Several of these panels of steel mesh on two river viewing platforms had to be replaced because of vandalism. (Photo 2-21-2025)
Last week I posted a brief video report that damage done to Albany’s two Willamette River viewing piers had been repaired. Now we know how much the vandalism cost.
“Right about $7,500,” reports Rick Barnett, parks and facilities maintenance manager in the Albany Parks and Recreation Department.
The two viewing platforms were rebuilt as part of the Central Albany Revitalization Area’s $21.5 million Waterfront Project. Shortly after the piers were reopened to the public last summer, vandals destroyed several of the steel mesh components of the railings at both locations.
The damaged pieces were not salvageable and had to be replaced, Barnett told me in an email Tuesday.
In addition, the new pieces as well as all the other, undamaged ones were welded in place. “This was a big job and most of the cost,” Barnett said.
As originally designed, the panels were loosely set in a channel. Now that they are welded, the panels are impossible to move and much harder to bend.
One hopes. (hh)
If they don’t weld the joints, especially the corner joints, vandals will just push over a whole section. Joints are visible in your video from- https://hh-today.com/a-good-place-to-remember-sams-verse/