CHULA VISTA, Calif. — Harborside Park in Chula Vista is still closed this holiday weekend, but the city's mayor says it could partially reopen soon.
Chula Vista closed Harborside Park during the summer of 2022 for 90 days, but keeps extending the closure.
On the Friday night before Easter, there are still no sounds of bouncing basketballs. But Chula Vista Mayor John McCann says in the next month or two, the basketball courts could be back open while the city comes up with a bigger, long term solution.
"The great news is that we’re going to open some of the facilities so people can still play basketball, they still can utilize the park, but it will continue to be limited. It would be a decision by the full council to open it up partially if we want to do that," McCann said.
The city surveyed neighbors and found people want a nicer, open space park with better playground equipment, and they want it safe for their children.
“This is the Harborside community’s park and they want to keep it as a park. There’s some enhancements that we’ve listened to like putting a ranger station there, putting a recreation center there," McCann said.
During this same period in 2022, homeless encampments, crime, and open drug use was so rampant, parents worried about their kids who went to Harborside Elementary right next door.
So the city shut down the park and evicted the homeless people living there.
Homeless advocates want to know what the city is doing for the 75 people who use to live there, and for the growing homeless population in Chula Vista.
“We are actually building a shelter which we hope to have open in the next month or two. We believe creating the bridge shelters with 66 bungalow units is going to be a good measure of getting people off the streets,” McCann said.
The bungalow style units will be for families or people with a pet. The park's Master Plan will be presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission on April 27 at the Loma Verde Community Center.
McCann says he believes Harborside Park will be part of the discussion.
Several city parks have been listed for grant money for revitalization but Harborside Park is not on any list.
McCann promised the city is committed to investing in its future. People in the community CBS 8 spoke with tell us they’ve heard the city will build some sort of housing where the park is now.
But McCann says housing is not in the works. “We're listening to the community. What I want to do is make sure it has a park there. We’ve dedicated it to being open space park and it's next to a community that deserves to have that," McCann said.
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