ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) – For people who live and work near Busch Stadium, a graffiti-covered garage isn’t just about unsightly spray paint on the side of a building.
On Sunday, the Citizens for a Greater Downtown St. Louis neighborhood group posted photos and videos of the vandals. They reported a large, unruly group hanging out by the garage, tagging walls, climbing up the sides of the building and jumping rails on scooters.
Matt O’Leary, who is part of the neighborhood group, said he recognized some of the graffiti from other tags in the area. He said he had noticed a recent uptick in vandalism downtown as well.
“I’ve never seen a group this size before, which tells me they’re becoming more brazen,” he said.
According to statistics from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, crime overall has been declining in Downtown St. Louis, dropping around 20 percent in most categories from September 2022.
FirstAlert4 Reached out to the department to ask about enforcement strategies in the area. The Citizens for a Greater Downtown St. Louis said police never showed up to disband the group.
SLMPD did not have an officer available to talk about the incident or enforcement downtown.
O’Leary said he was concerned that incidents like the one Sunday reflected larger issues in the area.
“A lot of downtown’s problems have to do with young men engaging in risk-taking behavior, graffiti vandals being one of them,” he said.
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