NEW ORLEANS — Hardin Park in the Seventh Ward brims with deep historical value, but over the years the park has declined.
The Orleans Parish DA says the park and the surrounding area are riddled with crime, but now there's an effort to bring back the energy that once filled the area in the Seventh Ward.
Hardin Park means a lot of things, to a lot of different people. From the outside looking in, it looks like any other park you may see in any other city, but this park is so much more than any old park.
Councilman Eugene Green said, "The home of AP Touro, and the also the home of Historic St Augustine High School."
The councilman went on to say, that while there are new houses in the area, just last month, a block away, on Allen Street, three abandoned houses burnt to the ground.
Councilman Green says it’s not just the park that needs revitalization, it’s this entire neighborhood.
"I would like this space, that in the evening has a lot more activity going on," Green said. "But I can't do that till the parents feel safer bringing their children here until members of the community feel safer bringing a chair here and sitting out during the day," he said.
The New Orleans Recreation Development Commission built the park's concession stand at the end of 2017 and recently updated the basketball court.
NORD Director, Larry Barabino Jr says Hardin Park was redeveloped after Hurricane Katrina, but he says seven to eight years ago this space started to decline.
Fast forward 19 years, the Orleans Parish DA's office says the park is a hot spot for crime.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams says the reason why people aren’t using the park, is crime.
"It's an outlier in the amount of violence and the amount of crime in this area," he said.
He went on to say, "It is better and easier to build strong boys and girls than it is to repair broken women. We can keep arresting and convicting people but if we can invest in people on the front end before bullets are fired, before a gun is procured, now you're talking about true crime prevention."
The dots on the map below represent violent crime, the purple ones show the violent crimes that happened this year.
DA Williams says the correlation between crime and a vacant space highlights how neglect can attract illegal activity. He's pushing for the space to become one that engages young people, enables inspiration for adults, and provides companionship for everyone.
"The vacuum, the void, the lack of things to do, the lack of investment, that is what's driving the crime," said the DA.
Barabino said, "Part of the challenge we have now is parents not wanting to bring their kids to the park, because of the activities that take place in the neighborhood."
He's calling on the community to step up and use the park.
He says those looking to participate in criminal activity at the park will be deterred if they see people outside using the park.
"The community has to take ownership in their part, the good in the community has to tell the bad this means more to us to be out here with our kids than for you to be out here doing wrong."
NORD says there are no current plans for new construction at the park.
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