Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today announced the expansion of a summertime anti-gang program that includes special community events, after-schools activities, sports leagues and extended nighttime hours at 16 city parks, most in gang-prone areas.

Villaraigosa said the "Summer Night Lights" program helped drive down violent crime, murder and gang activity near the eight parks where the events were held last summer and credited it for helping the city see the "safest summer in more than three decades." The mayor said communities surrounding those parks saw a 17% drop in violent, gang-related crime and an 86% drop in homicides.

"You want to know why I believe in this program? Because I grew up in a neighborhood like this," Villaraigosa, who grew up on the city's Eastside, told a crowd of the program's "youth squad" who attended the kickoff event.

The mayor made the announcement at the Imperial Courts Recreation Center on 114th Street in Watts, one of the 16 city recreation facilities that will take part in the program. Los Angeles Police Department Chief William J. Bratton, USC football Coach Pete Carroll and City Councilman Herb Wesson joined the mayor at the news conference.

Bratton said that along with the recreation activities, more officers will be patrolling the areas around the city parks throughout the summer, part of the LAPD's overall effort to concentrate officers in areas that historically have had high crime rates.

"This area of Watts is getting incredibly safe compared to what it was in the '90s," Bratton said.The Summer Night Lights program runs from July 8 to Sept. 5 and will be held at the following city parks and recreation facilities: Cypress Park Recreation Center, Denker Recreation Center, Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, Glassell Park, Harvard Recreation Center, Hubert Humphrey, Imperial Courts Recreation Center, Jim Gilliam Park, Jordan Downs Recreation Center, Lemon Grove Recreation Center, Mount Carmel Park, Nickerson Gardens Recreation Center, Ramon Garcia Recreation Center, Ross Snyder Recreation Center, Hubert Humphrey Memorial Park and Ramona Gardens Recreation Center.

The mayor's office raised more than $1 million in donations to help support the program.