A group of about 35 people gathered at the base of the hill at Teegatha' Oh Zheh Park on Main Street Friday afternoon to voice a shared sense of outrage at ongoing acts of vandalism and under-age drinking in their neighbourhood.

The meeting was announced after a park boardwalk was lit on fire and graffiti, including the words, "Drink, Drank, Drunk” were found scrawled on a cement walkway.

The residents say the vandalism is a common occurrence in the area.

"This is a beautiful area,” said Kirk Cameron who lives on Hanson Street.

"I use the walkway, my son uses it, we walk along here. But, especially late at night, it can be a scary place to be.”

A number of residents mentioned calls made to the RCMP, numbering in the hundreds over the last few years.

For their first meeting, they gathered alongside a fountain at the base of the hillside to discuss options to deter crime in the area.

Suggestions included installing cameras, organizing citizens' patrols through the park, tearing out the benches and the fountain, clearing some of the bush to reduce cover and creating a public dog walking area in the park to draw more people to the site.

Whitehorse Centre election candidates Patrick Singh and Marian Horne attended the event to hear the concerns being raised by the group.

"It's interesting to hear people's ideas. I want you to take these ideas and put them through to government because we have to work together if we are going to solve these problems,” said Horne, the Justice minister who is running again for the Yukon Party. She suggested some options of her own, including introducing RCMP cavalry units to patrol the park.

Some residents voiced concern for the safety of the youth themselves.

"I am worried about young women, especially in this area,” said local resident Tamara Van Der Berg.

"I myself have rescued numerous young women who have been passed out, totally, in the bushes, all the way from Wheeler Street all the way to Hawkins, and to me that's a real issue. They are coming up here and we have young women being left in the bushes and forgotten. That's got to stop.”

Other comments reflected the group's mounting frustration and fear for their safety and their property.

"We need live-feed cameras and RCMP in bigger areas like this, and the lookout (on the cliffside) because they are always out there, every morning. It's ridiculous,” said resident Rob MacKay. " I am just so mad about this whole situation.”

"In my lifetime, they have moved from the riverbank to up here at the hill,” said Cathy Sheardown, who also lives in the area.

"Every time we improve a place, they just find another place to go. They are a portion of our society that ain't going away. A lot of us work in the justice system and we see what's happening and it's not working.”

The crowd eventually walked up the hill and confronted a group of about six youth, who began to leave as they approached.

As they did, a local resident who said he could not give his name because of the Oct. 11 territorial election shouted, "Get out of here! We've had enough of your violence and your drinking! Don't ever come back!”

Some expressed a belief that the problem may be a symptom of greater social issues within the community.

"We've got the usual social problems that are unfortunately there in most cities in this country,” said Cameron.

"But unfortunately, what we've got is that they centre their activities around this particular part of town. I think what needs to happen is that we, the citizens, need to come and spend a lot more time using these areas, and at some point they will just disappear.

"That doesn't solve the problem, but from the point of view of our safety and our ability to use the park, it does help.”

Singh, who did not come up the hill to confront the teens, called for more attention to youth to deter crime before it begins.

"These people out there aren't bad people, they just have bad conditions,” the Liberal candidate said.

"With the kids, they're bored and they might have bad family structures. It's important to find out what these children need, because they are children, they are just kids, and every time we band together, it becomes what we just saw here. They don't see it from our perspective; they just say, ‘Here is another group of people that are trying to hurt us, to take away what little we have left. To them, this is a place to get away from their family, to be secure in their own numbers.”

The group will meet again, they say and call on the City of Whitehorse and the RCMP to help them find a solution to an issue they believe has gone on far too long.