TIJUANA Camino Verde is a troubled neighborhood. Residents have built stark houses that defy gravity across its canyons. The place is a frequent setting for violence, gangs, drug addiction and crime.
But a recreation center built a year ago in the heart of that eastside barrio, home to 3,000 low-income families, is lifting the mood there.
"This park has helped the community so much. At least the kids have a place where they kick the ball around," said Domingo Canseco.
Canseco, a 37-year-old taxi driver, said that since the center was built he walks an hour around the basketball court every morning. His three teen-age children play soccer there in the afternoons.
A soccer field was built next to the recreation center, which has led to the creation of a league where teens and adults can play.
"Not only is this community coming together more but we're engaging many youngsters who couldn't find anything to do," said Fidel Peñuñuri, the league's director. "And the residents themselves look after the center and don't draw on the walls."
Before it became a park, the area was a natural streambed where people dumped trash. It was also a place where thugs hung out, said Flora Rosas, 76. For 20 years she has lived in the neighborhood, where she runs a tiny market now located in front of the recreation center.
"They nearly killed my son-in-law two years ago to steal his cellular phone. They beat him until they thought he was dead," Rosas said. "But now this place has changed. In addition to the new park, there's more police surveillance and they don't let vandals congregate."
The Camino Verde "unidad deportiva" is one of 214 recreation centers that have opened or have been rehabilitated and expanded in Baja California – half of them in Tijuana in the last three years. They are funded by the federal government working with state and municipal agencies.
The parks are green spaces with playgrounds, basketball courts and soccer fields where families can go to exercise, chat or see their children play, all for free.
And more parks are on the drawing boards. Heriberto Félix, who heads the federal agency Social Development, said that 86 recreation centers will be built or rehabbed in the next two years in Baja California, giving the state a total of 300.
Funding for these facilities works this way: For each peso that a municipal government spends on a park, the state gives two and the federal government three.
"A park or a sports field becomes a place where children and young people go to play," said Félix. "We prefer a thousand times more that they compete for a soccer trophy instead of roaming the streets competing to sell drugs."
The officials signed agreements with the governor of Baja California and the five mayors to award the state $22.7 million to build the recreation centers.
Authorities believe that creating such public spaces improves the community's quality of life by reducing gang life, drug addiction and crime.
Omar.millan@sandiegored.com
