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Minutes of a Meeting of The North Olmsted Parks and Recreation Commission June 4, 2007 Every time the crew puts in hand dryers, they get ripped out. This is happening in both boys’ and girls’ rooms. If anyone on the Commission hears anything, the Rec Department is aware of the problem, it is trying to control the matter. Mr. Scarl said he had a meeting with John Dailey regarding this issue. Mr. Scarl believes that until the basketball courts are gone, there will be problems with vandalism. He complained more as a citizen than a Rec Commission member. The courts are bringing more outside residents than residents; they are playing basketball, but they are hanging out; it’s not a good situation. He continued that the police have stepped up their patrols, because he is at the Park umpiring. The police are pulling over kids all the time when they do get there. When those new bathrooms go in, they will be absolutely destroyed. He wanted to make a recommendation that the basketball hoops be taken out and moved somewhere else in the City. There are drug problems going on; Mr. Scarl called about a family that was eating in the Pavilion that got chased out by a group of kids. There is no way that should be happening in this City. Lakewood is closing down its basketball courts; Olmsted Falls is going to close down their hoops; and all around the cities are closing down. Mr. Scarl said if the Commissioner would go up any night he would see 50 kids with souped up cars, peeling out of the parking lot with little kids running around. Even the volleyball players are complaining because they pull their cars right up to the sand. It’s not good for anyone up there, and a lot of people don’t feel safe. There are 14 and 15- year-old girls hanging around the bathroom writing the graffiti. Mr. Baxter said that there used to be an auxiliary policeman patrolling the area at night and asked if this was still being done. Mr. Scarl said to ask John (Dailey) about that, but he knew the patrols had picked up, but the kids know when the police are coming. Mr. DiSalvo said that Chris Wetmore and he were up there about a month ago, and he saw one kid joyriding. The Commissioner then pulled his car up to block him and asked the kid what he was doing and told him he had two seconds to leave or he was calling the police. Mr. DiSalvo then took his license plate number down. He was driving a maroon Nissan Sentry; the cops ran the plates and found that the plates registered to an orange Volkswagen in North Carolina. The bathrooms are closed between 10:00 or 11:00 at night. Mr. Groden asked when the new restrooms were supposed to open. Mr. DiSalvo said that he did not have a time frame. Mr. Groden said that maybe that’s a good thing, given what’s going on at the Park. Mr. DiSalvo said that, short of posting security up there 24 hours a day, there doesn’t appear to be anything that can be done. Mr. Scarl said that he witnessed a drug deal; Carl Kubb’s witnessed a drug deal – everyone knows what’s going on. It’s not something that should be in the Recreation areas of the City of North Olmsted. Mr. Lasko said that the bottom line is that if it’s become that obvious, then it’s an enforcement issue: the Police Department must devote the resources, whether overt or covert, to solve it. Mr. Scarl said that the police pull them over all around the Park and getting them out of the cars, but they are still coming back. There is one green truck that one guy was going to put a baseball bat right through his window because he was spinning out on the cinders, but that truck is always coming back there. The police have done a lot, but there are still many problems up there. They come right about game time, Page 4