A group of students from the Powder Mill Middle School in Southwick paint the inside of the Point Grove Road Rail-to-Trail tunnel as part of a beautification project in June 2011. The tunnel remains a target for vandals and cameras are presently being considered by the Southwick Park and Recreation Commission to monitor the structure. (File photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
SOUTHWICK – Deterring vandalism on the Rail Trail is something the Southwick Park and Recreation Commission is taking seriously.
Since it opened, there have been several incidents of vandalism on the trail, particularly inside the tunnel where a group of students and professional artists painted a mural to beautify the tunnel.
Commissioner Daniel Call said defacing the work of art “just doesn’t make any sense” and the Commission is looking into its options for curbing future vandalism.
“I met with Paul Allen who put in the cameras at Congamond Lakes,” said Call.
Allen believes he could successfully install infrared cameras at each end of the tunnel. The cameras would send real-time images of the tunnel to a monitor at the police station, and any commissioner could also monitor tunnel activity on their own computer.
“It works with Wi-Fi and I spoke with one of the owners of the Skybox, Pat Lynch, who has offered to let us use his Wi-Fi,” said Call.
Allen is currently creating a proposal and is working with the town electrical inspector to make sure installation is feasible.
Call said there would be a cost associated with it, but he does not know what it would be yet.
“We do have a budget line item for vandalism so there is some funding available,” he said.
The proposal would be discussed in an open session of the Commission.
