"We’re all pieces of a puzzle," said Tony Lamazares in response to a question about his outlook on life. "Let’s all help put us together."

Tony Lamazares

Lamazares, a new part-time park service aide with the Pinecrest Recreation Department, seems wise far beyond his 22 years. He stares back at you with a clear, steady, blue-eyed gaze and thoughtfully measures his words before responding.

"I grew up in Little Havana," he said. "But I was just outside the boundary for Miami High, so I went to Jackson High and had to take two buses every day to get to school. I graduated in 1995."

Lamazares lives with his mother, Leslie, who is originally from Honduras. They attend San Juan Bosco Catholic Church and St. Jude’s Catholic Church.

A native Miamian, he was born at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

"Graduated from Jackson, and born at Jackson," he said with a grin.

Lamazares observes that the neighborhoods in Pinecrest are a lot different from the ones he grew up in.

"In my neighborhood, you see kids playing ball in the middle of the street," he said. "They don’t worry about getting hit by a car because they just want to play ball. Here, you don’t see that. There’s a lot of open space. We need more parks for kids in the inner city."

Lamazares also works as a coach at Jose Marti Park in downtown Miami. He coaches basketball, football and softball. He said basketball is his favorite sport and he collects basketball trading cards as a hobby.

"I like working with kids. It’s cool and it’s fun. I try to get the kids to play sports in the park. It keeps them out of the streets and keeps them from doing bad things."

When he’s not working for Pinecrest or the City of Miami, Lamazares is a student at the Wolfson Campus of Miami-Dade Community College. He is studying computer analysis, hopes to get his degree in 2001 and become a computer programmer.