Skip to main content

Dieppe Park the target of damage to spring gardens and flower beds

Share

Someone is responsible for damages to vibrant blossoming spring flower beds at Windsor’s Dieppe Park.

The destruction was reported to the city on Tuesday. Crews were quick to clean up the debris – but the damage has been done.

Stomped underfoot, dug up and run over by bicycle tire tracks – the vandalism and mischief appears deliberate.

Damaged flower bed in Dieppe Park in Windsor, Ont. on Thursday, April 27, 2023. (Gary Archibald/CTV News Windsor)Local residents overwhelmingly are not amused.

"People are like destroying it for no reason really,” said Amelia Miotto, a St. Clair College student who walks to the park to enjoy the scenery. “It's just very unnecessary, disrespectful for anybody who wants to come down here really."

The city's manager of horticulture agrees.

Damaged flower bed in Dieppe Park in Windsor, Ont. on Thursday, April 27, 2023. (Gary Archibald/CTV News Windsor)Wanda Letourneau says the city’s crews work incredibly hard to prep our parks for the season and throughout the year to maintain them. It’s a timely and costly enterprise.

In addition, it’s not just damage to the gardens – it’s occurrences of illegal dumping, garbage thrown on the ground and into the fish pond at Dieppe Park that contribute to the frustration experienced by those who care for these important public spaces.

"We have over 78,000 tulip bulbs that we plant through our three premiere parks [in Windsor] and that was a value of $15,000 which is a lot, not including the labour of the staff,” said Letourneau.

Waste dumped into the live fish pond in Dieppe Park in Windsor, Ont. on Thursday, April 27, 2023. (Gary Archibald/CTV News Windsor)For the vast majority of city residents and visitors who walk through Dieppe Park and other popular green spaces in the city it’s an effort that is appreciated.

"It's nice to enjoy the spring season, so it really sucks that someone wants to ruin that for everyone,” said Eric Pitzel, a college student, at the nearby St. Clair College campus on Riverside Drive.

Anyone with information about this vandalism or any other incidents is asked to call police or report it to by dialing 311. 

Waste dumped into the live fish pond in Dieppe Park in Windsor, Ont. on Thursday, April 27, 2023. (Gary Archibald/CTV News Windsor)

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Drew Carey is never quitting 'The Price Is Right'

Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.

Stay Connected