MARYSVILLE — The days of a coin-operated laundry here being used as a skateboard highway appear to be over.
Before the city installed surveillance cameras at the skate park across the street from the Marysville Laundry Station, kids would sometimes ride their boards right through the business, owner Craig Wells said.
They’d come in one door and skate out the other.
“We’ve actually had little old ladies stand in their way and say, ‘You turn around and go out the door you came in, young man,’ ” Wells said.
Installing the cameras at the park at 1050 Columbia Ave. in August has discouraged troublemakers from hanging around the park and the laundry, say businesspeople and city officials — and given those ladies a rest.
In turn, vandalism, litter and other rude behavior in and around the park have dramatically decreased since the cameras went up.
“It’s a lot better,” said Nicky Hedington, an attendant at the laundry. “The kids over there (now) are not as bad as the other ones were. I always thought I would pass out if my kids acted like that.”
The park was built in 2002 at a cost of $542,000. Vandals soon began defacing it with graffiti, knocked-over portable toilets and damaged fencing, parks director Jim Ballew said.
The park was shut down several times to allow the city to clean up. Now, the city has saved “probably several thousand dollars in man hours” by reducing the need for cleanup, Ballew said.
The cameras cost $6,500 to purchase and install. “It will pay for itself by the end of the year,” Ballew said.
In a couple of cases, some mischief was caught on camera — including the beginnings of a fire — and the wrongdoers confronted, he said. Names were taken and warnings issued.
Usually at the beginning of the school year, the laundry gets “tagged” with graffiti, Wells said. “Now, nothing.”
The cameras are recording 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The images are not watched all the time, but “we have the ability,” Ballew said. Also, Marysville police officers can tap into the video feed from the laptops in their squad cars, he said.
Many skaters grumbled about the cameras before they were installed. That may have changed. One skater, Zach Uruchurtu, 20, of Marysville said trouble still occurs, such as occasional fights. Still, “I can see the difference” from the cameras, he said.
The laundry, Wells said, became known as young people’s hangout when he bought the business four years ago. The previous owner had pinball machines and other attractions for kids but was not around to keep things under control, Wells said.
Wells was left with the hangout’s fallout. He installed video cameras in his business, which helped, but didn’t eliminate the problems. So he lobbied city officials to put cameras in the skate park, and he’s happy with their response.
Now, Ballew has asked the City Council for money for to install cameras at Jennings Memorial Park and Ebey Waterfront Park in 2008, at $6,500 for each park. Visitors to Jennings, at 6915 Armar Road, have experienced vehicle thefts and break-ins, he said. Ebey, at State Avenue and First Street, has had homeless people camping there and the restrooms have been vandalized.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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