OCEAN BEACH, Calif. (KGTV) - Bongs, needles, urine-soaked benches, and naked women in the bathrooms -- these are all things parents of youth softball players say their children have encountered over the past six months at Robb Park in Ocean Beach.
“This is permitted as a recreation facility and park for kids to use,” said Jamie Reid, president of the Peninsula Youth Softball Association. “It can’t happen here anymore,” referring to the various illegal and unsavory activities at the park.
While Ocean Beach has long been known as a haven for transients and drugs, Reid said the activity in the park has gotten worse.
“I hear that what has happened is that when the hepatitis outbreak occurred, that it pushed the homeless people who are drug users toward us,” he said.
Whatever the cause, the effect has been a clash between two worlds. Reid said girls have found two hypodermic needles recently. He also stumbled upon another bizarres sight: an oversized teddy bear on the hood of a car with a bong on top of it.
Reid said the final straw was a fight that broke out Tuesday night. He said two men began going at each other behind the bleachers as a team of 10-year-old girls were practicing.
He said he plans on meeting with city leaders to find a solution. He hopes to get regular police patrols in the park when children are practicing in order to deter illegal activity.
