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FOR THE RECORD: Parks: A Feb. 8 Op -Ed about gangs and parks stated that Smith Park is in Alhambra; it is in San Gabriel. Back when Flores was in her teens, local gang members tools it over as a hangout. They congregated toward the back of the park in ever -larger groups, drinking beer and ready to face off with any rival who happened by. You never really knew what was going to happen. Most families avoided Sycamore Grove. Flores said she didn't visit the park for years. Gangs have receded from streets and public areas they once dominated.... In the region that invented the phenomenon, it's probably no longer correct to talk about 'street' gangs. Two weeks ago, however, she was there, watching her 4 -year-old play on a jungle gym. She and her son are beneficiaries of what can properly be called a revolution across Southern California. In the last few years, gangs have receded from streets and public areas they once dominated. Indeed, in the region that invented the phenomenon, it's probably no longer correct to talk about "street" gangs. Gangs still exist here. They're involved in drug trafficking, identity theft, smash-and- grab jewelry heists, burglaries. But the daily degradation and intimidation of whole neighborhoods — the carjackings, graffiti, shootings and, of course, the constant hanging out — is no longer central to how they operate. Parks are among the best places to size up the scope of this change. Roosevelt Park in Florence -Firestone; Smith Park in Alhambra; Patterson Park in Riverside; Salvador Park in Orange County; Plaza Park in San Bernardino; and the mother ship, MacArthur Park, west of downtown — all these and many more were notorious gang hangouts. Today they have been returned to their rightful owners: neighborhood residents like Flores and her son. For years, gangs in parks inflicted a special kind of torture on working-class neighborhoods. Residents were often crammed into houses or apartments that were too