The empty playground at City Park in Morro Bay sits covered in wood chips with a very nice iron picket fence around it. Photo by Neil Farrell
Morro Bay’s City Park is a lovely expanse of green, manicured grass, with several picnic tables, a basketball court, bus stop, children’s playground and even an old shuffleboard court.
City Park has hosted special events like the City’s Annual Christmas Tree Lighting, and the Morro Bay Art Association’s Art in the Park, which happens three times a year.
It also has a World War II memorial and is the site where the City buried a time capsule in 2014 commemorating the town’s 50th Anniversary.
For those driving or biking by the wedge-shaped park seems a idyllic setting. But for some time now, it hasn’t been as pleasant as the description suggests.
City Park appears regularly in the Police Department’s weekly media logs, which chronicle the activities of the officers. Numerous people have been reported as being disruptive and been arrested for various mostly misdemeanor crimes, with being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, bench warrants, and possession of illegal drugs topping the list of misadventures.
When City Councilman Jeff Eckles recently held a series of public town halls — both in person at the park and online — the concerns of the people who live nearby or who frequent the park were aired.
Eckles compiled a report that was recently presented to the full City Council asking for directions on how to address these nagging problems.
“City Park,” reads a staff report from City Manager John Craig, “is a 2.0-acre public park located at the eastern end of Downtown Morro Bay at the intersection of Morro Bay Boulevard and Harbor Street. It is one of the first parks dedicated within the City and has long served multiple overlapping roles: neighborhood park, recreation area, civic gathering place, public-art location, visitor amenity, transit hub, and a potential focal point for downtown economic activity.”
Craig summed up the problems. “In recent years, the park’s conditions have deteriorated. Vandalism, misuse of the permanent restroom building, extended disruptive occupation of portions of the park, inadequate lighting, and a general decline in ordinary public use have collectively undermined the park’s function as a welcoming community space.”
City Park were closed by City officials after they were reportedly
vandalized and reports came in of illicit activities taking place inside.
Photo by Neil Farrell
Someone recently vandalized the public restrooms, which caused an immediate reaction from the City. “In response to vandalism and public-safety concerns,” Craig said, “the City closed the permanent public restroom facility and placed a portable toilet in its place.
“Families, nearby residents, and visitors have also reported avoiding the park as a result of these conditions.”
The park’s playground equipment has also been removed.
Eckles’ report, entitled “Reimagining City Park,” discusses the problem and makes some suggestions on how to fix it.
“I hosted four City Park town halls in July 2026,” Eckles reported, “to hear directly from residents about existing conditions, community priorities, and possibilities for the future of the park.”
Eckles points out that his report is “not a final park plan, a request to approve a particular design, or a statistically representative survey of the community. Instead, it is intended to provide a foundation for referral to the City’s citizen advisory bodies and for a broader, more deliberative public discussion.”
Under “current conditions,” Eckles mentioned the vandalized restrooms that were “reported to be a location for illegal and illicit activity, including drug dealing.”
Locking the restrooms led to a different and decidedly more disgusting response. “After the closure,” the report said, “urination and defecation were observed behind the restroom building.” That restroom backs up to a small apartment complex where people live.
Some homeless folks have taken over some areas of the park. “Extended occupation of portions of the park, combined with illegal or disruptive conduct, has discouraged ordinary public use,” Eckles’ report said.
He goes on to say people no longer feel safe going to the park, especially at night when a lack of lighting leaves it extremely dark.
“Families, residents, and visitors,” Eckles said, “have avoided the park because of its condition and atmosphere.”
He doesn’t blame the homeless folks who hang out in the park daily. “The central issue is not a person’s housing status,” the report explained. “The concern is conduct and conditions that interfere with the public’s ability to safely and comfortably use a public space. The park should be welcoming to all people who use it lawfully and respectfully.”
The folks who live nearby were in favor of fixing the park’s issues. So too were representatives from the Art Association.
Eckles’ report said, “The adjacent neighbors were generally receptive to improvements and increased positive activity. They expressed that thoughtful programming and investment would be preferable to the unsafe and uncomfortable conditions that currently exist, especially at night. Their primary immediate concern was inadequate lighting and the resulting sense of insecurity.
“Art in the Park representatives discussed preserving the successful event while considering open space, access, parking, infrastructure, and compatibility with future park improvements. No single issue dominated their input; rather, they emphasized the need for future planning to accommodate the event and its operational needs.”
Eckles said his meetings produced some strongly supported “themes” to address the park’s problems. Among those was reclaiming the park through positive uses; safety lighting; sanitation and enforcement of the rules; regular “programming” or starting to hold more events at the park to give people more reasons to visit; strengthening connections between young people, schools and the park; and, developing the park into more of an economic hub for the eastern edge of the Downtown business district, which is centered west of the park at the Morro Bay Boulevard and Main Street intersection.
The report mentions one potential addition to the park that many years ago severely divided the town — building a gazebo/band stand.
“A gazebo, pavilion, stage, or similar gathering structure,” the report said, “was one of the most frequently mentioned physical improvements. Participants envisioned a focal point for concerts, family movie nights, school performances, drama presentations, classes, public gatherings, community celebrations, picnics, art activities, and informal daily use.
“The historical record identifies a 1988 voter-approved measure concerning a gazebo in City Park. The concept of a pavilion or gathering structure can remain part of the discussion, but the current legal effect of that measure should be confirmed before a specific permanent structure is advanced.”
Another thing people mentioned was the suitability of City Park continuing as the town’s main bus stop, even though the City just a couple of years ago spent over $650,000 tearing down a bus shelter, removing a huge eucalyptus shade tree and installing a new, expanded, modern bus stop facility.
The report goes on to propose potential steps for the Council to consider and concludes with: “The opportunity before the City is to reclaim City Park not only by improving the physical space, but by restoring its purpose as a place where residents, families, visitors, students, artists and local businesses can come together.”
Estero Bay News asked Eckles what the Council wants to do next?
“The short-term measures are:
• Enhanced lighting most likely with tree lights;
• No smoking signs to help eliminate cigarette butt litter;
• Active enforcement of shopping cart ordinance to keep abandoned carts out of the park; and,
• Enhanced and more visible law enforcement.”
He didn’t get the main thing he was after though.
“What I didn’t get and was disappointed about,” he said, “was a re-opening of the restrooms. Zara [Councilwoman Landrum] and I voted for that but the other three did not. So, the opening of the bathrooms is a longer-term fix along with some of the other longer-term solutions mentioned in the report.”
As to the police activity and if residents brought the park’s problems to his attention, Eckles said, “Both. Fewer and fewer residents were using the park because it has been falling into disrepair along with a lot of undesirable and illicit behavior taking place.
“It was the closing of the restrooms that really got my attention and why I decided to take it on as a project. I don’t agree that the City should wave the white flag and give up on this public space, and that’s essentially what City management did.
“As a town-hall attendee eloquently put it, ‘We need to reclaim this space for the use of all our residents and visitors.’”
The restrooms still work but the decision was made to close them anyway. “The bathrooms are entirely functional,” Eckles explained. “City management decided to close them due to vandalism and illicit behavior in and about the restrooms.”
He doesn’t agree with that move. “So, their solution was simply to close them down. That is not an appropriate response from my perspective. The City should be doing what it needs to do in order to provide a public restroom to residents and visitors in the park.”
The playground equipment was taken out because it had “come to the end of its useful life,” Eckles explained.
“It is an empty space now,” he said, “covered with woodchips and looks terrible. One suggestion during the town hall was to make it a temporary dog park since the space is mostly encircled with metal fencing.”
Eckles thanked everyone that took part in this exercise in problem solving, even though it didn’t result in an immediate solution.
“I would like to thank the approximately 50 people that participated in the town halls I hosted [I did two online via ZOOM and two at the park on successive Saturday mornings] and shared their ideas and vision of how we can once again make this an inviting and usable community space.”
It should be noted that this isn’t the first public park to have problems. Lila Keiser Park has in the past had similar issues with homeless folks taking over and issues with drug use and drug dealing in the park.
The City has on at least three occasions aggressively cleaned out encampments in the woods behind Lila Keiser Park and police have in the past increased patrols at the park to keep an eye out for any skullduggery afoot.
