Vandalized Park Still Not Repaired

It will take a few more weeks to replace playground slides and swings at Lincoln Park damaged by vandals because the equipment has to be special-ordered, a park district official said.

“You just don’t go into a warehouse and pull that out,” said Rick Johnson, spokesman for the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District. “We’re at their mercy, quite honestly.”

A few months ago, vandals caused $3,000 damage to the new slides, swings and other equipment in a tot lot at the park, at 1st Street south of Royal Avenue, Johnson said.

The equipment was left unusable. Plywood boards block entrances to the colorful slides and the swing set has no swings. Fragments of yellow caution tape circle the play area; vandals have drawn a marijuana leaf on one of the plywood boards.

“You have the children in the neighborhood who are deprived of an enjoyable and viable playground apparatus,” Johnson said. “We’ve gone almost a summer here.”

Heather Sherman used to take her 1-year-old son and 7-year-old brother to the park, but not anymore.

“It’s been like that since before school got out,” Sherman said. “We used to go there every day.”

The vandalism has made the park an unsightly and unsafe place for the children, she said. “It’s even more unsafe the way they have everything boarded. Now we play at home or go to Rancho [Simi Community] Park.”