Raleigh Lions Park residents feel unsafe after repeated vandalism

Repeated vandalism in Raleigh’s Lions Park neighborhood had already cost one homeowner about $6,000 in repairs, and neighbors said the damage had made them feel “totally unsafe” in a place where they expected to feel at home.

The resident told ABC11 the vandalism had happened multiple times since last June, turning routine home upkeep into a costly, ongoing burden. Beyond the repair bill, the repeated damage changed how people used their porches, yards and streets, as residents worried about what would be broken next and whether the problem would ever stop.

That anxiety also carried a social cost. The homeowner said she believed neighborhood children were responsible, a detail that added tension to an issue that was no longer just about broken windows or damaged siding. It raised harder questions about how adults, families and young people in the area were interacting, and what kind of intervention could prevent more damage before it escalated further.

The Lions Park complaints fit a broader pattern that nearby residents had described earlier along Glascock Street and Addison Place. In that April 22 report, neighbors said they had dealt for months with break-ins, property damage and rock-throwing incidents. Raleigh police said some of the children involved were as young as 7 years old, and one family said a rock thrown through a window nearly hit their 6-month-old son.

Residents in that area said they had contacted the Raleigh Police Department and councilmember Corey Branch for help. Branch said he was working with police and families involved, and said the goal was to intervene early. Community organizations had also offered support, as neighbors looked for a response that addressed both the damage already done and the behavior that kept repeating.

City of Raleigh crime data, which is available through an online crime-mapping tool and updates automatically from incident data, gives residents a way to track reported activity across the city. For Lions Park, though, the immediate issue was more personal: repeated vandalism had already changed daily routines, drained household budgets and left neighbors questioning how safe their own block really was.