Woman: Blogger Oneita Jackson Owns Up to Vandalism

DETROIT - It is one of Detroit's newest attractions, but that is not the main reason it is making news. Part of the Cinco de Mayo celebration included the opening of the long awaited Bagley pedestrian bridge over I-75 reuniting Mexicantown and Detroit. However, the bridge is already full of graffiti, and one person is getting a lot of attention.

Detroit Free Press blogger Oneita Jackson was caught on tape tagging a bench at the newly opened, much anticipated Bagley pedestrian bridge in Mexicantown. The Detroit News posted the video on its website, and Jackson quickly posted an apology in her popular "O Street" column.

She also went to the Welcome Center at the foot of the bridge to turn herself in.

"I was taken aback when she came in," said Camilla Mitchell with the Mexicantown Welcome Center. "She's like, 'I did this... I vandalized the bridge.'

Mitchell says she was caught off guard. Rain had already washed Jackson's name off the bench, but Mitchell knew who she was.

"I have... read her things, and she's really into... the image of Detroit and kind of voicing that," Mitchell said. "To have that done... it's a little disappointing."

However, Mitchell was impressed Jackson admitted her mistake.

"You could tell in her face she really, really felt bad about it. She really did, and she really wanted to fix it... but it threw me off a little bit. You don't get that too often where people will come in and kind of fess up when they do things like that," said Mitchell.

There is no trace of Oneita Jackson's name on the bench. Apparently, though, some guy named Jose has been quite busy proclaiming his love for someone named Mary. All in all, people just seem to be enjoying the pedestrian bridge, and they are hoping people keep it clean.

You can see where other people have already carved their names into the bench and left their mark on the bridge itself. The Michigan Department of Transportation says cleaning up graffiti does get expensive, but more importantly, they want people to take pride in the $7-million project to unite southwest Detroit.

As for Jackson, we did reach her by phone, but she declined our request for an interview.