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Local Group Gets Back Park Used by Gangs

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A Valley community group will resume sports activities at Hubert H. Humphrey Memorial Park today after being forced out two years ago by persistent gang activity.

KYDS, or Keep Youth Doing Something, previously ran free basketball and softball leagues at Humphrey, but called it quits in 1995 after gang members sprayed the park with bullets and killed a rival while teens in the program played softball nearby.

“Bullets were flying. The kids were afraid,” said KYDS executive director Sandy Kievman. “Because of all the problems they were having in the park, we had to stop our programs.”

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About 60 teens, ages 13 to 18, already have signed up for the new Saturday basketball league, resuming today, Kievman said.

“We’re trying to ease back into it now. We hope the park will be safer, she said.”

A dusk curfew that went into effect at the park four months ago because of renewed gang violence is still in effect, but park and police officials said they have recently made changes at Humphrey that will help to bring back families who have been scared away by gangs.

In the past few months, the city Department of Recreation and Parks has scrubbed away graffiti, improved lighting and fixed a broken fence gang members used to get in and out of the park, officials said.

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And, despite a shooting last month, LAPD Foothill Division Capt. Ronald Bergmann said increased police presence in and around the park is having a positive effect.

“We want to bring it back so the park is for everyone to enjoy, not just a place for gang members to gather,” Bergmann said.

Kievman said she is pleased but cautious about returning KYDS to Humphrey.

“These kids have so little to do, so few places to go,” she said. “We use sports as a way to draw them in and then we try to get them involved in educational and vocational programs. That’s where you see the difference.”

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To inquire about the free basketball program at Humphrey, call KYDS at (818) 908-2029.

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