YCWA 2008 Website of the Year-Stop Vandalism!

Vandalism: The Tax We Didn't Vote For

    I am saddened to hear of the continued senseless destruction of the private and public property that occurs on almost a daily basis. The wanton defacing of storefronts and public parks with graffiti and “tagging” are not only an eyesore, but attract crime, sew fear while lowering civic esteem, discourage investment, and usually hurt the people and communities that can least afford to repair or replace the damage. The millions of dollars in environmental damage and property devaluation wreaked by ATV’s and dirt bikes on private and public lands is a disgrace. In 2000, the cost to U.S. taxpayers from school-related vandalism alone was $93 MILLION! What could the City of Providence, which has started an anti-vandalism Task Force, do for its schools do with a fraction of that money? How many teachers, computers, and scholarships could we provide? How much tax relief? But more than saddened, we, as taxpayers, should be outraged that in these times of tight budgets, we are hit with acts of stupidity that amount to nothing more than an unfunded liability on our already overtaxed communities. In 2002 alone, after queries by Students Against Vandalism Everywhere (S.A.V.E.), an ad hoc group of students from Knotty Oak Middle School, it was estimated that Coventry spent over $170,000 of municipal funds repairing acts of vandalism. There are no line items in the annual budgets of RI cities and towns for vandalism! That money has to be taken from planned improvements, new equipment or new personnel needs. In other words, the quality of our community suffers from tolerating vandalism.

One of my students and her fellow 7^th graders who started S.A.V.E. realized how senseless vandalism hurts the morale and pocketbook of our town. In response to the vandalism they saw on veterans’ graves at Knotty Oak Cemetery and later at St. Mary’s Cemetery in West Warwick, they developed a variety of signs and a Power Point presentation which they presented to their peers, then took it “on the road” to Coventry High School and every elementary school in the district. Their message was loud and clear: Vandalism hurts people and the community. It affects property values, destroys environmentally sensitive areas, and lowers community morale. People don’t feel safe. Don’t we all get discouraged when we see graffiti defacing walls, smashed mailboxes, destroyed historical gravestones? Think about what we as citizens lose when we tolerate vandalism. For the common good, we need to put a stop to such anti-social behavior. Vandals have scrawled “leave us alone” on the Big River Management building when they vandalized it with swastikas last fall. AQ popular T-shirt says “Stop Snitchin”, while another says “Snitches Get Stitches”.  We must do just the opposite. People who think snitchin’ is a problem ARE the problem! We must find them, prosecute them, and make them (and their parents) financially accountable. Why the parents? They’re the ones who thought it was OK to buy “little Johnny” a $4000 ATV, knowing full well that the only place he can ride it is on somebody else’s private or public property, such as Big River Management Area. Massachusetts is in the process of passing legislation that would require that criminal negligence charges be brought against parents who knowingly allow a child under the age of 14 to drive an ATV, supervised or not. The R.I. State Police have launched an Anti-Graffiti Task Force to catch and prosecute the vandals who have already marred the brand new multi-million dollar I-Way in downtown Providence with senseless “tags” and other graffiti. Inaction on the part of private citizens just facilitates more vandalism.

 S.A.V.E.’s motto is “Be Part of the Solution, Not the Problem.”  Check out their website at www.stopvandalism.net  and see the amazing things these young people are  doing. S.A.V.E. started with one (1) student who said “enough!” We now have an active core of over 50 students at both Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School and Coventry High School, with over 100 members overall. The young lady who started S.A.V.E. as a 7^th grader won the 2007 National Youth of the Year Award from Youth Crime Watch of America. S.A.V.E. is also a keystone of R.I. Attorney General Patrick Lynch’s Third Eye youth program, dedicated to making our schools and streets safe from violence, bullying, drugs and vandalism.  Our students are doing their part. What are you doing?

Charles D. Blanchette

Teacher and Taxpayer - Coventry