Modesto to work with La Loma residents on parks

Modesto will work more closely with La Loma neighborhood residents to deal with vagrants who camp overnight, take drugs and drink alcohol, relieve themselves in public and engage in other illegal behavior at Moose and Kewin parks.

La Loma neighborhood resident John Kalal addressed the City Council on Wednesday regarding these problems, and the efforts he and other residents have taken to clean the parks, and asked for the city’s continued help. Kalal and other residents have been working with parks and police officials on making the parks safe and welcoming.

He also asked the council to take these actions: Repair the lights at the parks because a well-lit park deters illegal behavior; have police patrol the parks on foot or bike every few days; remove the Kewin Park restroom, which is closed because of vandalism; install security cameras that residents can monitor on a public website; and ban public feedings in the parks because they create litter and the food waste attracts vermin.

Mayor Garrad Marsh said he did not see why the city could not implement those actions, except for the increased police presence. He said the city does not have the staffing at the present time.

The city is putting a one-half percent sales tax on the November ballot. Because it’s a general tax, it can be used for any general government purpose. But city officials say their intent is to spend the tax on making neighborhoods safer, primarily through hiring more police officers and other public-safety measures.

Councilman Dave Lopez suggested La Loma residents look into having the private security firm that patrols their neighborhoods also monitor the parks.

Council members praised Kalal, and city officials said this is an example of how the city needs to work with the community to solve problems because it does not have the resources to tackle them on its own. Councilwoman Jenny Kenoyer, though, was concerned that the city not single out any particular park for extra attention, as a matter of fairness to other parks. Kalal said he was not asking for extra resources but to reallocate existing ones.

Kalal did not say the word “homeless” during his presentation. Afterward, he said his focus is not on a group of people but on illegal behavior. About 18 La Loma neighborhood residents were at the meeting in support of Kalal.

City officials say they are seeing more homeless people in Modesto and are receiving more complaints about vagrants using drugs and alcohol, sleeping and creating other problems in Modesto parks.

The city is taking steps to address these problems. For instance, the city is looking at an ordinance that would regulate public feedings in parks. The City Council is expected to discuss the proposed regulations at a workshop next week. The council at this week’s meeting approved allocating $250,000 of the federal Community Development Block Grant funding it will spend in its current budget year on homelessness.

The city needs to determine how that money will be spent, and that plan will require council approval. But, in general, the grant money can be spent for transitional and permanent housing as well as supportive services, according to the city.

But the city does not have long-term solutions to homelessness and the problems some of the homeless create. For instance, the effort to clean up Moose and Kewin parks may result in the vagrants in those parks moving on to other city parks. City officials say they are counting on Stanislaus County’s Focus on Prevention effort to develop long-term answers to homelessness. The county is holding a summit as part of that effort Oct. 1 at Modesto Centre Plaza.

This story was originally published August 6, 2015 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Modesto to work with La Loma residents on parks."