Group to begin patrolling Lions Park

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- The Lions Park Assn. announced plans Tuesday to begin

daily patrols of Lions Park to protect against the razor blades and glass

shards that have been found at Newport-Mesa parks since April.

“We’re going to try to go every day, but at random times, so people

will never know when we’re going to show up,” said Bill Turpit, a member

of the association. “Then we will maintain a log of what we find and will

share that information with the city to help maintain the park. The city

is doing a fine job now, but we think it would be helpful to have

neighborhood eyes and ears.”

Glass fragments and razor blades have been found in parks on nine

occasions, including April 24, when several razor blades were found at

Lions Park. Glass shards were found a week ago at Circle Park in Newport

Beach.

Costa Mesa’s parks department already inspects the three parks where

razor blades have been found -- Heller Park, Pinkley Park and Lions Park

-- three times a day, said Public Services Director Bill Morris.

Park rangers also patrol parks throughout the city and are keeping a

close eye on the Westside parks, said Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dale Birney.

“Between those two entities, the parks are being checked pretty

regularly, but any time we can get a group that wants to assist us in

doing our job, we think that’s great,” he said. “It’s terrific they want

to get involved and are doing what they can do to try to make the park

safer. The only direction we have to them is that if they find anything,

not to touch it and to call our regular dispatch number.”

Aside from checking for razor blades and glass shards, the group hopes

to get a better understanding of the park’s users and the condition of

the park, Turpit said.

“We will be able to monitor use of the park to be able to make

recommendations to the city based on firsthand knowledge of how the park

is used and maintained,” he said. “We recognize that this is something

that is easy to do, and we would learn a lot more about the park. People

were enthusiastic.”

The association has scheduled a meeting at 7 p.m. June 7 at Lions Park

to discuss the park-watch program in more detail.