Vandalism affects new downtown parking garage

March 19, 2019 | 3:08 am

Updated March 19, 2019 | 7:08 am

In recent events, the parking garage, located at 414 W. 2nd Street, has fallen victim to a number of fire extinguishers being stolen and, in turn, being set off inside the stairwells. | Photo by AP Imagery

While Owensboro’s newest downtown parking garage provides 437 more spaces to the downtown area, the location has also experienced a bout of vandalism since opening to the public.

In recent events, the parking garage, located at 414 W. 2nd Street, has fallen victim to a number of fire extinguishers being stolen and, in turn, being set off inside the stairwells.

“Unfortunately, vandalism is something we have to deal with at our facilities,” said Assistant City Manager Lelan Hancock. “With the downtown area being so popular, we’ve seen some vandalism occur at different areas.”

Hancock said occurrences of downtown vandalism have been fairly common throughout the years. The Daviess Street parking garage has seen its fair share of vandalism, as Hancock mentioned, in the form of chairs and fire extinguishers being stolen from the premises.

However unfortunate these circumstances are for areas of downtown, Hancock said cameras inside the new parking garage have been able to catch most of the suspects who perform these acts of vandalism.

“There are cameras there for a reason. Once we’re made aware of what’s happened, we contact the Owensboro Police Department. OPD is in the middle of investigating all of these incidents,” Hancock said. “We’ve had to replace those fire extinguishers and switch them out to a different style.”

An act of vandalism occurred two weeks ago at Smothers Park, when a water fountain was stolen and city parks have seen broken playground equipment and graffiti sprayed on multiple surfaces at different locations.

The newest reports of vandalism at the parking garage totaled somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500 in damages.

“These things happen, but they’re highly unfortunate,” Hancock said.

March 19, 2019 | 3:08 am

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