OGDENSBURG — Ogdensburg police are investigating vandalism at two city playgrounds, with damage at one of them estimated at $2,000 to $3,000.

Police were notified Tuesday morning of the damage at the New York Avenue and Grove Street parks.

City Parks and Recreation Director Matthew J. Curatolo said Wednesday that the New York Avenue park was the hardest hit and sustained $2,000 to $3,000 in damage, which included a bent picnic table and hard plastic slides that were scraped and gouged with a sharp object.

At the park on Grove Street, burn marks and a swastika were found on a slide. They have since been removed.

“That was sick,” Mr. Curatolo said.

Mr. Curatolo has been in this predicament before: Earlier this year, the Grove Street park and the city’s skateboard park in the Greenbelt were vandalized. Mr. Curatolo has suggested security cameras at the latter site. Meanwhile, plans to enhance the playgrounds are on hold because the money for the improvements likely will be spent on something else.

“I want to expand the playgrounds, but now it’s going to be spent on repairs,” he said.

Mr. Curatolo said property damage is the least of his concerns. “The only people that these vandals are hurting are the youth of Ogdensburg,” he said.

Anyone with information on the vandalism is asked to call police at 393-1551.

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