Our front page story has my blood boiling this week.
We actually broke the story on Friday when a staffer from the City of Delta’s Parks and Rec department contacted us about overnight vandalism to Brandrith Park in Tsawwassen.
Someone, likely in a pick-up truck, drove all over the field leaving deep tire tracks. The vandal even tore up the grass behind the soccer goals.
The city installed barriers in an effort to deter such activity, but alas, that didn’t do much. The boulders that were put in place, were just rolled away. And the person who did this had to access the field through Cliff Drive Elementary, while also navigating around large trees.
According to city staff, this field has been vandalized multiple times in the past few weeks – with this latest incident causing the most damage. The city estimates it will cost thousands of dollars to repair not to mention the displacement of user groups who will have to find other fields to practice on or for games while the repairs are made.
The city also told us that tire tracks were left on nearby Dennison Park. As well, I saw a post on social media over the weekend that Pebble Hill Park was also targeted.
Vandalism of any kind to any property is infuriating, but driving around tearing up sports fields is so disheartening.
The city has contingency funds for these types of incidents and repairs, but that just means dipping further into the city coffers and may mean that other sports fields might not get the attention they deserve this year.
We have reported in recent weeks the heavy price tag for repairs at Ladner Leisure Centre. We know there is a big bill coming to replace the Winskill Aquatic Centre and so many user groups are asking for other fields and rec facilities to be upgraded. The city does not need to be spending more money to fix someone’s stupid antics. Whomever you are, stop destroying our fields.
