On February, 8, 2016 NBC (
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"Design of Downtown Children's Park Is Attracting Criminals: San Diego City Councilman
In two years, San Diego police responded hundreds of times for reports of petty theft, arson, domestic violence, prostitution, drug possession
By Mari Payton
San Diego Police Department reports show officers responded to the Children’s Park in downtown San Diego more than 400 times in a two-year period.
The park is located on Island Avenue and Front Street, built by the city of San Diego when the city hosted the Republican National Convention in 1996. The tax-payer funded park is described by Google as a place "where ducks swim" and "a kids' playground under the pines."
Area residents and San Diego City Councilman Todd Gloria paint a different picture of the park.
“You never know what's going to happen or what you are going to see, so we never really think of coming here,” Will Carreras, a downtown resident and father of two girls, told NBC 7 Investigates.
He said he would never bring his family to play at the park.
“What we see are people camped out, tents, sometimes shopping carts,” Carreras said.
Gloria said the park has been a concern of his for several years and the physical layout of the park is attracting criminals.
“You have these mounds, and collectively it really creates an opportunity for folks not to be seen, and that's certainly not good for children,” Gloria said.
NBC 7 Investigates reviewed years of police records from the SDPD. The records reveal officers were called to the Children's Park 234 times in 2014 and 226 times in 2015. Some of the crimes recorded by police included petty theft, disturbing the peace with violence, arson in progress, domestic violence, prostitution, vandalism and drug possession."