Santa Ana : Children Have Fun in Drug-Free Park

The sight of more than 500 children enjoying themselves at a Christmas party on Friday afternoon was something that Police Lt. George Saadeh said he would like to see on a daily basis at Madison Park. The party was sponsored by police to symbolize efforts to return the park to the people after years in which it served more as a haven for drug dealers than as a suitable playground for children.

As the children played games and feasted on a seemingly endless supply of hot dogs, hamburgers and potato chips, Saadeh explained how police and the area’s neighborhood associations have launched an “intense” campaign to improve the park, which is located at the corner of Edinger Avenue and Standard Street.

“We are giving the park back to the kids in the neighborhood so that they can use it in the way that it is supposed to be used,” Saadeh said.

The metamorphosis began in September when police conducted the first of three undercover narcotics operations, one of which resulted in the arrests of 49 drug dealers in a span of five hours.

Police have since increased patrols in the area.

Last month, city work crews trimmed the thick bushes and trees that once obscured the park’s parking lot from public view. It was in this parking lot that many of the drug transactions took place, Saadeh said.

“You wouldn’t believe the change,” he said. “There are no more narcotics.”

Marti Baker, principal of James Madison Elementary School next to the park, said she has noticed a significant improvement in the area in recent months. She added that her students are no longer discouraged from playing there and the school is no longer plagued with transient traffic.

“We used to have strangers walking through our campus every day and we were very concerned,” Baker said.