Oliver Parks and Recreation Society has this item on agenda for a public meeting Monday in Oliver.

Note: if the vandalism occurred inside the building that means it occurred 8am to 8pm – not at three in the morning as thought by some staff.

A dialogue on Facebook

Jack Bennest:

You know I could have reported on the damage and the work done to clean it up – but thought this might just encourage more. I can remember some tagging at the school which I reported on and then took some flack. I had been convinced that what these people want is attention – and OPRS has contributed to this.

Talked to staff at Rotary Beach who said “pretty hard to track down people who operate at 3 in the morning?…… My suggestion is to enlist students to paint on the new clean wall with drawings of sports fishers, canoe people, swimmers, those sunning and playing with the kids. Taggers rarely damage “other” art.

Carol Sheridan:

The number of incidences far outweigh the number of times we have reported it publicly for the exact reasons you mention. The purpose of this post is not to glorify the action but to draw attention to the bigger issues. We have enlisted artists at Rotary and Kinsmen resulting in some nice murals and will continue to work with the local youth on art projects. My thoughts are that this may just change where the graffiti happens rather than reduce it.

Editor:

The bigger issues?- kids with not a lot to do…. in a time when the world seems to want to revolt…

Or as your Board Vice Chair Dennis Magoffin says – “we can buy more paint than the vandals!!”