The city is considering installing security cameras on Long Wharf after vandals defaced the Vietnam veterans memorial for the second time in a little more than a week.
The city plans Sunday or Monday to clean up the latest graffiti spraypainted on the memorial, which is by the waterfront at Long Wharf park.
Vandals wrote “MS 13” on the memorial in black spray paint. A week ago vandals wrote the same message in orange spray-paint on bricks around the memorial, along with the message “Kill Whites.” They also sprayed throughout the park. This time, they hit two spots: the memorial, and another stone marker.
MS 13 is the name of a Salvadoran gang making inroads in the U.S., also known as Mara Salvatrucha.
“It’s disgraceful,” city Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts said Saturday evening. “We hope to [clean it] as soon as possible.”
“We hate to post cameras in a place where people go to reflect and pay their respects,” Smuts said. But because this happened twice in a week, the city may install cameras, perhaps just temporarily, in hopes of catching the vandals or deterring repeat incidents.
I to am disgusted.... These are people that fought to protect our lands and someone thinks it is cool to deface them?? And the vendors that park there should be pissed to. There rights to do business there are at risk.