Harvard Park Gym

Love that it has ALL activities you can think of that a park should have. Has pool with slide, tennis courts (about 6 of them!) basketball courts outside as well as in the gym. right now they are fixing the baseball diamonds, but it has that too. It even has a Skate area! Oh an a volleyball court in the sand. All this I love from that park.
The big drawback and it is why I am giving it only 2 stars, its the most meaningful of all that pretty much cancels out all the good stuff of the park… criminal activity!
If you get there around 7pm on a summer evening, as soon as you drive or walk into the parking on the 62^nd street side, all you smell is weed!!! The worst part is that this is where the swings and slides for kids is located. Last time I was there, a shooting occurred!!! and there were a lot of children present playing by the tennis courts where the gunshot came from!!! This happens very often here.
Police need to do more rounds around those places!!! Our kids are not safe at that park. What is the point of having all this wonderful amenities at the park if your children can’t use them? For the gangsters, low-​lives that use the park for their criminal activity? hmm something must be done!!!

This is a WONDERFUL pool.
In a HOLY TERROR of a place.
About 8 gang members bombarded the pool and park today, red bandanas, threatening some person. The Lifeguard manager was AWESOME — and demanded they leave. Cops came. But they hung outside calling out to some person that they have to walk home, and acting like they were strapped. I promptly left and took my 3 kids home. Unfortunately, I no plans to return.

So I’m giving Harvard Park & Recreation Center 3 stars only because I’m from South Central so I can’t totally hate on my hood and because this place does have basketball courts, a gym, a skate park, tennis courts, and a pool with a slide (yup, I said slide). And all the facilities mostly free or super cheap.
The drawbacks… let’s see: hookers walking around in the daytime, drug transactions happening in the open, gang members congregating… you get the picture.
So if you’re looking to get involved in some criminal activity, not a afraid of a little grittiness, or want to reenact your NWA video fantasies, this is a spot for you.