After temporarily closing the skateboard park at Las Animas
Veterans Park, 400 Mantelli Drive, Dec. 20 for one week because of
significant profanity-laced graffiti vandalism, the facility was
reopened at about 11:45 p.m. Monday.
After temporarily closing the skateboard park at Las Animas Veterans Park, 400 Mantelli Drive, Dec. 20 for one week because of significant profanity-laced graffiti vandalism, the facility was re-opened at about 11:45 p.m. Monday.
“This is the second time we’ve had to close the park down,” said Chris Weske, senior maintenance for parks and landscape on Tuesday.
The skateboard park incident is but one of many when it comes to increasing tagging cases in Gilroy.
In response to outcry over vandalism cases popping up throughout the city on a daily frequency, Rachel Munoz, Community Services officer for the Gilroy Police Department, met with a few city officials and members this morning at the police department to organize an upcoming gathering to address the problem.
“We just had a preliminary meeting,” she explained. “We’ll get back together in a couple of weeks.”
Though a number of city staff are on holiday, Munoz wanted to get the ball rolling. She said they’re exploring a date where city agency representatives and the Gilroy Gang Task Force could power up, and discuss a plan of attack for graffiti in the city.
The skateboard park closing came when many students are out of school for winter break.
Weske said graffiti tagging at the skate park occurs frequently, but it’s usually minor vandalism and can be cleaned up the morning after it’s discovered.
This is only the second time the city has had to close the park down for more than a day, Weske said.
City staff had to go in with a pressure washer and blast the graffiti, he explained, which took a couple of days to complete. And with the holiday, Gilroy City Hall was short-staffed and closed Thursday and Friday.
Weske said the skate park is only locked by city staff members, who have to clean it, and it is not routinely locked after-hours.
“It’s something that’s been questioned in the past,” he said, regarding why the city doesn’t keep the facility locked at night.
In addition to the fact there’s no designated staff to lock the skate park each night, Weske said it’s difficult to gauge vandalism time trends.
Weske said occasionally taggers come out in broad daylight and the early mornings.
“Even when we were locking the restrooms in the evening,” he said, “they were still being vandalized.”
