Visit Clay and Madison on Fridays, 3:30 to 5 p.m., and witness the destruction of McEntee Park in Kirkwood. Each week, 25 to 50 adolescent boys and girls descend on the park with seemingly nothing to do but willfully damage playground equipment made for young children.
They stand on the baby swings. Five or six jump on the mini cars and the slides. A mini car and merry-go-round were badly damaged — they’re gone and may not be replaced per the Kirkwood Parks Department. Litter from nearby eateries is strewn across the grounds, just steps away from trash and recycle bins. The behavior can turn violent, complete with fist fights, screaming and cursing.
A sign states that playground equipment is for children ages 2 through 5. As the mayhem commences, families choose to walk past with their strollers. Adults, attempting to quell the madness, are met with rude responses. Calls to the Kirkwood Police Department (literally next door) are met with: “Well, it is a public park.”
Imagine an out-of-control group of adults amassing at Kirkwood Park on a weekly basis, tearing down pickleball nets, destroying restrooms and dumping trash in the pond, just for fun. Removing irresponsible people from public parks is a tall order, but if they’re hell-bent on destruction — for the sake of citizens and taxpayers — it may be necessary.
Call Kirkwood Parks. You’ll hear that a lack of resources prohibits adequate oversight. Apparently, litter, destruction and graffiti are common in our parks these days. Seems it all started with the pandemic, when young people had nowhere else to go. Two years post-pandemic and the devastation continues unabated.
No need for 24-hour surveillance. Just stop by McEntee Park each Friday afternoon. Hopefully, Kirkwood’s finest will take action before there’s nothing left.
Rick Davis
Kirkwood
