CYPRESS PARK : Jimenez Gym to Be Dedicated Saturday
The Cypress Park gymnasium will be dedicated Saturday to the memory of Jay Jimenez, a former gang member who had worked to stop gang violence before he was slain last summer.
“We’re going to tell people why we’re doing this,” said Art Pulido, who has pushed for the dedication. “We’re going to show what can happen if someone turns their life around and works to help the community, that they’ll be remembered this way.”
The ceremony will include speeches by public officials and residents who knew Jimenez, who was 32 when he was killed July 16 in a hail of bullets that also wounded two friends just north of the park after they had played a baseball game. No arrests have been made in the case.
After Jimenez was wounded in a 1977 shooting that resulted in a friend’s death, he and Pulido founded CLEVER, a grass-roots organization aimed at stopping gang violence.
Jimenez’s friends gathered 1,200 signatures and petitioned the city and the Recreation and Parks Commission to dedicate the gym in his memory.
Festivities begin at noon at the gym, 2630 Pepper Ave.
Information: (213) 487-9064.
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