WASHINGTON PARK

865 E Grand Ave, Pomona, CA 91766

Washington Park stands along among the surveyed parks in that it was the park with most use during our assessment times, had the most available sports fields, and is the second park within the city that has a public pool available for use. At 22 acres, it is the second largest park surveyed dedicated to only park use and has 3 baseball fields, a very large open green space that could be used for soccer, football, or any other outdoor activity, plenty of parking, a large playground facility, two full-court basketball courts, two tennis courts, and a community center that is in use as a senior citizen activity facility. The park is located in the heart of Pomona in a residential area along East Grand Ave. between San Antonio and Towne St. There are 4 schools within a mile or less to Washington Park and the residential area in the immediate vicinity is mostly high-density housing with several apartment complexes directly across the street.  Similar to issues in the other parks surveyed, Washington Park’s bathroom were also locked and inaccessible to park users unless there was a sports activity at the time. There are additional bathrooms in the senior citizen facility but those were also not accessible by other park users. The open green space was mowed, but not trimmed around the edges, but there was an absence of gopher holes, so the playing surface was safer than Philips Ranch. The playground equipment was also ample and in good shape and the basketball courts were free of cracks and the rims did have nets. The tennis courts, while not in use during observation, would not be considered in good shape as there was pockets of standing water due to uneven surfaces and the nets were detached from the poles and laying on the ground [Table 5].
During assessment and observation periods in the midweek afternoon period, there was no use of the sports facilities at the time, yet there were a few people in the park. There were several transients along the north perimeter of the park that was not directly accessible from the parking lot amongst bush and shrubbery. There were two vehicles parked in the parking lot that were clearly the domicile of the occupants based on the observation of large amounts of clothing, camping gear, and overall condition of the vehicle. Two researchers were also followed by a gentleman with known gang tattoo and other insignia on his person during in what appeared to be a large drug transaction taking place in the parking lot. It was observed that multiple packages were being moved from one vehicle into another and this same person was seen visiting several vehicles with passengers in the car. It was determined that for the safety of the researchers, leaving the area was best. Upon returning the following day, a Saturday, every baseball field was in use by league play and the park had a very different feel to it. The playground was in use and there were several people playing basketball and on in the open grass area. The vehicles that were being used as the living arrangement and the transients along the northern border of the park were no longer visible.