A Posse Against Plant Rustlers

The kind of people who steal plants from Balboa Park are not likely to be the kind of people who much care about the anger they incite among the taxpayers and the park lovers of San Diego. If they had any sensitivity at all, they wouldn’t be stripping one of the nation’s most famous and beautiful parks of what makes it special.

Nonetheless, it is worth taking sorrowful note of what apparently is a spring trend that for some reason seems to have reached a new peak this year. Park officials say the loss is running into hundreds of plants and thousands of dollars, not to mention the staff time wasted in repairing the damage.

Palms, roses and cactuses are among the plants thieves have helped themselves to in recent weeks. Colorful Alcazar gardens, which hundreds of visitors pass through daily on their way from the parking lots to museums and theaters, has been especially hard hit. That is where most of the household-type plants are found.

Park officials have asked for additional police patrols in the hard-hit areas, but with the park being open at all hours it is unrealistic to expect the police to solve the problem. If help is to come, it may have to be from park users reporting thefts that they may observe in the hopes that a few of these plant rustlers can be caught and justly punished.