With Modello pool finished, residents want to fix up park

The $162,000, five-foot-deep pool is set to open June 1 at the park, 800 NW Second Ave.

But after more than 30 years, the question remains: Who will tell the unwanted guests -- the drug dealers -- that they're not invited?

Drugs are sold day and night on the southeast corner of the park, said detective Mel Lange, executive officer for the Broward Sheriff's Office. Drug dealers who are arrested are soon back on the street because ``we can't get them on narcotics charges,'' he said. ``It's been going on for years.''

For years, the community has accepted it. Now, some residents and city officials are talking about a new tactic: pulling out the welcome mat.

The renovation and reopening of the pool already has renewed some residents' confidence in the city's commitment to their needs.

``It's right now. We needed for it to be right. It looks a lot better,'' said Troy Williams, 26, playing cards one afternoon at the park. He learned how to swim at the old pool, which was closed in 1991 because of severe leaks.

``They promised it was going to be operational last year,'' said Jonard Bacon, 20, a resident who also is a regular at the park. ``Everyone had really given up on it.''

The pool's tidy red border and bright sparkling water stand out against the faded pink, graffiti-marred recreation center. Mad Dads, a national anti-drug and youth development group, has put out a call for residents to help repaint the recreation building and plant wildflowers and philodendron on the swale. The group of men expects the work to start at the end of this month.

Park officials and some residents are pinning big hopes on such community efforts. They hope the neighbors will help drive away drug dealers.

``There's strength in numbers,'' said Kristen Jones, Dania's recreation coordinator, who manages the city's parks. ``If you're going to do something like that [fight drug activity], you've got to have the community fighting it.

``On any given day, there are 50 to 100 people over there [volunteering],'' helping with the after-school program, sports and games and just talking with kids, Jones said. ``It's adults, teenagers, the whole community's getting together.''

Dania Commissioner Bobbie Grace has lived across the street from the park for 27 years.

Drug activity keeps some residents away, she said but it has ``declined quite a bit. I'm proud to say that's because of several organizations that have been working with me.''

One of them, Friends of Children, started a Broward chapter of Mad Dads, which this year adopted the park and began a crusade to get residents to take back their park and neighborhood.

In addition to midnight basketball and T-ball, Mad Dads are now park staff. Through an arrangement with the city, six members are paid part-time managers.

``They're trying to encourage some of the community to get involved, which is what we need,'' said Mardie Holloway, the parks coordinator who maintains the facility. ``We need the parents to come out to bring the community together.''

On Wednesday, city workers sprayed weeds and dumped soil on the swale in anticipation of the community planting.

``It was my feeling that people would take ownership if they actually took part in doing it,'' said Arlon Kennedy, Mad Dads project chairman.