SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -Saturday was the second night five parks were under a new curfew across San Diego. Neighbors were mixed on whether it will affect crime.
Police and neighbors celebrated the new curfew Friday at City Heights Square Mini Park. Police said since January 2019 there's been 217 crimes reported within 1,500 feet of the park, ranging from assault to theft.
READ RELATED: Neighbors celebrate nightly curfew at San Diego parks
Ronald Tieken said he spearheaded the initiative, putting together a survey that he said 50 seniors in the building bordering the park responded to. He said the curfew is the first step in turning the tide in the neighborhood.
Other neighbors disagree.
"It's probably going to up the rate of crime in this neighborhood," Ephraim Denmon III said they just need more people who will stand up to crime to fill the park. He said that or hire a security guard.
"If grown folks are in a grown folks park then they should let grown folks be grown folks," he said arguing the curfew takes away from the neighbors surrounding the park.
"You have your low income and your seniors, the seniors spend most of their time out here after midnight... Smoking a cigarette, drinking a coffee enjoying life," he said.
Tieken said police are on his side, "they have high hopes that they don't have to come every 15 minutes to this park."
City Heights Square Mini Park's nightly curfew is from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Cedar Ridge Mini Park, Montclair Neighborhood Park, North Park Community Park and North Park Mini Park have a curfew from midnight to 6 a.m.
