Why? Did Writing On An Elevator In Billings Help Anything?

Yesterday, on the way out of the Townsquare Tower, I came across the elevator door in Park 2... and found that someone had decided to adorn it with a new word, scratched into the metal door.

NSFW... Kinda.

On the radio, we are allowed to say this word... in select circumstances... mainly if a song title contains it. But, seeing it carved into the elevator door right when you cross the sky bridge from the DoubleTree Hotel made me stop and think for a beat.

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Mainly, thinking if I was a hotel customer, how seeing this would make me think about my choice of hotel stay...

No, I didn't put a warning on this, because it really isn't THAT bad of a word. Yes, it has a bunch of derogatory meanings... however, as mentioned, if we can say it on the radio, it can't be too bad. One example is Elton John's song, The Bitch Is Back.

Derogatory, yes. But, it's a word we see and hear far more than the F word. So, I hope I didn't hurt any feelings.

Just... Why?

Back to my original thought... what about the hotel guests or conference-goers? Now, I could understand if someone tagged this door with some awesome artwork (you wouldn't catch me complaining either... as anything is better than beige doors...), but scratching this word into the door, and proceeding to try and scratch it out... just disappointing.

So, what do we do about it? I asked Victoria Hill, Public Information Officer for the City of Billings, and here's what she had to say:

Thank you for the heads up on this. I don't understand why people have to do things like this. It would either be our facilities manager, John Caternio, or the parking manager, Tracy Scott.

Victoria forwarded my email, with the image above, to both, and today I reached out to both John and Tracy to hear what they had to say.

First, John Caternio, who told me he was not 100% sure who would handle it, possibly Downtown Billings Alliance, though Tracy would know more.

After leaving a voicemail for Tracy Scott, she called me back and let me know she has rallied her troops (though one is on vacation), to get this in their queue and taken care of.

Short Staffed, But Working Hard

One thing to note, Tracy let me know the night facilities team for the parking garages has one TOUGH job. She said her team works all through the night and recently had to clean up multiple broken beer bottles in a stairwell, and on a near-nightly basis are cleaning up puke, feces, and more from our parking structures. Absolutely gross.

So, knowing that, next time you see a City of Billings facilities worker... let them know you appreciate how hard they work to keep our parking structures clean, and free of dangerous debris. I certainly didn't realize the extent of the issues we have...

What are your thoughts?

Do you think the city is doing enough to prevent these issues? What would be your solution to these problems? Let us know on App Chat or on Facebook!