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Wave Of Vandalism Strikes New Port Richey City Parks

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: February 11, 2009

A wave of vandalism has struck at least four New Port Richey city park bathrooms where fixtures have been smashed with a hammer or fires have been set.

A rash of incidents has taken place in the past few weeks at Sims Park, Grand Boulevard Park, the city boat ramp and Grey Preserve, Elaine Smith, the city parks and recreation director, told parks and recreation advisory board members today.

Smith and the advisory board are pleading for help from the public to report any suspicious incidents at parks to the New Port Richey Police Department at 727-841-4550.

Under no circumstances should a park visitor try to confront any suspicious person, Smith emphasized. Simply report anything unusual to police, she stressed.

Police have been very cooperative about stepping up patrols in the vicinity of parks, Smith said. The parks department employs six people to maintain 12 parks, she noted.

Smith doesn't have an estimate yet on the amount of damage from the recent wave of vandalism. She mentioned the city parks department spent about $30,000 last fiscal year fixing damage, most of it to repair Sims Park facilities after a fire.

"For some reason they're targeting the bathrooms," Smith remarked in a phone interview today.
Last week, damage at Sims Park bathrooms was discovered at 11 a.m. one morning, Smith observed, so vandalism is not just happening at night. Someone had used a hammer to break urinals, toilets and other porcelain fixtures.

The Grand Boulevard Park recently has been burned twice, Smith continued. Fires were started with paper towel dispensers. In the second fire, a city police officer happened to be in the area and put out the flames before they could spread very far.

Carl Orth can be reached at 727-815-1068 or corth@suncoastnews.com.

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