As the future of Washington Park has been discussed by the city’s Parks & Recreation Commission, concerns have been raised about unlawful activity at that location.

City of Warren Police Chief Joe Sproveri told the commission that his department’s goal is to patrol Washington Park each night.

“Facts kill rumors,” Sproveri said. “We make a goal to get up to Washington Park as often as we can at night. The reality is it is challenging.”

Busy hours — Friday and Saturday night — can be difficult.

“(It’s) going to be hit or miss whether we happen to cross paths with whoever might be up there at the time,” he added.

Sproveri presented call data for the last four years on calls coming from Washington Park. He described those numbers as “pretty consistent.”

In 2018, there were 16 calls for service — three were during daylight hours made by the public and 13 were self-initiated by officers after-hours when the park is closed. There were 11 calls — one daylight and 10 self-initiated — in 2019, 15 — one daylight and 14 self-initiated in 2020 and, so far in 2021, 14 calls, three in the daylight and 11 self-initiated by officers.

Sproveri explained that the self-initiated calls are almost always “finding people or vehicles in the park after the park is supposed to be closed.”

He said officers have come into drug possession or underage drinking issues with those calls but said that’s “rare.”

In most instances, “the only thing they’re doing wrong is that they’re there after hours.”

Sproveri told the commission that “some of the more serious issues from several years ago” stemmed from the park’s listing as a casual encounter site on Craigslist.”

He didn’t address any of the specific proposals for the park but did say that “in my professional opinion, drawing more goodwill people to that area” would cut back on incidents like these.

There had been reference in a past meeting to a sexual assault that allegedly occurred at the park and Sproveri said there’s no record of an incident like that dating back to 2007, though he acknowledged it could have happened outside of the city.

“If there was a sexual assault that occurred on city property,” he said, “(it) would not have been handled the way it was described.”

ATMOSPHERE OF DEBATE QUESTIONED

The discussion over what to do with the park has been contentious to say the least.

Commission member Kirk Johnson has proposed that the site be turned into a nature preserve, comparing it to the Anders Run Natural Area in Irvine or the Jamestown Audubon Society.

He said the proposal would prohibit timber harvesting or management and require any nature trails to be goot traffic only.

The proposal, he explained, would “let nature rule the dice” for the future.

Johnson, as executive director of Friends of Allegheny Wilderness, is also championing a proposal to prohibit the concept of shared-use trails on the Allegheny National Forest out of a purported fear of e-bikes, mountain bikes with electrically-powered assist capacity.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Johnson took exception to the consultant’s use of the word “phases” for the proposed project.

“(It) kind of implies first phase one then we’ll do phase two,” he said, “and each one of these phases are a desirable outcome. Whereas in reality maybe we don’t even want to do anything or almost anything.”

“I don’t think today is the day for that discussion,” City Public Works Director Mike Holtz said.

Commission Chair Mike Suppa disputed Johnson’s use of the word “we.”

“Please don’t speak for the whole committee,” he told Johnson. “You can say your opinion…. I’m not using ‘we.'”

“The phases don’t pre-ordain any other phases,” Suppa added, calling them “kind of separate and distinct of each other. I think that’s a normal terminology to use.”

“The committee as a whole voted to continue to finish this plan,” Holtz noted. “Nobody ever gets all of what they want.”

Johnson’s approach to disputing this potential project drew public backlash.

“I find some concerns with one committee member’s mischaracterization of mountain bikers,” Andy Georgaikis explained. “I just want to bring to light that doesn’t speak to me as a resident and what I would like to see for this community as a taxpayer.

“I feel that some of the outside propaganda campaigns have,” he added, created “more static than they need to.”

Rich Hatfield thanked the commission for taking this project on.

“There is one member of the commission,” he said, speaking of Johnson, “there is some social media work I really would ask the city and commission to consider if (that’s) how (they) want to present this topic. I just find it to be very adversarial and divisive.

“We can have a conversation where we disagree,” he added. “Some of the rhetoric goes way beyond disagreement (with) some horrible things being said about the city. It’s really disturbing.

“I want constructive dialogue. This is not right.”