Over a hundred cases of public property damage occurred in Lacey parks and facilities within the year, costing the city more than $30,000 for repair labor and materials.
Lacey Parks Maintenance Supervisor Jamie Oakland reported at a meeting yesterday, October 25, that a total of 108 violations, including vandalism, theft, and graffiti, happened at the parks in the city for the year 2022.
Oakland said a majority of these violations were graffiti, where they recorded 84 incidents. Oakland added that there were 17 incidents of vandalism and seven incidents of theft.
Nineteen of these incidents happened in Homann Park, 17 in Region Athletic Complex (RAC), and ten in Meridian Park and Rainer Vista. The other incidents were scattered in the city’s other parks and facilities.
Oakland said the current repair budget is $19,000 for labor and $11,000 for materials, but by the end of the year, the city is projected to spend a total of $36,000 which is a 200% increase over the five-year average.
“Hopefully, this is not a trend,” said Oakland. “Hopefully, this is just an anomaly.”
Oakland said the new cameras installed in RAC helped them gather evidence and prevent incidents like trespassing. He said more cameras will be installed next year.
“In the parks department, we feel that we do concretely provide Lacey with its mission (to build an attractive, inviting, and secure community),” said Oakland.
3 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
Honestyandrealityguy
As long as our local politicians allow crime with no punishment, we will have more and more crime. Common sense.
Wednesday, October 26, 2022 Report this
Shellbgone
Not that anyone even noticed but...
Lacey could catch the guys stealing cedar artifacts ( i.e old growth ceda, cut to make room for the more lucrative fir duringthe early days of the timber boom), out the ground in some of our wooded parks. Some shady lumber mill is making themselves and a bunch of shake-rats rich. All while some civil servant with poor foresight whines about paint prices. Though mostly unseen, in-ground cedar holds significant historical value for Lacey.
Not to mention habitat and forest floor intragation/support. Cedar is a vital component in the fight against advanced erosion and watershed flow prediction. These are figures added to the equation by any responsible and educated city planner and zoning committee. Should we be so lucky. This all affects our existing water supply and property tax evaluations.
Imagine, could stopping any other common miscreants in this town have a wider impact on us than prosecuting these guy would? Monetarily speaking? Need I paint a picture? Sorry, out of paint.
Lacey resident 1980 -
Thursday, October 27, 2022 Report this
pbaron1902
Curious...have any of the offenders been caught/held accountble?
Thursday, October 27, 2022 Report this