Merced's plan to fix up popular city park

MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Merced City Council is planning on making a decision on how to bring the Applegate Park back to life.

"It's the central park for the city, it's the focal point. It's what the city is built around," said Merced City Councilmember Josh Pedrozo.

Pedrozo says the council plans to talk about how to improve the park, fix the fountain, and install hundreds of new plants.

In 2016, the city received a grant to put in dozens of new flowers and an irrigation system, but the park was vandalized shortly after the improvements.

"We'll put these rose bushes in but people just steal it. The rose bushes, but also the irrigation system. They'll take the drip heads off and use them for I don't know what," said Pedrozo.

The city is looking into different options that include everything from hiring a landscaping contractor to purchasing the materials and having the work done in-house.

Frank Machado lives along the park and says the lack of shrubbery along with the big homeless population continues to be a problem.

He is hoping the city follows through with the improvements.

"We really need to get it done. I know everybody here, this is a hard area, but still, everybody pays their taxes, and they need their parks," said Machado.

Some of the estimated costs for improvement options range anywhere from $5,500 to $35,000.