I want to know: About John Topits Park hosts
By Alexander Rich, Staff Writer
Thursday, May 15, 2008 |
Hosts help reduce vandalism at city parks
Q: Why do the John Topits Park hosts have expired plates on their recreational vehicle? Are they permanent park hosts? If so, do they pay for space rent plus utilities?
A: The city of Coos Bay has hosts at two of its parks, two of its boat ramps and at the city docks. In exchange for providing year-round surveillance and, in some cases, keeping nearby restrooms clean, the city supplies its hosts with free rent and utilities, said Operations Administrator Steve Doty. The city does not provide living quarters, however, so hosts must arrange for their own.
“Having hosts prevents a lot of vandalism,” Doty said. “If they weren’t there, those restrooms would be trashed.”
Whenever the city is between hosts, Doty said, there is a marked increase in the number of criminal mischief incidents.
In addition to the John Topits host, the city has arrangements with volunteers at the Empire and Eastside boatramps, and the Scout cabin in Mingus Park.
Embed This Article
Feel free to embed this article onto your website by copying the
code below and pasting it into your site's HTML.
The comments below are from users of theworldlink.com and do not necessarily represent the views of The World or Lee Enterprises. Participation Guidelines
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Not already registered?
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
- No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
- No deliberately false information.
- No obscenity or racially offensive language.
- No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
- No information that invades another person's privacy.
- No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
Close Guidelines