This sign shows how much it costs to replace commonly vandalized items from our City parks and recreation facilities. In 2002, the City had over $6,500 worth of goods and equipment stolen from City parks. We lost just over $10,000 to vandals in 2002.
Here’s a couple of photos of actual Eden Prairie park vandalism from 2003:
We can build our fences higher and make access more difficult, but that seems like punishing the average citizen, instead of the vandals. I’m not sure we can ever completely vandal-proof our parks. Frankly, it’s not a goal because the only way to really vandal-proof a park would be to keep the public out of it, and that defeats the purpose of the park in the first place.
We monitor our parks with City employees, but we can always use the help of the public to monitor our parks too. We all pay a price for vandalism. We can all help to keep that price as low as possible.
