Turf Up for Grabs : As Parents Decry Plans to Close Some County Parks, Gangs Wait to Take Them Over

Saybrook Park hasn’t closed yet, but predators are already circling for the kill.

Like everyone else in this East Los Angeles neighborhood, local gangs have heard that the county plans to close Saybrook in a desperate attempt to balance the 1995-96 budget. In the last week, several Eastside gangs have called meetings to discuss whether to divide the park turf peacefully or go to war, park officials say. Neighborhood children, for whom Saybrook now offers an oasis from violence, have already been warned.

“The rival gangs are hitting all the parks, telling the kids they’ll have to stay away or get jumped in,” says Bill Meehan, president of the Saybrook Park Baseball Assn., which serves 600 youths.

Saybrook is one of six parks on the Eastside and south Los Angeles that are slated for closure. The others are Atlantic Avenue Park and Pool in East Los Angeles, Athens Park and Pool in Athens, Col. Leon H. Washington Park and Pool and Enterprise Park and Pool in south Los Angeles, and Ladera Park in Ladera Heights.

For thousands of youths, these parks provide the only respite from the inner city’s mean streets. Recreation centers are busy from morning until night, offering free lunches, karate and dance classes, sports activities and self-esteem programs.

Working parents also count on them for day care, dropping children off for a full day of activities at park-run summer day camps. Saybrook’s program alone has about 100 youths, and the parks’ closure will leave them stranded.

“I don’t know what I’ll do; I can’t afford to send my kids to the [YMCA], and my parents are in their 80s--too old to take care of them,” says Margarita Lozano, who works at the California Department of Motor Vehicles and has three children in Saybrook’s day-camp program.

As part of far-reaching cuts to help close a $1.2-billion budget gap in the 1995-96 fiscal year, the county has ordered 20% cuts in most departments, including Parks and Recreation. The parks department will receive $9.1 million less than it did last year, which prompted the decision to close 30 parks and six swimming pools countywide.

At the county parks, as many as 150 employees will be laid off, including 65 out of 75 activities directors at the recreation centers. Already, layoff notices that will be effective Friday have gone out to those staffers.

The Board of Supervisors, which held hearings earlier this month, will begin deliberating the parks closures Tuesday, but decisions are not expected until the budget is finalized. In hopes of relief from the state, board members have traveled to Sacramento to appeal to Gov. Pete Wilson and state lawmakers for help.

In the meantime, the county is keeping the parks open until Sept. 17 by sacrificing recreation programs, said Sheila Ortega, a spokeswoman for the Department of Parks and Recreation. A proposal to lay off 44 of the 88 park police is also on hold until then.

But if that fails, the county expects to board up the recreation centers at each park, turn off water and electricity and stop maintenance. Although the parks won’t be fenced off, park staff paint a dismal picture of closed, abandoned parks that will draw crime, transients and vandals.

“There’s definitely concern that crime will go up,” says Velia Rosales, regional recreation director of parks for East Los Angeles. “The parks won’t be safe. They will become a haven for people who are loitering and can get themselves into trouble. We’re dealing with kids who are happy to come to parks so they don’t have to submit to peer pressure to join gangs. Without the parks, these kids don’t get choices, they don’t get opportunities.”

At Saybrook, all six staffers and four summer interns will lose their jobs, including Kathy Avina, the recreation service leader, who has worked at Saybrook for seven years.

Last week, one of her staffers noticed some gang members congregating at nearby Belvedere Park and walked over to find out what was up. The staffer thought the gang was planning a carwash, Avina said. Instead, the gang members explained they were meeting to discuss taking over the parks when the county leaves.

“And what’s going to happen to these kids?” Avina asks, looking around at the gaggle of children who follow her every move, hanging around the park even after the organized activities end because they feel comfortable there. “They’re going to be on the corner, getting into gangs and drugs.”

One youth taking advantage of the park this summer is Marlene Estrada, 15, who is enrolled in a summer program to teach skills and bolster self-esteem. She also helps the younger children with their activities.

Without the park, “I’d be going out on the street. There’s really nothing to do at home,” she explains.

Rosales says gang members don’t hang around the park when there are organized activities. In fact, the parks are neutral territory by day and provide a safe zone.

Parents in these neighborhoods often won’t let their children play outside their homes for fear of gangs and drug dealing. For many, the county parks are an extension of home, providing green grass and fresh air for picnics and sports.

“Where are we going to bring our kids without the park? They are safe here,” said Teresa Nunez, who has six children.

“We don’t want our kids to grow up to be cholos ,” added Maria Guadalupe Leon, who has three children.

To save their park, these parents have launched a petition drive that has already collected 10,000 signatures. Many of the sheets are illustrated with children’s drawings of people playing in the park.

One recent afternoon, Leon angrily told a visitor that the people who want to close the parks can’t imagine how devastating it will be to their community.

“What about people without money?” she asked. “Where can they go for fresh air, for recreation? Please think of the children.”