Sunday was the first day of Crime Prevention Week but anyone walking past city hall the day before wouldn’t have been able to tell. The week had not even begun when a very visible and expensive act of property damage had been committed. Yet it is instances such as this, ones that might be passed off as simple vandalism, that seem to be happening more often and demand a greater community response.
Sometime late Friday night or early Saturday morning, persons unknown managed to tip over and decapitate one of the five stone sculptures that sit behind St. Albert Place, the purchase of which drew so much consternation from the community. The sculpture, StarWoman, is valued at $65,000. The city does not believe that artist Stewart Steinhauer can repair it. The city has reviewed its security footage; unfortunately none of the cameras point outside.
What we do know is that it is not the first notable incident of vandalism in the last few months and these incidents seem to be growing increasingly bolder. In the middle of April, the St. Albert Minor Baseball Association found about 10 windows at its clubhouse smashed, costing roughly $5,000. A few days later, Muriel Martin School suffering about $20,000 in damage after several windows were broken and some damage was done to the roof. The school had already been targeted one month before when its front sign was damaged and a smokestack on the roof was broken. There have also been two public instances of graffiti on the sign for Aurora Place, St. Albert’s future Habitat for Humanity development. The damage in both cases was minor in comparison — it was the messages of “not welcome” and “liars” following one of the most vitriolic debates in city history that made the damage more notable.
And those are only the instances we know of. How many bus shelters have we seen smashed or benches overturned? How many of us have had our fences graffiti’d, our cars or property otherwise damaged or observed vandalism to some of our public spaces or local businesses? How many other minor public acts of property damage must we pass off as mere “mischief” before we start addressing this problem head-on?
The impact is not just financial — it affects the community as a whole. For those residents who take pride in living where they do, each act is a black eye on the city. For the young people and adults who are doing their best to succeed, each new act brings increased focus and scorn. In the end it is someone’s immature thrill the rest of us are left to pay for.
St. Albert might have its 40-asset program, but there is little else that helps fight back and prevent further property damage. The vandalism task force we had that looked into myriad solutions to the problem no longer exists. The city encourages business owners and residents to remove graffiti under its Graffiti Removal Pilot Project, claiming action within 24 hours can reduce further property damage by 10 per cent. The goals of the project include reducing vandalism overall but there is no roadmap for doing so within the city’s annual report.
The scope of vandalism in St. Albert is growing, both in financial dollars and political impact. Smashing a $65,000 piece of public art is the costliest incident to date and should spur council, the RCMP and all affected groups to revisit the issue of vandalism. There are more ideas to explore than simply removing graffiti. Resurrecting the task force is one idea but the community as a whole must be involved, especially when pride in our community is at stake.
