7-12-06 Parks and Rec Commission Meeting Notes

By Lisa Cunnigham

In attendance were Commissioners Heidi Finberg, Robert Brannan, Barbara Sidari, Dean Koenig, and Luster Knight, and two city staff members. I was the only member of the public there.

-All Park Commisioners have monthly park assignments in which they are supposed to visit 2 parks each month and report back on their observations.

-The City is in the process of hiring a new Park Security Aide who will be responsible for patroling/monitoring the Marina, Washington Manor, and Cherry Grove Parks. This is a new position designed to build better relations with the public and as such is being treated as an experiment for the coming year.

-The Washington Manor Pool is under construction and scheduled to be completed in September. A new play structure has arrived and is being built at that park as well.

-The Commission voted to recommend to the City Council's Finance Committee (which meets next Wednesday night) to have a 1 day Cherry Festival in summer 2007. The format would be a street festival with many streets closed down around the historic walk area to promote downtown as part of the festival.

-The Commission also voted to recommend forming a Friends of the San Leandro Parks Foundation which would be an independent nonprofit organization to raise money for/organize future Cherry Festivals. This way the Cherry Festival could raise money directly from citizens who care about the festival but who don't trust the city to allocate money to it (e.g. the recent business license fee measure as being promoted before the election to restore the festival and the library hours, which are not currently in the budget despite the measure being passed). The Foundation would also use reserves to fund special projects in the parks where the city doesn't have funds.

-Heidi Finberg mentioned as an interesting aside that the Downtown Merchants Association (which used to organize the annual Sausage and Suds Festival) has become very weak, with only 4-5 active members; in past years there were 15-20 active members. The SL Chamber approached the Association to take it over, but the Association declined there request, saying they want to stay independent.