their destructiveness has. Unlike the rest of us, maybe they like having people disgusted with them.
For those of you who are disgusted with them, I have some news that will disgust you even more. The cost of vandalism to the citizens of Salem for the months of December and January was $9,644; the cost for 2003 was $37,025. That money could buy Americans with Disabilities Act-approved play equipment for a neighborhood park.
Recently, someone or ones set fire to a bridge in Minto-Brown Island Park. The repair cost was $525. After the bridge was repaired, the vandals came back and built a bigger fire, which will necessitate over $1,000 in repairs.
Playground equipment in Highland School and Livingston parks was vandalized and will cost over $1,000 to repair. You have to be hard up for something to do to destroy playground equipment.
I cannot give you the total cost of painting over graffiti in our parks. It is a daily job at Marion Square Park, and it is an increasing problem in the other parks. The time spent by parks staff doing this kind of work takes time away from the maintenance that needs to be done to keep our parks usable.
Salem parks are financially supported by all the citizens of Salem, and that includes the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, cousins and friends of the perpetrators of the problems. I am certain that the families would prefer that the money be spent on making our parks better rather than on replacing the sprinkler heads that are broken off.
Those of you who do not participate in the vandalism or graffiti writing may think this is not your problem, but it is. You can do something to improve the situation by keeping your eyes and ears open.
I suspect that some people in Salem know who is perpetrating the destruction or have seen the perpetrators in action. Please don’t just ignore the problem by thinking that it doesn’t matter or doesn’t cost much, because you are wrong.
Call the police to report the perpetrators and report the destruction to the Parks Operations Division, (503) 588-6336. You don’t want to see some child hurt on broken play equipment.
Salem has beautiful parks. Please help us keep them that way.
To the vandals, I say cut it out and get a life. These are your parks also.