OXNARD : Colonia Park Gym Offers a Ray of Hope

Larry Acosta beamed as he looked across the sparkling wood floor inside the new gymnasium at Colonia Park in Oxnard.

Acosta, 50, the gym’s part-time director and a self-described “Colonia homeboy from way back,” is not the only one pleased about the 11,000-square-foot cinder-block structure, which opened last week in the Oxnard barrio.

City officials, a neighborhood activist, parents and--most important--youth from the barrio have called the gym a ray of hope in the midst of the park’s unlevel handball courts, crumbling baseball bleachers and empty swimming pool. The new building is equipped with six basketball courts, a small weight room and space for volleyball and floor hockey.

Gil Ramirez, an Oxnard recreation supervisor, said he was glad to see the building finally open after more than two years of planning and construction. The gym towers over an adjacent youth center on the east end of Colonia Park, at Marquita Street near First Street.

“There is nothing else like it in the city,” Ramirez said.

Kathy Mejia, 41, a mother of three who has lived in the neighborhood all her life, said La Colonia has never had anything as nice as the $1.5-million city-run facility.

“It’s pretty,” Mejia, a technician at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, said during a visit last week. “I had to come to see what all the fuss was about.

“I’m glad (the city is) doing something,” Mejia said. “The kids need a lot of coaches, a lot of everything to keep them off of the streets, to inspire them and bring out their talents. It’s rough in the Colonia.”

Last week, young people who came to see the gym said it was “bad” and “fresh.” Mejia’s 15-year-old son, Johnny Zuniga, was among them.

A sophomore at Rio Mesa High School, Johnny said he and his “crew” used to “tag” walls in La Colonia. “But since the gym opened, we haven’t done any writing,” he said.

He said they take pride in the new building and hope that it will be neutral ground for young people--taggers and non-taggers alike--to come and get some exercise.

The City Council, the La Colonia-Rose Park Neighborhood Council and Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria), whose district used to encompass La Colonia, lobbied for a $695,000 federal community development grant and a $450,000 state grant that paid for the building’s construction.

The gym is open from noon to 7 p.m. weekdays with scheduled activities throughout the day. A recreation task force made up of city officials and Colonia residents will meet regularly to discuss future uses for the gym.