By AUBRIE GEORGE | The Moorestown Sun
The Moorestown Library has faced recent problems with vandalism, a problem that some say has become a townwide issue.
Library Director Joseph Galbraith said the library purchased furniture and plantings about three years ago in an effort to provide an outdoor reading space for residents. The area had been wired for free wireless Internet service and included tables, chairs, and umbrellas in the courtyard area in front of the library.
Today, wireless Internet service is still available, but the outdoor courtyard is vacant of all furniture due to an ongoing problem with vandalism.
The umbrellas were the first to fall victim to the acts, Galbraith said, all of them either being slashed or broken.
With no money to replace the vandalized umbrellas, the library continued to provide tables and chairs in the outdoor space until several of those were also destroyed this spring.
“The tabletops were broken off of their bases from either being jumped on or purposely wrenched from their bases,” he said.
In addition, he said, trash and litter had been an ongoing problem in the area, despite the nearby location of trash receptacles, and several of the plantings in the outdoor space had been destroyed. Most recently, he said, one of the plantings had been uprooted and dumped into the library’s book drop.
Rather than have the remaining outdoor furniture destroyed, Galbraith said he made the decision to bring all of the furniture inside until a solution for the vandalism problem could be found.
“These are tough times for the library, and we don’t have the budget to replace this stuff,” Galbraith said.
Galbraith said the problem was happening during the hours when the library was closed.
“If we see something happening we deal with it immediately, but a lot of this vandalism is occurring in the evenings when we’re closed or on weekends when we close at 5 (p.m.),” he said.
Because it’s the last building in operation at the old municipal complex since the police department has moved, no one is around to see what is going on when the library closes, Galbraith said.
Galbraith said he suspects there were groups of people hanging around the library when it was closed. The fact that the library did not bring the cast iron furniture in and out everyday left it victim to vandals.
Galbraith said the library has contacted the police department.
“When we notice the acts, we contact the police, but the problem is, in order to catch somebody for vandalism, you really have to catch them in the act,” he said. “We don’t see them until we come in the next morning.”
Constantly having to contact the police is a waste of time and money, he said.
“The police are also very busy and if we have to call them every single day, it’s not a judicious use of taxpayer money where the police are concerned either,” Galbraith said.
At a recent town Council meeting, several residents expressed concern that Main Street was experiencing a similar problem, citing that local teens were frequenting the area and that some were getting into trouble, even using the area as a skate park.
“It’s a mob scene,” resident Kathy Sutherland said at the meeting. “You don’t even want to walk on Main Street.”
Residents at that meeting suggested stronger police patrol in addition to more programs for local children as the answer to the problem.
Lt. Howard Mann of the Moorestown Police said the department has increased police patrol around the library in response to the recent vandalism incidents and, since then, he said the activity has seemed to decrease. However, he said increased patrolling would continue.
“We will continue to keep an eye on the area, including Main Street now that school has closed,” Mann said.
Galbraith said he hopes that bringing light to the issue will spark a community dialogue about why public places in Moorestown have fallen victim to vandalism.
“In these tough times, we don’t have the money to replace this stuff,” he said. “The taxpayers paid for it once. To have to keep using taxpayer money to replace property that is being vandalized is not a solution.”
