WICKER PARK — Vandals defaced the base of the fountain in Wicker Park's namesake park with graffiti and burned a plastic trash can to the ground, according to a witness who noticed both incidents by 4 a.m. Saturday.
Jose Zamora, a homeless man who frequents the park, arrived to the park at 4 a.m. Saturday and immediately noticed that the base of the fountain — the inside and exterior — had been defaced with what looked like four large black "tags."
"I thought that's no good; they just finished painting the inside of fountain. It's disappointing because it's a nice park," Zamora said of the park at 1425 N. Damen Ave.
In an email to Park District and Chicago Police officials early Monday, Doug Wood, a volunteer events coordinator for the Wicker Park Advisory Council, asked for security footage, since there are cameras near the fountain.
Wood requested to see security footage from 10 p.m. Friday night to 4 a.m. Saturday.
"The [Chicago Park District] painters did an incredible job painting the base of the fountain pool last week on Friday in prep for water fill on Saturday — thank you for doing that. However, vandals hit the fountain before it was filled," Wood wrote to officials.
In addition to the graffiti, Zamora said a garbage can was smoldering.
"There was still smoke coming out of it, there was only a few inches of the can left," Zamora said.
A nearby tree appeared to have suffered damage as a result of the burned can, which had been removed.
Remnants from burned to ground green plastic garbage can #wickerpark pic.twitter.com/0GuOLdLsrq
— Alisa Hauser (@DNA_WPB) May 15, 2017
