LOCALS TO KEEP EYE ON PARK RESIDENTS SOLICITING VOLUNTEERS TO HELP DETER VANDALS.

Byline: PATRICIA FARRELL AIDEM Staff writer

SAUGUS -- When Santa Clarita Park, home of the landmark robot slide, was hit by a barrage of racist graffiti, a small group of Saugus residents took it personally.

``This is our park,'' said Mark Weiss of the Saugus Action Committee. ``That's not the kind of thing we will tolerate.''

Weiss, in cooperation with city officials, is helping organize a pilot park watch program, formed under the philosophy of Neighborhood Watch where residents learn to keep an eye on their own.

Sign-ups will be taken at today's rededication of the Seco Canyon Road park. The event is sponsored by the committee and the city and will run from 1 to 5 p.m. The park pool will be open from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. for free swimming, and there will be a barbecue and games.

The event was planned after vandals hit the brand-new playground equipment, inking racist epithets on the $200,000 worth of toys.

``When the parks department wanted to upgrade the play equipment they came to us, made a presentation about what they planned,'' Weiss said. ``We partnered with them, and then to see someone come and deface it like that. No way.

``The city had been toying with a park watch concept. They said, Are you guys interested in being the pilot. We said, You bet.''

The plan is to collect volunteers, then have the crew trained by the Sheriff's Department to keep eyes open and report suspicious activity. The goal is to keep up a presence in the park to deter vandals.

The committee has worked with the city to offer residents' viewpoints on local projects. Members were involved in planning the median landscaping on Bouquet Canyon Road, sponsored two movie nights in the parks and took over the annual Easter egg hunt at Central Park.

When city officials told of plans to remove the giant robot slide because it is outdated and unsafe, the committee rallied to save it as a piece of art, then helped oversee the new playground plans.

The park was built in the 1970s and is one of the city's oldest. The residents feel territorial about it, Weiss said.

``We're hoping to show a presence so these kids know they can't do this again, so they know someone may be watching.''

pat.aidem(at)dailynews.com

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