Children in the Logan neighborhood are free to play anywhere in the area, including the small playgr
ound in Chepa’s Park. Residents consider the park safe – by day at least, and also on community “Movie Nights,” when the handball courts are transformed into a theater where local residents can enjoy a nice evening with family and friends.Overall, residents consider Logan safe, saying it’s outsiders who bring trouble into the neighborhood. Gangs that sometimes hang out at the handball courts late into the night, can leave g
raffiti behind. People of the Logan community take pride in their neighborhood and address issues the best they can. They remove graffiti as soon as they see it, and they’re continually working on creative ways to improve safety. A current initiative is to persuade the city to take down the park’s handball courts, in order to discourage gangs from coming into the neighborhood.News travels fast
According to a local resident, the granddaughter of “Chepa” Andrade, Logan is a very close-knit community. “News travels fast,” she said, recalling a time when news about her and a family member reached her home before she had. She enjoys living in the Logan neighborhood because of the tight social network they have. Her family has a rich history here and are strong advocates for the community.
Logan Park’s recreation center serves as an information hub for the community – a place where residents can meet formally, where they can learn about news affecting the community, and where they can connect with services such as Latino Health Access, a non-profit agency that helps underserved, uninsured people in the Logan community improve their health and quality of life.
Preserving the community
Latino Health Access also partners with community leaders in the Logan neighborhood to help ensure residents have input into city planning initiatives that affect them. One such initiative is the “Santa Ana Renaissance Specific Plan,” a redevelopment plan with the potential to displace many low-income Logan residents. One of the Latino Health Access’s goals is to help empower Logan residents with vital information that otherwise fails to trickle down to them, whether inadvertently or intentionally.
Also on the community action agenda is relocation of Ware Disposal, an industrial enterprise that has brought man
y problems into the residential community, through unchecked expansion which has led to increased industrial noise day and night, air and ground pollution, and damage to Logan-area streets from heavy traffic. A female resident told us that Ware employees shout and make derogatory and sexual comments toward them as they pass the company on their way to and from school. “We have formally complained to the city” she added, “but nothing has been done to fix it.”In it for the long haul
A rumor is circulating around the neighborhood that Ware is moving to Anaheim. But such rumors have come and gone, and Ware remains. Community activists said they’re not deterred; they’re determined to restore the clean, quiet barrio they once had. So they continue to hold meetings, share information, and strengthen their social networks for the continuing battle ahead.
