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- h March 28,2005 ',7O1 <br /> Mayor Kitty Piercy <br /> City Councilors <br /> City Manager Dennis Taylor <br /> Chief of Police Robert Lehner <br /> Parks Director Johnny Medlin <br /> Dear Eugene Officials, <br /> We are a group of neighbors on and around West 4 Avenue in Eugene who call <br /> ourselves Friends of Scobert Gardens. We started this grass roots organization seven <br /> years ago to counteract the drug dealing, drug and alcohol consumption, prostitution, <br /> obscene language and inappropriate behavior (fist fights, screaming, urination, <br /> defecation) that plague our lovely neighborhood park during the summer months. <br /> For the past seven years, we've held a plant sale to raise money for free summer <br /> activities in the park: Tai Chi lessons; concerts; dance lessons; face painting and games <br /> for kids. Our idea being that if law abiding people were participating in various positive <br /> and pleasurable activities the criminals would either leave or desist from engaging in <br /> criminal activity. <br /> Our efforts have been fairly successful over the years. The back section of the <br /> park being fenced and locked has been beneficial, too. Junkies no longer have as many <br /> places to hide when shooting up. <br /> Last spring, a friendly, uniformed Eugene police officer would stroll around the <br /> park, talking to parents, the children and the homeless men and women from our <br /> community who use the park. As a result, the drug dealers and users made themselves <br /> scarce, making the park a pleasant place to be. <br /> By summer, the officer no longer patrolled the park and things took a turn for the <br /> worse. There seemed to be some sort of turf war going on among the criminals, and even <br /> the homeless people were avoiding the park. From dawn till dusk, cars turned around in <br /> our driveways, driving up and down the street, waiting for the dealers to arrive. Some of <br /> us called the police repeatedly to report license numbers or descriptions of individuals. <br /> By the time the squad cars arrived, the cars or the individuals were long gone. <br /> Our neighborhood's homes and apartment buildings are filled with young <br /> children who should be able to make use of the wonderful (and expensive) playground <br /> equipment provided by the city. But none of these parents wants their kids exposed to the <br /> ugly language and criminal behavior that is so prevalent in Scobert Park during the <br /> summer months. (We picked up more than a dozen used syringes last summer and the <br /> park's maintenance people found even more.) <br />