Lighting up Tanya

The Town of Labrador City is taking steps to prevent vandalism by installing new lights at Tanya Beach.

The troublesome spot will be illuminated by five lights, both for the sake of security and so that residents can enjoy the area later in the day during the summer, explained Labrador City Coun. Linda Dumaresque.

“We have a larger plan over the year and certainly into next year on doing some amenity work at the Peace Park, Tanya, and Centennial,” said Labrador City Mayor Janice Barnes. 

“They need a facelift, so the first step is to put these lights by Tanya Beach.”

It’s the first step in a slew of measures designed to combat vandalism at the beach, including installing security cameras, tearing town a shed and posting new signs. According to Dumaresque, the town will be looking into using sound technology that emits high-pitched sounds that deter young people from loitering in the area.

That’s not to say that those creating problems in the area are young people, but Dumaresque said 90 per cent of the perpetrators are between the ages 13-17, and there’s an increase in vandalism once school is out.

In the past, there were tables, a volleyball net and canteen at the beach, but they had to be decommissioned because of vandalism, Dumaresque said.

“It should be a place where families, our older community and younger community can go and enjoy the sand, grass, the nice weather, the walking trail and facilities,” she said. 

“Ideally, we will have a picnic area, seating and other infrastructure.  It’s supposed to be a retreat and we want everybody to enjoy it.”

As far as the vandals go, “No, they’ll never win,” she said.

“I know it’s a bold comment, but as soon as the town notices anything or gets a call and we have inspections every day, it’s cleaned up immediately.

The kind of attitudes that are out there is that, ‘It’s not happening to me, so I don’t need to report it or act upon it,’” she added. “The attitude is changing because it does affect all of us and affecting where we enjoy our time off.”

Dumaresque said she’s noticed a trend towards the reclamation of the beach by the community because more families are starting to go there and more people are walking the trails.

In the future, she said, they might even reinstitute student policing or the Neighbourhood Watch program.

Labrador City Coun. Peter Reccord adds another perspective, based on a meeting of the Urban Municipalities Committee in Stephenville a couple of weeks ago.

He said the trend they’re seeing is that vandalism is a widespread problem across all communities in the province.

“I don’t think we have it worse or better than anyone else, but listening to my colleagues, I know that community governments have to put significant dollars into prevention and correction,” he said.

That’s money that’s badly needed elsewhere, he added.

He said in Labrador City he’s seen trucks tearing up yards, bottles smashed on streets, a wheelchair rocker damaged at the playground, mailboxes tipped over, and a public washroom totally trashed.

“I don’t think it’s ever acceptable for your infrastructure to get beaten up all the time,” he said.

“If something breaks, then you fix it,” he added.  “Now, you can say, ‘Is it worth doing if it’s going to be vandalized again?’ The day you stop doing that, you’re giving in. No town’s going to let that happen.”

He said society is different from the days when the worse damage was caused by a baseball thrown someone’s window, and even then, the perpetrators took responsibility for their actions, apologized, and paid for the damage.

“We always say what’s happening now versus the good ol’ days,” he observed.

“There’s societal changes going on and it seems like there are younger and younger children out later and later. When you get an older age group out at night and they’re drinking, there’s a lot of glass around. If they’re younger, then a lot of things are tipped over.”

What people have got to realize, he added, is that it’s all public infrastructure that’s there and everybody needs to take ownership.

If people see vandalism happening, he said, they should report it.