Seaside has a number of large regional and community parks including beach and lakes.  Of particular interest to residents are the small neighborhood parks which exist in every Seaside neighborhood except "Terrace."

The City wanted to shut down and sell a number of these parks in approximately 1996 to get a quick cash infusion.  I am proud to have taken the lead on preserving the Wheeler Street tennis courts at the planning commission level.  This successful action discouraged the City from attempting to close any other parks for some time.

Unfortunately, parks were again threatened more recently.  In approximately 2000, the Seaside Community Tennis Association (under the USTA) started a process to completely refurbish the Wheeler Street courts and they are now a source of pride for the Council and the residents of Seaside.

This work was performed at no cost to the City but rather involved grants secured by the CTA from USTA and NorCal USTA, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Monterey Regional Parks District, CA State Parks, Land + Water Conservation Fund, Sunrise Rotary Club and Meadowbrook Tennis Club (in particular, Alex and Heather Ott).  [The City assisted the CTA in writing the grant applications; costs for staff time were also defrayed by the above listed grantors.]

A number of neighborhood associations have formed over the past few years: Beta Park Neighborhood Association, Durant Farallones Neighborhood Association, Highland-Otis Park Association and Martin Park Association.  Additionally the volunteers from the Seaside Fire Department have taken the lead to establish a dog park at Pachetti Park.  According to Councilmember Alexander, residents in the Havana-Solis Park neighborhood are apparently also interested in becoming active.

These associations have been integral to protecting City park resources and have restored or begun restoring a few parks to various degrees.

Unfortunately, virtually all other Seaside parks are in dire need of maintenance.  City staff has successfully sought grants to improve the situation in certain “specialty” parks, but substantially more needs to be done to ensure a bright future for parks in the City.

Recreation programs need a similar shot in the arm.  Please see the Youth and Education and Seniors pages for more complete discussion of recreation issues.

Proposed Solutions:

Let’s consider hiring a grant writer to take full advantage of all parks and recreation related grants.  Such grants exist at the Federal, State and local level and are at best only partially tapped.

Improve citizen involvement by focusing first on one major park overhaul.  This should be targeted at the park that is most visible and serves the largest possible number of residents.  [The Patullo swim center remodel a few years back was similar in concept but was partially botched through picking a poor contractor.  This resulted in cost and schedule overruns which led to poor confidence in the City and extended lack of an important facility.]

Developers and contractors who give a certain level of no or low cost assistance to the City on parks improvements could possibly have their future projects considered on a “fast track” basis at no additional cost.  Perhaps certain development fees could also be reduced in proportion to such contractors' participation in parks improvement.  This plan could have the simultaneous impact of hastening parks improvement while stimulating housing and commercial development.

 

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