ANTI-GANG EFFORT MAY ALLOW PARK TO STAY OPEN LATER.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

After a monthlong display of strong community involvement and a police crackdown on gang activity at Hubert Humphrey Memorial Park, city officials told residents Wednesday night that they hope to reopen the park to normal operating hours by Aug. 1.

Currently, the staff locks the park gates at 8 p.m. - two hours shy of normal operating hours, which are from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. During the winter, the park closed as early as 6:30 p.m.

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who originally called for shortening the park's hours for safety reasons, told 30 community residents at the Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley that he plans to improve illumination at the park by purchasing two new lights at a cost of $10,000. He said the better lighting eases his concerns about crime and violence.

Recreation and Park Commissioner LeRoy Chase also promised that beginning today trees that hinder the existing lighting will be trimmed, other lights will be adjusted and the park buildings will be painted.

``Light has the potential of chasing the gangs into the darkness,'' Chase said.

A teen was killed and two others injured in a gang-related shooting at Humphrey Park in 1995. And within the past four months, there were three shootings between gangs, according to Sgt. Gordon Wade of the Los Angeles Police Department.

In early June, police patrols increased, resulting in five felony arrests, 13 misdemeanor arrests and 30 citations written in the 9.5-acre Pacoima park, officials said.

Even so, residents near the park wanted the hours extended for the summer for their children to take advantage of the facility, which hosts a playground, baseball fields, a year-round swimming pool, indoor gym and child care facility.