PARRY SOUND – Stage one of a pilot project to increase civic pride and decrease vandalism is underway at ‘The Spot.’
Located on the corners of Isabella and Church Streets, The Spot is an area where high school teens congregate to socialize and smoke off of school property. It had been a vandalized, trash-ridden eyesore and was discussed around the town’s council table a number of times in an attempt to find a solution.
And it seems as if a solution has been found.
At its February 21 meeting, Coun. Bonnie Keith and town staff presented council with a plan to address a number of concerns voiced by ratepayers regarding the area. At the time, council directed Keith and staff to continue to work with Parry Sound High School students and other stakeholders to develop an action plan and budget to bring back to the council table.
In June, council passed a resolution presented by town bylaw enforcement officer Tammy Purdy and Keith that outlined a 30-day pilot project that started Tuesday.
The project includes the installation of a surveillance camera (at a cost of $3,000) at The Spot, benches, garbage cans and cigarette receptacles.
Tuesday evening, Keith provided council with an update on the pilot project that kicked off with the first day of school.
 “We (Purdy and Keith) went and spoke to students, explaining to them about the process,” said Keith during councillors’ reports.  “There are some park benches up there, garbage cans and butt containers. We explained to them the importance that that area needs to be respected. Provided how well it is respected - of course no littering and vandalism - then we will be able to move on to stage two and look how we can better beautify the area.”
Keith said there will be zero tolerance for vandalism of the The Spot.
“It is not respected, or if there is vandalism, well, that will be the end of the project and we’ll have to get to looking at other ways to best protect public property. In speaking to students, I found the students were very polite and they tended to listen,” Keith said. ”We all know that listening is a good start and I would say that actions speak louder than words. This will be an opportunity to see if the actions will follow through and I hope they will. Certainly we all recognize in the area of vandalism, there’s got to be zero tolerance, so we hope we will not be in that situation.”