Watsonville Youth Survey results released

Inside the mind of a teenager. The Watsonville Youth City council has released the results of a survey, finding out where Watsonville teens think are the safest places.

“We had over 800 students fill it out from seven different schools,” said former Youth Council Member Felicia Davidson. “So we really tried to get as many students as possible, as broadly as possible to try to make it as good of data as we could and that exceeded our expectations.”

Davidson and her fellow council members with the Watsonville Youth City Council anonymously asked a variety of questions regarding safety, after school activities and law enforcement in Watsonville.

“Students feel the safest at the Target center,” Davidson said, “the cinema and school. 95 percent of youth feel safe at school.”

Ramsey Park was one of the areas teens said they felt safe during the day. However, 80 percent of them said they didn’t feel safe there at night. Other places on that list include Callahan Park, Second Street and the Plaza.

“When you think about it, those are places students and youth should feel safe because they’re parks,” Davidson said. “And they are meant there for the youth.”

Recreation Coordinator for Camp W.O.W. Geno Bragado said Ramsey Park is a great place for kids during the day.

“You don’t really notice anything unsafe or anything like that,” Bragado said. “We do a lot our activities inside but on nice days like this we like to come outside.”

But Ramsey Park butts up next to the level where a homeless man was shot to death just a couple of weeks ago. Bragado said he has seen unsavory types in the park.

“Usually once in a while but they usually mind their own business and they’re kind of walking through maybe,” Bragado said.

Another surprising statistic from the survey – 80 percent of teens said they didn’t know they could anonymously send text messages to police. Nixle allows users to get alerts from the police or the city. At the same time, they can anonymously text in crime tips, even pictures and videos.

“The more eyes that we have out there,” Lt. Gonzalez said, “The more areas that we know are a concern to our community, the better we can address their problems.”

Meanwhile, the city is planning a graffiti cleanup and Ramsey Park and two other local hangouts this weekend.