Historic park covered in graffiti frustrates central Omaha neighbors
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OMAHA, NE (WOWT) — One of Omaha’s oldest parks has been the target of vandalism with graffiti, tagged trees, and rocks scattered throughout Elmwood Park.
Some of it included some violent messages.
“To me, I don’t see the purpose of it being there,” Joshua Schmidt said. “It just looks kinda trashy.”
Two UNO students are turned off by the politically charged and hateful speech depicted throughout Elmwood Park near their campus.
“Just saying, ‘oh eff this, and eff that, and eff this person’ … doesn’t help anyone,” Tatenda Chivero said. “It’s like anything else — it’s not supposed to be there. This is a nature area; we should see nature. Leave the rocks alone.”
The city knows this is a problem. There’s a clean tunnel where graffiti used to cover the walls.
“It’s costing taxpayer money to come and clean this off — which that money out of my pocket that I rather keep in my pocket,” Chivero said.
Also scattered throughout the park: messages of peace and love.
“I understand that because that kind of thinking is helpful to people when they see that,” Chivero said. “If you want to spread a positive message, I think you can find another way to do so without damaging the area around here.”
City officials told 6 News they keep an eye on the graffiti and paint over it as needed. The city has a caretaker who lives at the park and will clean up the graffiti, weather permitting.
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