St. Albertans woke up to shattered glass across the city on Sunday morning after a vandalism spree the night before saw nearly a dozen bus stops damaged.
The crime spree, which happened late in the night on July 22 or early morning on July 23, caused damage to 10 bus shelters, leaving the city with a $14,000 price tag for repair.
St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron said she is angry to see all the broken glass in the city.
"I find vandalism such a waste of time, obviously (of) municipal dollars, and it's just destructive," Heron said.
"It makes people feel not safe in their communities," she said. "It's unattractive. It's just really frustrating and unnecessary, and it just really angers me."
The RCMP don't know exactly what time the damage happened, but Cpl. Troy Savinkoff, public information officer with K Division, said calls started coming in around 8 a.m. on July 23 reporting the damage.
The first call came in to report the stop on Ebony Way and Everett Drive had been shattered. Then came the call to report the bus stop of Boudreau Road and Erin Ridge Drive had been broken. And right before 9 a.m., another call came in to report the Boudreau and Campbell Road bus shelter was damaged.
Throughout the day, there were more reports of shattered and damaged bus stops across the city.
The city has 55 bus shelters, and the 10 damaged means 18 per cent of the shelters were impacted.
Of the shelters vandalized, 24 panes of glass will require replacement. The glass and labour cost is estimated at $12,500, with clean-up fees hitting $1,500 for the damage.
The damage is below the city's deductible, so the city will be paying out-of-pocket for the replacement, city spokesperson Cory Sinclair said in an email.
The city has money set aside for incidents like this, Heron said, but the money could be used for better things.
"It is a lot of money, and we could do a lot of programming support for not-for-profit groups like Outloud. I'm sure they would love $14,000 from the from the city. I think it's a big dollar figure and it's unfortunate."
The mayor said significant instances of vandalism in St. Albert are rare. The most significant one in recent memory was when the Stewart Steinhauer statue entitled StarWoman was tipped over in 2011 at its location behind St. Albert Place.
Earlier this year, another act of mischief happened in the city when the Saint Albert the Great statue was stolen from outside of city hall.
Right now, the RCMP say there are no suspects in the bus shelter crime spree, and anyone who has any information should contact the RCMP at 780-458-7700
Damaged bus shelters:
- Ebony Way and Everett Drive
- Boudreau Road and Erin Ridge Drive
- Boudreau Road and Campbell Drive
- Element Drive north behind the Lowes
- McKenney Avenue and Dawson Road
- Hebert Road near the Iginla Arena
- Hebert Road near Chartwell Retirement Residence
- Highway 2 and Gate Avenue
- St. Albert Trail and St. Anne Street
- Highway 2 and Lennox Drive
