Parks & Recreation Commission Staff Report - June 6, 2007
City of San Carlos Commission Staff Report Creating Community through People, Parks and Programs To: Parks and Recreation Commission Date: June 6, 2007 From: Barry Weiss, Parks and Recreation Director Subject: Staff Report – Parks and Recreation Programs and Services At each month’s Park and Recreation Commission meeting, the Parks and Recreation staff provides the Commission with a staff report on items of interest.These items reflect the Mission of Parks and Recreation to: - Strengthen Community Image and Sense of Place
| - Support Economic Development
| - Strengthen Safety and Security
| - Promote Health and Wellness
| - Facilitate Community Problem
| - Solving Increase Cultural Unity
| - Protect Environmental Resources
| | - Provide Recreational Experiences
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Strengthen Community Image and Sense of Place Beautiful nights, picnic baskets, and wonderful music are just around the corner! Get ready for the 17th Annual Summer Concert series in BurtonPark on Fridays, July 6–August 24 from 6:00– 8:00 pm. The Family & Personal Development Unit is busy working with the Summer Concert Committee volunteers to line up an outstanding event. Eleven of our sponsors from last year are returning, a sure sign that the Concert Series is a valuable, positive venue for our businesses as well as our citizens.The Concert Series schedule is posted at www.cityofsancarlos.org. Hometown Days 2007, May 18-20 at BurtonPark, is a wrap.The crowds basked under blue skies enjoying arts & crafts booths, food, wine tasting, art show, games, demonstrations, entertainment, rides and more.The Kiwanis BBQ and Rotary Breakfast & Fun Run were well attended, as was the traditional E-Ticket Band performance on the field on Saturday night.Now in its 27th year, Hometown Days was voted the Best Family Fair and Festival by Bay Area Parent Magazine for the second year in a row.This is quite an honor.Parks & Recreation, Public Works, and Police worked closely with the Hometown Days volunteer committee to produce this outstanding community event.The 2007 theme was especially meaningful to Parks & Recreation:“Home is Just a Walk in the park”. Support Economic Development More people are now attracted to our downtown shopping district because of the beautiful hanging flower baskets on Laurel Street.The baskets have lots of blooms with wonderful color. This project has been a superb partnership with Virginia Martin, her team of Master Gardeners and community volunteers.They planned the types of plants, based on a different color for each block, different climate zones from the east side of the street and the west side, plants that would be upright and cascading.Virginia passed out fliers to the merchants, alerting them to call the Master Gardeners if they see a basket in trouble.The volunteers have also done an outstanding job of maintaining the baskets.Parks and Public Works staff supported this effort by removing and rehanging the baskets and providing professional horticultural assistance. Two important upcoming fundraisers will benefit the Parks and Recreation Foundation of San Carlos and the Burton Park Playground Project.Save June 2nd for the City-Wide Boondoggle Scavenger Hunt & BBQ at BurtonPark, which will have teams racing around the city solving clues as they race to the finish.On June 9th, attend a pre-release screening of Pixar/Disney’s newest animated film “Ratatouille” at Pixar Studios in Emeryville.The event features a studio tour, silent auction, refreshments, plus the film showing.For ticket information on both of these worthy events, call 802-4382 or go to www.cityofsancarlos.org. Strengthen Safety and Security Sequoia Healthcare District will be giving the Adult Community Center (ACC) an AED (Automated External Defibrillator). The AED will be useful for dealing with life threatening emergencies. Sequoia Healthcare District recommends that AEDs be mounted in a central area with good visibility. They will provide the cabinet, the AED and will not mount the cabinet. AEDs will also be installed at City Hall, Library Community Room, LaureolaParkBuilding, KiwanisBuilding and the YouthCenter.Appropriate training will be provided.
Ball field lights at Burton and HighlandsParks were replaced where needed and re-aimed, thus making the fields safer to play on. Teacher Annette Schmidt of the Personal/Family Development unit arranged for Deputy Sheriff Owen Yoch to visit the SmartTotsPre-School program for 3 and 4 year olds at BurtonPark. His daughter Marisol and her classmates experienced the thrill of seeing the lights, hearing the siren and sitting in the Sheriff’s car. They were taught good safety practices for preventing accidents, saying “no” to strangers, dangers in the home, poison/prescription safety as well as seatbelt and crosswalk safety.Our Pre-School program is an excellent starting place for teaching our youngsters about safety and security. Promote Health & Wellness A recent issue of Newsweek magazine reviewed fitness fads of the baby boomer generation and highlighted the newest trends catering to this market.“The boomers, it seems, have accepted that they won't remain forever young. But they've also realized that staying in shape can keep them from feeling old,” says the article which contains great pictures of the Boomer Fitness facility on Laurel in San Carlos.Parks and Recreation contracts with both Boomer Fitness and Optimal Fitness to provide body workout classes for our “Baby Boomers” and all community members. The new measured walking path at BurtonPark officially opened on Tuesday, April 24th with a grand “tah dah”!!The first path in a city park created in partnership with SequoiaHospital, the San Francisco Giants and the Parks and Recreation Department was well attended by children, families, city and hospital officials with Lou Seal and Renal from 98.1, and the voice of the Giants, as Mistress of Ceremonies.There have been many positive comments by local citizens on the daily usage of the path to increase health, flexibility and weight management.This measured path is one of the ongoing partnership efforts of SequoiaHospital and San CarlosParks and Recreation Department. In collaboration with the Peninsula Stroke Association, the ACC hosted a lecture on Stroke. The goal of the lecture is to increase public’s awareness of the following - risk factors for stroke; warning signs of stroke; and the need for timely emergency medical treatment in the event of a stroke. Foster Human Development This year, Parks & Recreation has received 50 applicants for the highly sought after 36 spots in the Leader-In-Training Education (LITE) program for San Carlos Adventure Camp. LITEs volunteer their time for a 2-week session during the summer learning developing skills to hopefully be an Adventure Camp leader. LITEs learn skills ranging from first aid to group games, from discipline techniques to leadership skills. This valuable program has developed the 13-15 year olds involved into great future leaders for Adventure Camp.We hired 4 former LITEs to be leaders this summer.Utilizing youth as resources and encouraging community involvement, plus learning to care for others in a safe environment, and having fun is always the credo for Adventure Camp. The Healthy Cities Tutoring Program held its annual Volunteer Recognition Reception on Monday, May 14 before a City Council meeting. This well-attended event included volunteers that participated in the tutor-mentor program this year as well as children and families that were the recipients of this support. Teachers, principals, school board members from the San CarlosSchool District and Councilmembers were also in attendance. For the 2006-07 school year, 225 children received tutoring support from 181 volunteer tutors. The Healthy Cities Tutoring Program also recognized two long-time volunteers to the program – Forbes King and Linda Townsend, by honoring their contributions to the program with 10 Years Service Awards. An additional 14 volunteers were recognized with 5 year service pins. Personal & Family Development hosted the Ana Fitzgerald School of Ballet annual recital at BurtonPark on May 11th.The recital for families and friends was the highlight of months of ballet classes and rehearsals at the YouthCenter as part of the Park and Recreation Department’s dance program.Over 25 ballerinas, some as young as age 3 ½, participated in the performance “The Magical World of Toys”.Refreshments and memorable photo opportunities capped the evening.Ballet gives students a life-long appreciation for the art of dance and classical music, increased self-confidence, poise, and recognition of their own unique qualities and talents as well as those of fellow students. Increase Cultural Unity Creative use of time and giving our high schoolers an outlet for musical expression are why we conduct our annual “Battle of the Bands”.On Friday, March 30, 150 teens listened to Metallurge (WoodsideHigh School), August Fades (BurlingameHigh School), and Dartmouth (CarlmontHigh School) showcase their talents at the YouthCenter’s 4th Annual Battle of the Bands.Live 105, the Bay Area’s Alternative Radio Station, was there giving away free items and holding a raffle for a surprise prize pack! Other raffle prizes were donated by Universal Music Distribution’s San Francisco Regional Offices. The winner was chosen by 3 musically-inclined judges ranging from local music scene veterans to trained musicians. Dartmouth from Carlmont High School (with members from San Carlos) won the Battle of the Bands for not only their music capabilities and their live show, but for how helpful they were from beginning to end of the show with setting up, providing a PA, and cleaning up. It was a great night of great local music! Protect Environmental Resources You are seeing many, many landscaping areas covered with new wood chips.This is part of our continuing effort to reduce the use of chemicals as much as possible.We use chips from trees that we have to remove due to disease and we buy some of the chips.All these actions are reflective of our Integrated Pest Management (IPM) policy.Several hundreds of yards of wood chips were redirected from the landfill to be used as landscape mulch at City Hall and BurtonPark. Using mulch is an IPM best practice to suppress weed growth without chemicals and conserve water by reducing evaporation. Organic vegetables have been planted for the second year by YouthCenter participants and staff in their garden.Much sweat and hard work went into the preparation of the planter boxes along with the new seedlings and the daily watering schedule set up by the Young Gardners. Taking pride in their surroundings, learning about the earth and growing cycles, understanding the importance of caring for their environment are all lessons learned as the youth work side by side with the YouthCenter staff and mentors. Provide Recreational Experiences Summer registration is well under way in the Personal & Family Development unit. Once again, on the first day of resident registration, more class revenue came in through RecConnect (53%) than over the counter (47%).New summer classes and special interest camps such as Exploring New Art Forms, Cardio Kickboxing, Body Sculpt, Jr. Golf Camp, Personal Training, and French for Travelers are ‘bringing in the business’. The Special Needs Program, in collaboration with the Advocates for Accessible Recreation (AFAR) hosted Family Night at the ACC. The event featured dances and skits performed by the participants with disabilities.There were over 100 in attendance treated to fun entertainment (choreographed by staff) and delicious refreshments provided by Advocates For Accessible Recreation (AFAR).The goal of the event was to celebrate the abilities and talents of individuals with disabilities and to strengthen relationships with their families and friends. Cost Savings / Revenue Enhancements The Kiwanis Club of San Carlos donated 100% of the cost of a new electronic scoreboard for ArguelloPark, one of the items on the unfunded Phase 2 list for Arguello. Installation was coordinated by San Carlos Little League with several contractors donating their time and expertise including:Archibald Paving - Curtis Archibald; Michelini Electric - Larry Michelini; and RNC Construction - Bob Cook.The volunteers provided approximately 106 hours and $2,200 in materials.
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