Nick McWilliams reporting – Following vandalism issues on park equipment, Uhrichsville is promising swift punishment for the offense.
Mayor Mark Haney told council Thursday night that the city is noticing an increase in vandalism related to spray-painted words and phrases that are offensive in nature.
He says that the police force is hoping patrols in the affected area, and that he is taking a personal stand against the acts.
“We paid a lot of money for that equipment. And everything on the West Side was donated through a grant we applied for. And it seems like it’s out of hand. This is the warning. I’m done. The kids will pay the consequences, and so will the parents. Because it’s ridiculous. When my daughter, and other kids ask, ‘What’s that say?’ it’s ridiculous.”
He went on to say that the city is seeing tens of thousands of dollars affected and that he is disappointed that parents are not playing enough of a role in stopping the vandalism.
Haney said that another investment will be in camera systems to catch culprits in the act, and asked for suggestions to curb the tagging and writing.
“We’re going to have to invest significant money to add more cameras to a park, that … we all grew up here. We’ve never had these issues. I’m saying it here. I blame the parents. If that’s my kid, there’s problems. We shouldn’t tolerate it. We’ve got hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in that equipment.”
The city currently has 14 cameras that offer 24-hour recording of the area, but Haney said they could soon upgrade to two dozen.
The mayor closed his remarks with a call to all citizens to work together to keep the city a clean and inviting place to live.
Uhrichsville expects to start filling the pools at the water park next week, and is continuing work on basketball court resurfacing and overhaul.
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