HAVERHILL — Fifteen years ago, neighbors of one of the city's smallest parks worked closely with police to push drug dealers out. They watched the goings-on at the time, wrote down license plate numbers and eventually the drug dealers were forced to move on.
They gathered on Saturday at the Union Street/McMurrow Park in the city's Acre neighborhood to tell Mayor James Fiorentini they were sick and tired of teenagers and young adults from across the city and maybe even from other towns congregating at the park to play basketball as late as 3 a.m.
"They wake me up almost every night," said Freddie Garcia, 31. "And when the big kids are here during the day, they drive the little kids from the neighborhood out."
Neighbors like Garcia complained to Fiorentini, who met with them at the park to learn about their problems and what the city could do to solve them. Fiorentini brought DPW Director Michael Stankovitch along with police Officer Osmond Hardy.
"I fought to put this park in," Eva Saulnier told the mayor. "There's a lot of noise here, and if it's happening at 3 a.m., we have to call the police."
Pedro Ronquillo, 29, told the mayor that teens and young adults from outside his neighborhood come to the park at night to play basketball. In some cases, they drink alcohol and leave behind empty bottles, he said.
"We see them walking from different directions, 20 people at a time," Ronquillo said.
Hardy told the nearly two dozen neighbors who showed up to complain to the mayor that ordinances ban people from being in city parks past 8 p.m. and to call police if they see anyone in the park past that time.
Fiorentini ordered new signs put up in the park closing the park at 8 p.m. and has ordered police officers to patrol the park later in the evening to make certain the rules are enforced. Several neighbors pointed out that the asphalt paved park is used for off-street parking in the winter. Stankovitch told neighbors the fencing could include large gates that would allow vehicles to enter and exit.
Hardy reminded neighbors that anyone caught in the park after 8 p.m. could be fined anywhere from $25 to $100.
"If they start getting fined for being here they won't be coming back," Hardy said. "We did it at the downtown parking deck with skateboarders."
Saulnier told the mayor she would like to see additional police patrols at night, and said a fence around the park would be a good idea.
"A lot of nice kids play here so we don't want to wreck it for them," Saulnier said.
Fiorentini told the group that if the fence and security camera do not work, he'd be inclined to remove the two basketball hoops from the park.
