Waltham Councilor Says City Needs To Do More For Fernald School After Racist Graffiti

WALTHAM, MA — The Walter E. Fernald State School property is a consistent topic of discussion in Waltham. What will become of the property? What are city officials doing about it?

Recently, however, the condition of the property concerned some locals that racist or neo-Nazi groups may be using it as a hub of activity. Police say that's not the case.

A WBUR report shared photos from a local film instructor, Bryan Parcival, which documented a litany of racist graffiti with connections to the neo-Nazi group Hammerskins.

"At this time there are no indicators that this property is occupied by any groups or individuals. Most encounters of people on the property have been juveniles or young adults from various area communities," police said.

Waltham police responded to the concern from locals sharing that the department performs "frequent" checks on the 196-acre property, which includes surveillance and monitoring of the location.

Through these checks and surveillance, police said officers have arrested or taken out charges against more than 50 people in the last 18 months who have been found at or committed crimes at the property.

"We continue to implement a zero-tolerance approach with these incidents," police said.

As far as racist or other problematic graffiti goes, polices said they reported incidents with a "bias component" to appropriate state and federal law enforcement partners.

Those partners tell police "there are no known organized hate groups operating in the area."

Still, that hasn't quelled the concern of many in the community, including City Councilor Colleen Bradley-MacArthur, who said the images of the graffiti "took [her] breath away."

The councilor further called on city officials to allocate more resources — she said the city sets aside $50,000 in the budget for "security" — to "prevent continued destruction" of the property.