News
Vandals strike Hanson Street by Linda Rodriguez
managing editorThursday Mar 6, 2008 Someone is clearly very unhappy on Hanson Street. For the past two years, cars parked in two specific spots on the street have been targeted for some serious vandalism, from deep gouges scratched on the vehicles’ sides, to trash dumped on front windshields, to notebook-paper sized blank stickers stuck to the driver’s side windows. Most recently, one resident reports, the perpetrator has taken to rubbing dog feces all over the windows, door handles and in the locks of cars parked in the spots.
"It’s crazy! Somebody who’s doing this has a little bit of a problem," said Jordan Tobins, a resident of the street who said his car has been abused when he happens to park in the spots. Routinely, he said, his car gets spit on - "it’s like they hock up a big loogie," he said - and once, the roof of his convertible was slashed. "Nothing was stolen from the car, they just did it to prove a point," he said.
Tobins said that while unfortunate things have certainly happened to his car, he doesn’t feel singled out by the vandalism.
"It’s any car that happens to park in these two corner spaces," he said, describing the spaces on Hanson Street at the corner of Ringgold Street and, on the opposite side, at Bond Street. Both spots are located near handicap access ramps. On the morning of Feb. 29, he said, he and another resident of the street came out to find both their cars covered in garbage.
Tobins said that he believes the perpetrator is someone who feels ownership over the spots, "who sees these cars parked in the spots and thinks they’re going to teach them a lesson."
"This person is doing this sort of vigilante policing of cars," he said. Tobins continued, "I think this is just so crazy. I can understand if you’re unhappy, writing a note and leaving it on the person’s car, but this is crazy."
Tobins said that he and other residents have alerted the police a few times, but since the acts of vandalism are so frequent - the spit-soaked windshields happen a few times a week, he said - they don’t always call police (Area D4 police confirmed that they hadn’t received many complaints from the street). Now, however, they’re getting fed up. They’ve notified the other neighbors in the area and Tobins said that he and a group are planning a sort of sting operation, to try to watch the cars. He’s also, he said, looking into installing a camera in his car.
"This person, they’re in the neighborhood ... They’re going to get caught," he said. "There’s a lot of angry people out there."
Area D4 police Capt. William Evans, speaking with the South End News, encouraged residents to notify police when things like this happen. "If they don’t let us know, there’s nothing that we can do," he said. "We’ll gladly do all we can to catch who did it."
Linda Rodriguez can be reached at lrodriguez@southendnews.com
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