Posted on Thu, Jun. 06, 2002
Picnic lunches aim to deter sexual activity at Sim Park
Police and neighbors decide to get together weekly to discourage such activity at the Riverside neighborhood park.
BY JOE RODRIGUEZ
The Wichita Eagle
TAKING BACK THEIR PARK
Each spring, Sim Park comes to life with the kinds of activities that park visitors and neighbors enjoy seeing. Golfing. Running. Bicycling. Bird watching.
But each spring, the Riverside neighborhood park also becomes a popular spot for something that many people don't want there.
Sex.
In addition to reporting such activity to the police, a group of citizens is taking a different approach to try to eliminate it.
They have organized picnic lunches at least once a week at the shelter area near the center of the park. The people in the group, which includes many Riverside residents, also are encouraging others to hold more events at the park.
They believe that the more people use the park for the right reasons, the less people will use it for the wrong ones.
"The inappropriate activity will just fade away," said Kathy Dittmer, president of the Riverside Citizens Association, the group leading the picnic effort.
Residents came up with the picnic idea a few months ago, after maintenance workers reported seeing people having sex in the park's wooded area. Wichita police were informed, and officers decided to meet with the Riverside Citizens Association Park Use Task Force, a group formed several years ago to encourage positive use of the parks in Riverside.
Police said the sexual activity picks up about noon, so the task force decided that having picnic lunches would be a good idea. The groups usually range between five and 20 people. They include people from the neighborhood and from other neighborhoods, police officers and city park workers, park board members and park administrators. They include elected officials, such as Sedgwick County Commissioner Carolyn McGinn and Wichita City Council member Sharon Fearey.
They also include Cody Patton, executive director of Positive Directions, which provides services and support for people with HIV and AIDS.
Positive Directions leads a campaign called "Take It Home," which informs people that sexual activity in parks is inappropriate -- and potentially dangerous.
"Typically what's happening for some of the parks and for some of the people, it's a way for just quick, anonymous sex," Patton said. "It's not safe."
Wichita police Officer Santiago Hungria, community police officer for the neighborhood, said the picnics could be a deterrent for people who go there for sexual activity.
"People that do this stuff pick places that are going to be secluded," he said. "When they see all these people out here, all they have to do is start thinking, 'Hey, there might be somebody I know in that group.' "
And the picnics could be working.
Hungria said he hasn't heard any reports about sexual activity at Sim Park since the group started holding picnics in early April, although he acknowledged that it's difficult to determine how often such activity occurs.
Dittmer, the Riverside association president, said the group will hold picnic lunches through at least the summer at Sim and other neighborhood parks.
Fearey, the council member whose district includes the park, said she thinks the group can continue to make a difference.
"I think anytime people join together to confront problems that they see happening in their neighborhood," she said, "and take pro-active action like this group has done, that they're on the right track."
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Reach Joe Rodriguez at 268-6644 or
jrodriguez@wichitaeagle.com.
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