Arson, vandalism cause skate park to be closed for two weeks

The Buffalo Grove Park District is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the people involved in setting fires and scrawling graffiti at the Buffalo Grove skate park.

The district has closed the skate park, located in Busch Grove Community Park, for two weeks as a punitive measure to increase peer group pressure to curb vandalism in the area, said district spokesman Mike Terson.

Police also have stepped up their patrols in the area, said Cmdr. Steve Husak. While the incidents Saturday and Monday nights didn't cause serious damage, fires can be dangerous, he said.

About 8:35 p.m. Saturday, officers called to the park discovered a garbage can fire and three other fires under the pavilion and in the bathrooms. Toilet paper was used to light the fires.

Tuesday morning, park officials saw that a garbage can was damaged by fire overnight and new graffiti had appeared. The graffiti wasn't gang-related, Husak, said

Vandalism is an ongoing issue in the park district, Terson said, but it's unusual to have a rash of it while school is in session and the weather is cold and rainy. "For this to be starting so early is a concern," he said.

The park district has offered a $500 reward before, but has doubled it with the help of the Friends of the Parks Foundation.

"We've never given away any money," Terson said. "I'd love to give away money."

While vandalism is a general problem in Buffalo Grove parks, the heaviest concentration is around the skate park, which opened in 2002.

"The graffiti was so bad, we decided to fence in the skate park," Terson said.

That has enabled the district to close the skate park on occasion when major acts of vandalism have occurred.

Anyone with information about the skate park vandalism can call the vandalism hotline, (847) 459-2311, ext. 168. If the information leads to the arrest and conviction of a perpetrator or conspirator, that person will receive a cash reward up to $1,000.