Uh huh.

     Park and Rec said it would cost $30 - 40,000 for a fence they didn’t seem to have much confidence in. (No pictures.) The “Homeland Security” type fence they brought up next had an $80,000 tag. (But they had pictures of that one!)

     And then they admitted that the City gave up on the $33,325 cameras. There are 8 cameras, 4 on the Girl Scout building, 2 each on the 2 light poles. (There are lights on the light poles too. They work about as well as the cameras.)

     In the April 6, 2004 Agenda Report requesting the cameras, it states “The purchase of a panic communication system and a digital surveillance system for the purpose of reporting, monitoring and recording all daytime activities in key areas in and around the skate park is recommended. This system will establish a mechanism to allow for 911 reporting; 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week in case of an emergency.

In addition, other requirements are requested such as web hosting capabilities and remote user interface and control.”(Note: “Daytime activities”. Maybe if the lights worked at night, the cameras would too? Maybe that’s where the “24 hours a day” came in? Just a thought.)

     This system failed “within months”, because “people kept turning the cameras.” Now, you have 8 cameras spread over a 27,000sf facility. How do people “turn” the cameras, without being on the other cameras?

      How, exactly, does this work.  The City put up a surveillance system, to surveil as it were, only to have said system vandalized by those they were trying to watch? Huh, that instills a lot of confidence.

     The City said there have been at least 30 garbage cans ruined. Even though they were chained down. I always check my boy for bolt cutters before he goes to the skate park. How about you?

     The City said there were fires set in the bathrooms last fall, when the weather cooled off. Someone asked if it was at night. The answer was yes. Someone asked if the bathrooms were locked. The answer was yes. So a couple kids got cold, skating in the dark, (no lights on after dark remember?) bypassed the cameras, broke into a locked bathroom, and set a fire. Uh huh.

     The City said there was writing on the walls in the bathrooms. My God, writing on the walls in a public bathroom?!?! Well, that only happens at the skate park, right? It could never happen at, say, Eddies Corner, the local High School, Town Pump, Gibson Park, the local bar, etc.

     The City said the rules sign was vandalized. It was, I seen it. It said F#@k Rules. (Later changed to Spock Rules.) So you put a sign, with rules, in damn near the most accessible place in the park, with no lights (or cameras) on it. Are you really surprised someone wrote that?

    People say, put up a fence.
    People say, tear it down. 
    People say, charge admission.

     Then fence the Central West underpass. Or charge admission. Or just tear it down, because that graffiti has been there for weeks. And every time they clean it, it comes back. Really. I have seen it happen my whole life.

     I found it a bit ironic, as I was walking out of the Civic Center after the meeting, to see that in the handicapped parking place the wheelchair logo had flames shooting out the back. Better tear that sucker out, the handicapped obviously do not respect what the City gave them. Or maybe, just maybe, the people that park there are not the ones who graffiti-ized it. Maybe it was someone else entirely.

     I for one would like to see how the Weed and Seed program goes before we fence it or tear it down. Mr. Clum offered to hang about after dark, but pointed out the police need to show up if called. Maybe instead of a cell phone he should take some M-80’s and Roman Candles, and a couple unlicensed cats.  Shoot them off at the vandals, and kill two birds with one stone, scare the holy crap out of the wrongdoers, and the cops might notice and show up for violation of a City Ordinance. (The cats were just for fun. They don’t like fireworks much.)

     But come on, before we throw piles more money at it, or tear it down, lets actually try to do something. A nice start would be fixing the cameras, it should be fairly easy to find a way to protect them. Lets get some lights working, get some actual oversight of the place. Work with the people that use the park, I hear all the time how no one listens to the kids over there. Regularly remove the graffiti you can see from the street, and let the users of the park control whats on the inside. Actually enforce the rules, and maybe change some of the ones that are not safety related…