West Easton’s Safety Committee, consisting of myself as Chair, Council V.P. Paul James, and Councilperson Janie Jones Brown, met on Thursday to discuss how best to deter vandalism and graffiti at the park on Keystone Avenue.
Mayor Dan DePaul and Police Chief Robert Mahady were also in attendance.
With warmer weather having arrived, the park has seen an increase in youth and parents from surrounding communities using the grounds and equipment.
It has also seen an increase in vandalism, as well as trash being left on the ground.
In past years the problem seemed to be an occasional occurrence, such as glass shards being found at the landing area below the children’s slide, broken bottles on the basketball court, or a swing seat intentionally broken.
Because of past incidents, it is now procedure for the parks to be inspected at the start of each work day by our Road Supervisor, Dane Thatcher. Picking up of discarded trash is also done.
I am aware that Wilson Borough, even with a full-time police department, is having similar problems at their parks and is considering deterrents of their own.
On Tuesday, after school was done for the day, I visited our main park to take a look for myself. I was there to see if previous vulgar graffiti was removed and to see the general condition of the park.
There were 25-30 children in the play area. 1 adult at separate picnic benches.
The area looked like a garbage dump. Plastic bottles, cups, straws, snack bags, and other garbage was everywhere.
When I told one child to pick up the bottle I saw her throw on the ground and put it in the trash bin, I assume it was her father who yelled at me, “Who the hell are you?” I told him who I was and expected the area would be cleaned before everyone left. Nothing more was said by him, but I got the “evil eye,” as I continued my walk through the area.
I don’t know everyone who lives in West Easton, but I recognized nobody there. Not one familiar face, and more kids were walking into the park, from the direction of Wilson Borough.
The next morning, as I headed to work at 5:30 a.m., I stopped at the park. The trash was still on the ground and vulgar graffiti had appeared again.
The Safety Committee has no desire to shut the park, or fence in the play area to lock it up each night. There are good kids who use the trash receptacles, are only interested in shooting hoops, and respect our parks. We don’t want the play area looking like a prison exercise yard.
Instead, we will recommend the installation of night vision cameras, along with signs notifying users (and abusers) of the park that cameras are recording activities.
That may be enough to have people use the trash receptacles, prevent graffiti, and have night time dog walkers pick up their dog’s droppings.
If something isn’t done now, the plan envisioned years ago of reopening and enlarging the pavilion area, after the completion of the Public Works Garage, probably won’t happen. Why waste money on something that will be constantly vandalized and trashed by outsiders?
Disclaimer: On January 4, 2016, the owner of WestEastonPA.com began serving on the West Easton Council following an election. Postings and all content found on this website are the opinions of Matthew A. Dees and may not necessarily represent the opinion of the governing body for The Borough of West Easton.
