Problems in Lee's Summit

The following is a copy/paste facebook status from a good friend I "met" almost six years ago on the blogs.  She hasn't blogged in a long time, but we've kept in contact and shared our ups and downs over the years.  This is definitely a down. I have her permission to share this with you:

My friends in Lee's Summit need to be aware of something that happened to me yesterday. I met my C25K friends at Lowenstein Park off Chipman & Pryor at 7:30am, took out my phone and my key and put my purse on the backseat floor and we took off as usual, though this is only the third time we had used this park as opposed to the middle school track. There were several people already out, it wasn't by any means a deserted park.

We weren't gone but a few minutes when I looked across the park and noticed what I thought was my window down and a car leaving the upper parking lot where it was. I still didn't connect the dots. When we jogged by my car, I realized it was broken. The person leaving the lot had been somewhere watching, probably on the lower lot, knowing that I was not going to take my purse with me. As soon as we were far enough away not to get there in time, he jumped into action. Creepy stuff.

That in itself is annoying and will cost financially to replace the window, not to mention the tons of things I now have to replace from my wallet. But what I want you, Lee's Summit friends, to know is that the police said this happens at this park EVERY DAY. Every.stinking.day. They have, I'm told, asked that a sign be posted warning unsuspecting people that their belongings are not safe locked in their own cars. But the city of Lee's Summit doesn't think this would look good--after all, this is a nice little park with a jogging trail, playground, waterfall, all the good stuff! Why would they want to inform the hundreds of daily users that there is a VERY REAL POSSIBILITY THEY WILL BE ROBBED at this park and allow its citizens to make choices that would minimize or eliminate the possibility in the first place? It's not their stolen money and time, after all. If they KNOW there is an issue, then they are responsible for fixing that issue and that would include not only signs posted at both parking lots but also the installation of security cameras. EVERY DAY this happens at this park. Now, in afterthought, I GET why the Parks & Rec truck happened upon that parking lot just a few minutes after they arrived--they know the routine and they know they need to get the miniscule amount of glass that did NOT fall into my car cleaned up.

What if a young mother unknowingly happens upon this crime in progress? This could quite likely happen, given that this crime occurs here every single day. At Lowenstein Park. And a very real danger to the well-being of the citizens who believe this is a wonderful family park. It's an easy target for criminals, quick access to highways and a busy shopping center. And lined with trees so anyone driving by would never know something was up without pulling into the parking lot.

I just thought you should know, because apparently the City of Lee's Summit does not.