Problematic Park Will Get Bigger Fence, Security Cameras

The city will increase the fence height and install surveillance cameras at to improve safety, the Watsonville City Council decided Tuesday evening.

The tiny 0.15-acre park next to the gallery on Sudden Street sports two handball courts and an art gallery, but neighbors say it also draws an unsavory crowd.

Nearby residents have complain about illegal and gang-related activity in the park. Police said they received only four calls in the past year, but neighbors said more is going on.

People are afraid to report the problems, city staff reported.

The issues in the park range from graffiti and late-night use of the park to drinking and drug use, gang activity and truant kids hanging out there. That's what neighbors told city staff at two community meetings in the spring. Also, much of the park—including the handball courts—aren’t visible from the street.

The property was donated to the city in 1997 by James and Marjorie Peixoto with some requirements: the handball courts, that the house be used for recreation and that it be named Emmett Courts Park.

"I've always thought it was a very unique use of space," said City Councilman Manuel Bersamin, adding that he's sure the Peixotos never thought the park would become trouble spot in the neighborhood.

Councilman Oscar Rios said he was on the council when the park was built 14 years ago. He said it's had problems from Day 1.

"The place has become an area where it's not neighborhood-friendly," Rios said.

Police patrols are not effective, because officers can't see the park from the Sudden Street side, and the park isn't well-lit.

Anna Herrera, who has lived next to the park for 11 years in a Habitat For Humanity housing development that surrounds Emmett Courts, said, “they hide and urinate and go to the bathroom and do their business and shoot up, and you’ll find tons of beer bottles.”

In the spring, she said saw what she described as a gang initiation but didn’t call the police, because she was afraid to testify against the gang.

“Now we’ve stopped calling,” she said, explaining that gang members will yell threatening things at her when she phones the cops.

Rios said they should fix the park or close it.

, president of the Pajaro Valley Arts Council, said he would like to have “one more meeting of the minds” before putting 12-foot fences around the whole property that could make the park look too institutional and prison-like.

“I have a feeling there’s a better Plan B than the Plan A that’s being proposed now,” said Rosendale, whose group has developed a garden on the property.

Bersamin said city leaders need to determine what the primary function of the park is—handball courts, gardens, a gang hangout or a safe open place in a neighborhood. He said neighbors should decide that, because they have to live there 24 hours a day; their children shouldn't be threatened, he said.

"I'm in favor of whatever it takes to make them feel safe at night," Bersamin said, explaining that elements like the garden at the park are not the primary function of the park.

The parks department started shutting down the park early on July 1 and locking a newly installed gate.

Up next is doubling the fence height to 12 feet—so people don't climb into neighbors' yards retrieving balls—and putting up security cameras. The safety improvements will cost up to $35,000. City staff will meet with residents to discuss the design