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Community Corner

Aztec Park Is a Hidden Jewel with a Loyal Following

Graffiti, disrepair don't deter users of quiet space in Baltimore Drive residential area.

On a sunny midweek afternoon, Wasim Nakkash has most of Aztec Park to himself.

A few parents with young children dot the playground about 50 yards away up a long, grassy slope. Higher still, a six-table picnic area with barbecues sits empty. Not a picnicker or hot dog in sight.

Meanwhile, Nakkash practices his soccer.

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He keeps the ball in the air with his feet. When it squirts away, he doesn't have to worry about it bouncing into somebody's potato salad or crunching a cockapoo. On this day, he has all the grass he needs.

Which, he says, is both the good and the bad of Aztec Park, just east of Baltimore Drive and north of Parkway Drive.

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"Sometimes it's dead here," says Nakkash, who has lived near the park in this residential area since 2004. "There's nothing going on, no people walking their dogs. Nothing." Which means, of course, there's only so long he can stand just kicking the ball around by himself. There will be no pickup games on this day.

After about 15 minutes, Nakkash packs up his athletic bag and heads for home.

It's not always this way. There are days little Aztec Park–it takes up just less than four acres on a sloping corner at the intersection of Morocco and Aztec drives–is alive with action.

Soccer camps are held. Youth activity groups abound. You'll see women's fitness classes, flying Frisbees and pickup soccer games, too.

Unfortunately,  Nakkash says, self-appointed watchdogs in this quiet community would be happy to keep the emphasis on the "quiet."

Nakkash points out a second-floor condo adjacent to the park where he says a woman comes out to yell at soccer players when their ball hits the wall below her condo.

"These neighbors, sometimes they can get hostile," Nakkash says. "They have nothing to do. They have too much time on their hands."

On this day, no conflict. It's a peaceful park with large, grassy open spaces and shade trees that cool the edge of  the playground.

One large ficus tree has a plaque mounted on a concrete block next to its trunk to honor a community effort that in 1989 saw it transplanted here from downtown La Mesa when the tree already was 30 years old, a testament to donations and a petition drive.

On the playground, several parents herd their preschoolers.

Natalie Fierro of La Mesa often takes her son to Jackson Park–where the play area is fenced in–because her 3-year-old is "a runner" who sometimes takes off  in a sprint without her. She admits she likes the wide-open spaces around the playground at Aztec Park.

"It's prettier (than Jackson Park)," she says. "I like this one."

Unless you happen to live in the neighborhood, you might never find it, however. The park is out of sight and out of mind for most La Mesans.

Yvonne Garrett, La Mesa's assistant city manager and director of community services who oversees the city's 14 parks, says, "It's kind of tucked away. It's a nice little venue for the neighborhood. It's open and accessible."

The playground consists of big and small slides, swings, a rocking bridge and climbing ladders in an area with cushioned rubber padding or soft wood chips. But a down side exists.

In many places, padding is torn and worn; large holes need repair. The damage looks out of place in a park that otherwise seems fresh—though it was completed in 1976 at a cost of $147,520. Tony DeFranko, who brings his grandson Junior to the park almost every day, keeps waiting for the city to fix the damage.

And graffiti mars the park's wall above the picnic area–part of the adjacent condo complex.

Because Aztec Park is one of La Mesa's newer parks, it's not scheduled for repair or upgrade at this time, Garrett says. Other parks have priority.

Greg Humora, the city's director of public works,  is responsible for park maintenance, and he says problems will be addressed if safety becomes an issue.

But neither graffiti nor damaged cushioning prevent Marat Khachaturyan or Rodney Barton from bringing their sons to the park. Both are regulars. Barton lives right across the street with his 3-year-old, Rodney Jr. Khachaturyan lives just a few blocks away with his 2-year-old, Michael. Both can let their kids burn off some energy at the park while they (mostly) sit and watch.

Barton loves Aztec Park's wide-open grass areas, which he says are much different from most parks he visits in San Diego, and he's already "peeping it out" for a future birthday party.

Janice Bruner, also a neighborhood resident, walks her little 13-year-old dog, Mozart, at the park nearly every day, and takes pains to abide by the rules. She keeps her dog on a leash–not everyone does, she says–and picks up after him. Aside from the canine transgressions and the humans who violate the no-smoking rules, Bruner says the park is generally a gem–the common theme of the nearby residents who use it.

As one reviewer posted on a community website, "The nice thing about this park is it is tucked away in a residential area so the traffic volume going past is much lower. Most beautiful park in La Mesa. Hands down."

You just have to find it.

 

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