The road near the Ridge Meadows Hospital continues to be a casualty area for cars.
Since January, RCMP say there’s been a steady increase in vehicle vandalism along 117th Avenue, which runs west of the hospital, between Laity and 211th streets.
Most of the damage consists of slashing tires and ruining paint by scratching a key along the length of a car.
Ridge Meadows RCMP suggest the vandalism could be linked to the ongoing issue of parking, as hospital employees and visitors take up parking space on the street.
“Victimizing innocent people by causing senseless damage is no way to send a message or resolve an issue,” said Sgt. Brenda Gresiuk.
The vehicles are all legally parked.
“We will continue to work with our crime analyst and specialty units to identify the culprit, but investigators suspect someone in the community knows who’s responsible for these crimes.”
No suspects have been identified.
“Our volunteers and members will be out canvassing the affected neighborhoods to raise awareness about the problem. In addition there will be an increased police presence in this area,” Gresiuk said.
Some of the streets in the area have resident-only parking, but 117th Ave. has signs requiring vehicles not block driveways and leave three metres of space from the ends of driveways.
One resident said earlier that the vandalism is just result of the area. But he did ask hospital employees to turn off the beeps every time they power lock their vehicles.
Fraser Health is adding another 113 parking spaces for employees.
Currently, there are 457 parking stalls at Ridge Meadows Hospital, with 35 per cent of those allotted to public pay parking and 65 per cent for employee parking.