Celebration Planned for New Community Policing Facility

SANTA PAULA —  Residents, law enforcement officers and city leaders will celebrate the long-awaited opening of a community policing building at Las Piedras Park.

The celebration--planned for 1 to 5 p.m. Nov. 28 at the park on Saticoy and 13th streets--marks the end and beginning of a three-year dream. And the rocky path that often polarized the community and city officials has led not just to the facility’s opening, but also to a new bond among residents determined to take back a neighborhood they say was overrun by crime and gang activity.

“We all feel it is a dream come true,” said Las Piedras resident Calla Dominguez-Larson. “We can have unity, and we can keep the community safe. It can be done.”

Dominguez-Larson, the driving force behind the project, said an overwhelming number of residents showed up for a planning meeting with Santa Paula Police Chief Walter Adair at the facility Oct. 28.

“We are excited by the opportunity to be there and really, really gratified by the receptive attitude of the neighborhood,” Adair said. “I was impressed by the sincerity with which these people expressed a desire to make their neighborhood a better place.”

The center will be home to several police- and community-run programs and services. The department’s DARE officer moved into the building in late September, and beat officers will use the center to write reports and interview witnesses and crime victims.

The Boys & Girls Club will share an office with the city recreation department and run after-school sports, as well as arts and crafts activities from the facility. City recreation supervisor Brian Yanez said mentoring and tutoring programs will eventually be added.

“I walk up and the kids are right on top of me asking, ‘When are you coming?’ ” said Yanez, who estimates that as many as 60 neighborhood children will participate in the programs. “They are just so excited something like this is going on.”

The Boys & Girls Club is hiring three additional employees to oversee the new programs, Yanez said, although the facility will be primarily staffed by volunteers.

The public celebration will include music, food booths, police and bicycle safety demonstrations, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and speeches by local officials and community leaders.

Dominguez-Larson hopes to have a reunion of residents who grew up in the Las Piedras Park neighborhood at the event. Anyone interested in volunteering to staff booths or historic displays can call Dominguez-Larson at 933-2344.