Multiple Tyler parks vandalized, city looking for those responsible

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The City of Tyler and Tyler Police are looking for the person, or people, responsible for vandalizing several Tyler parks. In the last month, multiple Tyler parks have had bathroom urinals, sinks, and toilets smashed. As well as equipment that’s been sprayed with graffiti.

“It’s not just a parks department problem, it’s not just a city of Tyler problem, it’s a community problem,” said Leanne Robinette, the Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Tyler.

She said it’s a disheartening action. The most recent park that was hit was Southside Park in Tyler. She says staff showed up to clean bathrooms Monday and were met with,

“It looks like someone took a boulder in there. It was actually left in there, a big rock, and just smashed up the urinal, the toilet, and the sink,” Robinette said.

They closed the bathrooms immediately and began to take care of repairs in-house, costing them $2,000. Crews spent the last three days installing new fixtures.

“We actually had to bust out a portion of the wall to get to the pipes behind the wall to fix the leak behind the wall. Now they’re putting the wall back together,” Robinette said.

And on January third, “We had someone vandalize the restrooms at Golden Road Park as well… It looks like maybe they took a hammer or something like that,” she said. “They busted up the toilets and the urinals and the sinks as well.”

Robinette said on December 13 they found the concrete tables at Hillside Park sprayed with graffiti.

“We work really closely with Tyler PD, we also work really closely with Code Enforcement and so if something continues to happen at our parks, Code Enforcement has mobile cameras that they can take to certain parks and we have caught a lot of people actually with their help,” Robinette said.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Tyler Police non-emergency line at (903)-531-1000 or the Tyler Parks and Recreation Department at (903)- 531-1370.

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