Odd Location

Odd Location

Last week I was invited to a birthday party for my friends little sister. The party was at a small park in the city of Alhambra, here in Los Angeles. The recreational area was nice with playgrounds, picnic tables, and a pond with a beautiful walkway around it for joggers or pleasant walks. However, while observing the beauty of this small park filled with children and families, I noticed something very odd right next to it, a Jail! This was very disturbing. The jail was so close to the park that they shared the same parking-lot. Seeing this made me very upset! There should not be a park filled with children next to a jail where inmates can leave during the day and roam-around this area.

The jail is located on 211 south 1^st, Alhambra, and the park next to it is small and located by a public library. While at the party filled with young children, I saw an inmate being released. It made me uneasy knowing that there are children playing in sandboxes and swinging on swings, enjoying their youth, while criminals or possible predators are being released next to them. I addressed my feelings to my friend and she agreed, but argued that there are police around because of the jail, making the park safe. Sure there are police that work in the station and are in the area and some may agree with her argument, however, a jail next to a park with children still isn’t right in my mind. Furthermore, I do not understand why the city of Alhambra allowed a park to be next to a jail. Especially a park with a play ground, because this attracts families and children. I understand that every city needs an amount of recreational areas but not next to a jail and just because there are police that work in the area doesn’t make it right either. In addition, I researched the crime rates in the area and saw that out of 297 reported crimes 158 were robberies and 119 were assaults and 20 were miscellaneous, however, if compared to other areas in Los Angeles, they say that Alhambra is fairly safe, but still has criminal assaults (alhambra.areaconnect.com). With that being said, a playground next to a jail still does not seem logical.

Also, besides it being by a park, I would like to briefly argue why parents take their children there and why does the city allow this? Parents might believe that it is alright because there are police in the area, as my friend stated, or because Alhambra’s crime rates may be lower than other Los Angeles cities, but I still do not find this to be alright. The park is so close where they share the same parking-lot and the park has a playground. This makes it easy to possibly harm a child, and sure a police officer can arrest the criminal again, but cannot reverse any trauma the child may get if this happens. Although, I couldn’t find any current assaults online that may have occurred at the park, but this could be because my friend told me that the playground was new, so that is possibly why. Nevertheless, I found this to be disturbing. To resolve this issue I think the playground should be removed so children and families would no longer go there. A park with recreational family activities next to a jail should be relocated to prevent any harm.

-Yenitza Munoz