When the Toppenish City Council begins budget deliberations later this year, they’ll have some pressing considerations related to two of the city’s parks.
At the Council’s Aug. 2 study session, council members got reports from City Planner Bill Rathbone, Parks and Recreation Director James Cole, and Police Chief Adam Diaz about the gazebos at Olney and Lincoln parks.
The structure at Olney Park is the more deteriorated of the two, Rathbone said, but Lincoln Park’s gazebo has complicating factors that may well require a more substantial investment.
That’s because the park and gazebo are “a major focus” for gang activity, according to Diaz.
Residences and vehicles in the vicinity of the park are constantly tagged with graffiti.
“It promotes fear,” said Diaz.
He showed photos of graffiti in which Toppenish officers were named and which incorporated implied death threats.
He said Toppenish officers are called to the park on average once every 24 hours.
“These are hardcore kids,” Diaz said.
In his presentation, Diaz showed segments of video taken during officer contact with gang members.
It is common during police contacts there to find drugs, drug paraphernalia such as syringes and pipes, and weapons, Diaz told council members.
Perhaps more chilling than the video taken by Toppenish police was video Diaz showed that come from the Internet, which had been taken and posted apparently by gang members, showing Toppenish police vehicles and officers.
He said residents of the area around the park “feel they’re being watched by a bunch of thugs,” Diaz said.
He said many of the residents would like to see the gazebo torn down.
Diaz told the council he favored removing the structure unless changes were made to the design of a replacement.
Those changes should include additional lighting and chain-link fencing.
If you have the gazebo there, you’ll have gang members there,” Diaz said. “If you don’t design it right, tear it down.”
Cole said he had gotten two estimates to replace the gazebos with structures of roughly similar construction.
One of those estimates was $18,000 and one was $30,000.
Cole said the gazebos were rented quite frequently by Toppenish residents.
Some temporary repairs have been made to the structures, and they are safe for the time being.
But Rathbone said because the gazebos are 50 years old, it would be best to look at new structures.
“They both need replacement,” he said.
He recommended the gazebo in Olney Park be replaced first if the council decided to  replace both at the same time.