My firm, Interactive Resources is the architect for this project, which was heavily damaged by vandals just days before completion. It had been previously hit just a few weeks ago. The nearby Maritime Center which is now completed and operational, was hit numerous times by thieves during construction, doing tens of thousands of dollars of damage. It is really disheartening to see this kind of thing happening to projects that are improving neighborhoods and providing educational facilities for children. I hope someone will come forward and identify the perpetrators.
Richmond: Vandals cause at least $500,000 in damage to new Nystrom Elementary School building
By Suzanne Bohan
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 02/14/2012 06:19:59 AM PST
Updated: 02/14/2012 07:45:30 AM PST
Click photo to enlarge
Paint is smeared on windows at Nystrom Elementary School in Richmond, Calif. Monday, Feb. 13,...
Vandals caused at least $500,000 in damage in a midday spree of destruction Sunday inside a new school building in Richmond, according to the school district.
"It could go to a million," said Charles Ramsey, president of the West Contra Costa School District board.
More than 30 windows were shattered inside a $5 million building at Nystrom Elementary School, he said. Other windows were smeared with paint; foul-smelling solutions and paint were poured onto floors, and equipment damaged.
"This was a cowardly act," Ramsey said. "What is the message they are trying to send and who are they trying to punish?"
He said it was the second act of vandalism at the school in six weeks. The building was
scheduled to open within weeks.
Several people said the alarm system inside the new structure, which houses a gym, library, computer lab and a large kitchen, was triggered Sunday afternoon and that police arrived to check it out but did not go to the right building.
"That's my understanding from the battalion chief" on duty Sunday, said Michael Banks, Richmond's fire chief. The Fire Department finally discovered the vandalism around 6 p.m. Sunday, after the vandals tore off a valve from the water heater to flood the building, triggering another alarm. They had fled by the time firefighters arrived.
The Richmond Police Department did not immediately return a call to discuss the vandalism.
Inside the colorfully painted new building, every turn showed signs of destruction.
"They left no stone unturned," said Lance Jackson of SGI Construction Management's Richmond office. The firm built the new Nystrom building. "You can tell they spent a lot of time."
In the library, some 30 windows were shattered, cracks spreading like spider webs across the panes. "It took a lot of force," said Jackson, noting the windows are double-pane. Other windows were smeared with paint, and walls stained with thick glue.
The carpet was soaked when he and his staff arrived Monday morning to survey the damage, although much was pumped out by midafternoon. The lighting fixture in the computer lab was torn down and its floor also soaked.
In the community kitchen, cans of black and white paint lay spilled and hardened on the ground. White paint splotched doors and appliances.
The kitchen is intended to help students learn culinary skills. "That's why we're going to keep fighting" and restore the building, Jackson said. He expects the opening will now be delayed about two months.
In the main gym, Jackson walked up wooden stairs splotched with blue paint and showed how the vandals painted the projector lens and defaced the projector screen.
Whoever did it had to know how to operate the equipment lowering the screen, he noted. That, along with the height of some of the broken windows and the strategic destruction, left many convinced that it was the work of adults.
Brownish paint covered many of the gym's windows, and the blue and green floor was marred with paint and other damage.
On the far wall, a vandal painted the letters "DJ."
While Jackson was not certain of long-term plans for security for the building, he said a guard will keep watch overnight.
Contact Suzanne Bohan at 510-262-2789.
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