I am excited about the cleanup at Strawberry Park this week, on Wednesday starting at 3PM. I called one of the organizers, Antonio, who is a street outreach worker, to see how I could get involved. "Show up," he said and chuckled. Antonio is just one of many people who refuse to give up by giving back to the community. (See Amanda's blog post "Volunteers Needed for Park Restoration" to find out how to get involved.)   Strawberry Park is on Strawberry Ave. between Western Ave. and Boston St. near the Stop & Shop.

You may have read about Strawberry Park in the Lynn Item. A while ago, the city decided that taking down the basketball hoops would make the park less of an attraction to gangs. I really don't see how this follows, and it also deprives good kids of a place to hang out and stay active. So a group of citizens is taking the park back by cleaning it up, painting over the grafitti, and painting a mural on the basketball court. It is hoped that once the city sees the lengths to which residents are willing to go, the hoops will be put back up.

It is hard work reclaiming territory ceded to gangs. It's going to take constant, prolonged vigilance. Not that I would know, but Ward 3 Councilor Darren Cyr told me about his neighborhood's long drawn and frustrating but ultimately successful efforts to reclaim a park near the Lynn Swampscott line.

With all the various non-profit programs in Lynn and educational programs focusing on youth council, youth violence, gang preventions, drugs and alcohol, teen pregnancy, parenting class, etc. I'm not certain why Lynn still has such a bad reputation.  Our youth of today do not understand the fundamentals of life. Life is what you make of it; your decisions impact your life. So do the right thing and be different!!!  If you don't try to change things within yourself and your life then you cannot complain about your life. Before you join a gang, do some homework on the history of gangs. Life of a gangster...leads to either death or prison. You decide how you want to live your life. Dead or behind bars....something to think about. You have a choice. Stop the violence!!! 

Upon reading about the woman being harassed by gang members near the Ingalls school and the recent bust of MS-13 gang members in Lynn by Immigration officials and the police, I pondered a question that has been on my mind since moving to this fair city. Are the police sufficiently staffed to maintain law and order in a city of about 88,000 residents in 2006? (81,000, according to State Department of Housing and Community Development, but no year is attached to that number)

A quick visit to the Lynn police website provides one answer. There are 189 sworn officers of which 112 are assigned to patrol. Let's assume that the website is kept up to date and the numbers are correct. That's 2.14 police per 1,000 residents or 2.3 if you believe the State DHCD.  read more »