Tense meeting kicks off planning for park where Andy Lopez was killed

Tensions erupted during a kickoff celebration marking the start of planning for a neighborhood park at the Santa Rosa site where 13-year-old Andy Lopez was shot and killed by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy.

State and county officials were repeatedly heckled and interrupted by local activists who for more than a year and a half have been calling on the county to take some kind of action against the deputy who shot Lopez.

At one point, one of the activists interrupted state Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, saying “Blah, blah, blah.” When Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo asked the activist to refrain from such behavior, the activist repeatedly gestured at Carrillo with his middle finger.

Activists wore signs that said “Welcome to Andy’s Park.” One held a sign that said, “Fire Gelhaus,” referring to Deputy Erick Gelhaus, the veteran sheriff’s deputy who shot Lopez on Oct. 22, 2013.

The boy had been walking along the then-vacant lot at 3399 Moorland Ave., on Santa Rosa’s southwest outskirts. He was carrying an airsoft BB gun made to resemble an AK-47 assault rifle, and Gelhaus told investigators he ordered the boy to drop the gun, which he took to be a real assault rifle. He said he opened fire as Lopez turned around and raised the barrel of the gun in his direction, according to authorities.

Gelhaus was cleared last July of any criminal wrongdoing by the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office. He returned to patrol in August.

Those two outcomes have greatly angered local activists, who have long called for District Attorney Jill Ravitch to bring criminal charges against Gelhaus. Activists recently have focused their efforts on getting Gelhaus reassigned from patrol duty.

Despite the rancor at Saturday’s event, some speakers made a call for cooperation to get the park built.

“The thing that happened with Andy was a tragedy, but what’s happening here is triumphant,” said the Rev. H. Lee Turner of Community Baptist Church in Santa Rosa.

“We have to figure out a way to live together,” he said. “There doesn’t need to be another Andy Lopez.”

Turner, who also wore a “Welcome to Andy’s Park” sign, drew comparisons between the Lopez shooting and officer-involved shootings of African-American youths.

“I’m wearing my sign. It represents something. It represents a disease in the community that doesn’t need to be there,” he said, but reminding those in attendance, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Michael Rothenberg, a member of the Justice Coalition for Andy Lopez, said much of the anger and frustration on the part of the Lopez activists comes from a feeling that the county is ignoring their call for some form of action to be taken against Gelhaus.

“You can’t just ignore us for a year and then expect because you want to have a party everybody is supposed to put on a smiley face,” Rothenberg said.

“If they would have shown good faith in the past year, then we would have been here for a moment of community togetherness,” he said. “It’s a sad moment to be here commemorating a park where a 13-year-old boy was shot dead by the police.”

The site near the intersection of Moorland and West Robles avenues, which includes two properties totaling a little more than 4 acres, has been slated as parkland for more than two decades. But a number of roadblocks, from the recession to wildlife habitat safeguards, have hindered development of the park.

The Moorland neighborhood, an unincorporated section of the county with a large Latino population, for years has been plagued by poverty and gang violence.

However, after Lopez died on the 1-acre Moorland Avenue lot, the site quickly become a focal point for tangible change in a neighborhood that has long felt neglected by city and county officials. Community organizers have regularly been meeting at the site, which now includes a large tent memorial to Lopez, planted trees and flowers and a number of small play structures for children.

The county acquired the property in late December and the planning process to determine what kind of park will be built now has begun. The event Saturday was aimed at letting the local community know they have a say in what the park will look like, said Caryl Hart, the county’s regional parks director.

Hart said there are a number of options available at the site, including a playground, ballfield and a plaza for public gatherings, as well as a chance to preserve some of the wetlands located near the railroad tracks on the adjoining 3 acres at 405 Horizon Way.

“We are here to serve the people of the community and we want to begin the process of envisioning what this park will be together,” Hart said.

Linda Roan, who lives in the Carrillo Place apartment complex in the Moorland neighborhood and attended the event Saturday, said the park is long overdue. She said she would like to see athletic fields and walking paths.

“There’s nothing out in this area,” Roan said. “One thing we need also is a Boys and Girls Club.”

Linda Bodwin, a homeowner who has lived on Moorland Avenue for 30 years, said she also would like to see some walking paths and benches for older residents.

“I’m excited about the prospect of a park being developed,” she said.

During the event, state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, announced that a state grant of $471,000 for the park project was “just the beginning” of efforts to lift up the area. He called for greater focus on education, jobs and the annexation of the Roseland and Moorland neighborhoods by the city of Santa Rosa.

Carrillo told attendees that currently “nothing is set in stone” - including the park’s name - and that a process is in place that will allow the site to be developed and built with the full participation of the local community.

After the event ended, Becca Kennedy, a volunteer advocate who has worked closely with community members seeking to build a memorial park for Lopez, said the county needs to make a strong effort to reach out to Lopez activists who have built strong ties to the site.

“I just think people are discouraged,” Kennedy said. “What can be beautiful about this is working through that tough stuff.”

The county regional parks department is currently taking names and contact information for those who want to participate in the planning process or submit their ideas. For more information, call James Nantell, regional parks deputy director, at 565-2946 or james.nan?tell@sonoma-county.org.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.