Library Board - Regular Meeting

and Park Commission meeting.

Commissioner Alexander? Here. Commissioner Bernie?

Here.

Vice Chair Swartz? Here. Chair Rades?

Present. Thank you. The first item on our agenda is non-agenda public comment. Members of the public may speak for three minutes regarding any matter not on tonight's agenda. Commissioners will not respond to comments or answer questions. The city welcomes speakers providing public comment, but please be advised that this is a limited public forum. As such, speakers must stay on topic if speaking to a particular agenda item. And if speaking during non-agenda public comment, they must address matters within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city. If speakers fail to follow these rules, they'll be warned, and if they continue to disregard the rules, their opportunity to speak will be ended. Do we have any non-agenda public speakers tonight?

We have one in-person speaker, Speaker Klein.

Welcome, Speaker Klein.

I just wanted to speak about sports fields for children and adults that wish to participate and organize in ad hoc sports. I know that this is something that probably is on the mind of this group, but I just wanted to advocate for a long-term plan for how we increase field participation. field availability for both youth sports and adult sports, especially as we continue to build more and more housing on the island, there will be more and more need. But from what I've seen, there is no plan to add additional sports fields for those additional residents, as well as for the residents that are already struggling with availability of fields. That's it. Thank you.

Great. Thank you, Speaker Klein. Moving forward, our next agenda item is our staff communication from Recreation and Parks Director Justin Long. Director Long.

Good evening, commissioners. I know we missed the last meeting, and so we're going to just kind of catch up and try to condense this together. We're going to start off by some community events that are coming up. We have the Volunteer Coastal Cleanup. This is taking place every second Saturday of the month at 10 a.m. at Seaplane Lagoon. This is organized by the Community Action for Sustainable Alameda, CASA. The Rhythmics in the Park, the accordion, soul, music, and line dance is taking place Saturday, July 18th from 12 until 2 p.m. at Franklin Park. The Alameda Walk Series is on Saturdays at 9 a.m. July 11th will be taking place at Tawata Park to Veterans Court. And July 25th will be Old Town Alameda. Our Starlight Movies in the Park, these events begin at 6.30 p.m. with movies starting at 8.15. We've got the next one coming up on Friday, July 17th, which is The Little Mermaid. Sorry, July 17th is the Little Mermaid dive-in movie at the Incidental Swim Center. Sorry about that. And our Friday, July 24th, Back to the Future movie will be taking place at the Alameda Point multipurpose field. Some department highlights. Since we missed June, we hosted all of the school picnics at the end of the year. That took place in June. Our summer season is off to a great, roaring start. ARPD currently employs over 200 young individuals to provide the recreational needs to Alameda. We're having a really great summer, and the theme this year is a totally rad summer 2026. We did some work at the lower Washington field. The LED lighting conversion project has been completed. Park maintenance staff have redone water supply and drinking fountains at Kruse Park. We filled the full-time gardener position. We welcome Jose Rodriguez to the team. ARPD held an on-site community meeting at Longfellow Park on June 3rd and discussed the ADA access pathway, which you guys will hear is on the consent item. And then close to 500 participants and over 2,000 community members took place in our sandcastle and sculpture contest that took place on June 20th at Crown Memorial City Beach. And then the annual Leisure Club talent show took place at the Massey Social Hall on June 25th. There was approximately 100 attendees and celebrating the Leisure Club. It was a great event. ARPD held an on-site community meeting at Tillman Park on July 2nd discussing opportunities Alameda Little League's majors division play starting there in 2027. This is something that we'll hear a bit more about on the regular agenda item. And then July 4, we held the 4th of July parade. We had a great parade with 190 entries and over 60,000 spectators. And then, and I really want to shout out to Pat Russey and his team on this one. They really did an amazing job. It's all the department's effort and also the maintenance staff. Almost all ARPD staff are involved in the parade, which really makes it a special thing here in Alameda. So I really want to thank them for all their hard work and sacrificing their holidays for us. Our registration for fall and winter programs open on July 8th. So for all those parents looking for after school programs, the registration is now open. So start planning for fall. For our youth programs, our Tiny Tots, the registration for fall, will open on July 6th, and that program will run from September 8th through December 11th. Our after-school registration is underway. Several sites have already filled up, and the remainder are filling up soon. So if you're late to the game, please check out our website to see what's available. Our summer camps, we still have some spots available. There's a couple spots in our day camps, our WOW and Tenderfoot, and a variety of sports classes. So if you're still looking for something for the rest of the summer, we still have a few things available for you. Our special interest classes that are currently offering H2O STEAM, Dance Fusion, Lego Robotics, Karate, drums, and many more. So there's still some availability in those. And then our community recreation. We want to make sure that people get out and join us. This is a free program. It's 1 till 4 PM at the following locations. Mondays, it takes place at Bull Hole Immigrant Circle Park. On Tuesday, it takes place at McKinley Park. Wednesday takes place at Whale. Thursday, it's taking place at Tillman. And then Monday through Friday from 12 until 4.30, it takes place at Gene Sweeney and Lincoln Park. These are active programs that we offer for free for the public to come out and join us. Please check those out. The Teens, our underground center, is open for drop-in Monday through Friday still from 12 until 5 p.m. through August 7th. They're taking a trip to the Space and Science Center in Oakland Saturday, July 25th from 7 until 10.30. And then our Teen Tween Summer Adventure Camp is taking place. They're going on field trips such as Discovery Kingdom, Coal Canyon Lagoon, and other spots. So some of those trips still have availability if people are looking. For our adults, our registration and specialty classes is open. The open gym is still taking place Sundays from 6 until 10 p.m. at the Alameda Point Gym. We have tennis private and group instructions available. And as you well know, we have indoor roller skating taking place Wednesdays, 9 p.m. until 10.30 at the Alameda Point Gym. It's widely attended, so... It's a good event. And then at the Mastic Senior Center, there's a medical eligibility home and community-based services. You can learn about the different benefits, program eligibility, Medi-Cal recovery. That's taking place on July 14th at 10 a.m. in the media room. And then there is a stained glass and mosaic for beginner and intermediate services. This is Design and Create Glass Art. This takes place Wednesdays, 9.30 to 12 p.m., July 29th through September 2nd. And then in our aquatics, our aquatic camps are open and running. And if there's any... different programs out there. So we have a Choose a Private Camp, Pirate Camp, Star Wars Camp, Cardboard Boat Camp, and Intro to Dive that are all running, and some still have availability. And then we're offering our group and flexible private swim lessons for all ages. We're running that all throughout summer until school starts. And then we'll still be running swim lessons on the weekends when that starts. The Parks Division held safety trainings for heat illness prevention, eye protection, and driver safety in May and June. And then we'd really like to give a shout out to our office assistants, Amanda Donoso and Sandy Gottlieb, for all their hard work in helping to coordinate all the numerous facility rentals, picnic rentals, and events throughout the year. to make these celebrations a great thing. Last year we had over 1,100 picnic rentals, which, you know, often on some weekends we're having 27 to 30. So it really keeps them busy. And the department really couldn't function without their support in helping the community make these reservations. For some project updates, the Godfrey Park shade structure that was damaged was repaired on June 8th. The Lincoln Park netting project began on June 8th and is about 95% complete. Final work is being done on the driveway. We anticipated opening in the coming week or so. There is a vegetation weed abatement taking place at Jean Sweeney Park from Webster until Wood Street. And this is in preparation for clearing the site for upcoming community garden. And then the Lidecker Playground has been ordered and we expect it to arrive in September. Just so you guys are aware of a few things that are ongoing, we are currently working through our joint use agreement with AUSD as the Emma Hood Pool is, construction is ongoing with the anticipated completion by late fall with operation hopefully beginning in, January again, we'll all be predictive along that construction and then if you'll bear with me, I just want to Recognize Commissioner Alexander, so let me just read this as this will be her last meeting. So I So on behalf of the Recreation Parks Commission and the City of Alameda, it's my pleasure to recognize Commissioner Adrienne Alexander as she concludes eight years of dedicated service, including two terms as commissioner and service as the commission chair. Commissioner Alexander has generously dedicated her time and expertise to the Alameda community. Her thoughtful leadership, sound judgment, and commitment to public service have strengthened the commission's work and contributed to many important decisions. It has been a pleasure to work alongside her. Her support, encouragement, and collaborative spirit have been greatly appreciated by fellow commissioners and staff alike. Beyond the commission, she has been a familiar face at community events throughout Alameda, taking the time to listen to constituents, build relationships, and ensure community voices were reflected in the commission's work. Staff also deeply appreciate her thoughtful visits to the office, whether just checking in, bringing snacks to brighten the day. These simple acts of kindness have made the office staff feel valued and reflect the genuine care and appreciation Commissioner Alexander has always shown for the people behind the work. Commissioner Alexander, thank you for your leadership, dedication, and unwavering commitment to the city of Alameda. And your service has made a meaningful and lasting difference. And we wish you all the best in the coming years.

Thank you very much. I'll respond to that later this evening. Thank you so much.

With that, that's my report.

Thank you. Do we have any questions for Director Long this evening?

I know there was a lengthy discussion on a bond measure at city council. It didn't look like, I know there's a kind of a preliminary list of projects, but if that does move forward and get approved by the voters, do you expect there to be some funds at least dedicated to parks and recreation?

So the majority of the funds that would come toward the department or help supporting the department would be about design and construction of a unified corp yard. As you know, we're kind of scattered throughout the city with our maintenance activities. And so that's really where the majority of the support will come into play is really about the infrastructure needed to support operations from the back end. Great. Thanks.

I have a clarification I'd like to ask about. During the parade, I was talking to some folks, and a lady approached me and said, you took our tennis courts away at Lidecker. I said, no, we didn't. Yes, you did. You took the tennis courts away. There's only pickleball there, and everybody's doing lessons. So could you clarify the tennis situation and the pickleball situation at Lidecker, please?

Sure, gladly, Commissioner Alexander. We instituted, there's three courts located at Lidecker. The commission as well as the city council authorized us to do a pickleball trial, which was made permanent on one of those courts. The other two courts remain available to the public for tennis play and open tennis play. Lightacre is also a lit court, so it is available up till 10 PM. And then the lessons, ARPD is conducting primarily the majority of their lessons at Kruse Park right now. It was a move that we did at the time in order to allow for more open tennis play to occur at Lidecker, knowing that one of the courts was being used for pickleball.

So here's my question. If I want to give a tennis lesson, I have every right to have an hour on that court to give my lesson. Is that correct? Well. Am I wording that correctly?

Well, what I would say is you have the right to use the court whenever you like. If you were taking a private tennis lesson from an instructor that has not reserved the court, there's a process for them to do so through ARPD as an independent tennis lesson provider. OK. So you can do that.

That clarifies it. Thank you.

Other questions?

I only had one question, noting that the subject of field allocation is on the agenda later this evening. I'm wondering if you can remind us of the key dates through the year for seasonal field allocation.

I don't have those in front of me, but I'll have them for later. There's one that's happening now. So we generally do fall. So it'll run from basically August until November. Then all the fields technically go into a rest phase from November until February 1. And then we do the spring allocation. And then we do a summer allocation.

Thank you. OK, moving forward, our next item is Commissioner Communications. I join Director Long in recognizing and thanking Commissioner Alexander for her many years of service and celebrating her tonight on the occasion of her final meeting. I know you'll be speaking later in the agenda. But for the time being, I'd like to invite you to provide the first update.

Thank you very much. I may repeat something since we didn't have a meeting in June, so I apologize for that. Most recently, I was part of the Fourth of July parade. For many years, I was a judge and got to see the entire parade go by. But this year, I was in the parade on a float. And that is a very different experience. Again, kudos to Pat Russi and that entire ARPD staff. That thing was so organized from top to bottom. And I have to thank the maintenance crew. We had a truck from ARPD and their trailer. They even helped me decorate the trailer when we were down there. So I have nothing but positive things to say about them and our dear driver. I have to mention his name, Nick, if that's OK. But that parade, it was unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. Will I do it again? yes but i need more help with us on the truck we need more people passing out items i went to the leisure club talent show which i like to do every year and this year it was inside at mastic center so it was a whole different vibe this year but those kids just kids young adults just work so hard and they're so excited about what they do and they come up and they talk to you so i encourage anyone to try to go to that show. I think it's like the third Thursday in June. So you could check your calendar for that. I recently walked to Jeanne Sweeney Park and saw all the clearing that we've done of the trees and that, and the new pathways there. And I was actually there on Friday, and they had their community recreation. And there are a lot of people there, a lot of parents there with their kids. So that was great to see. I was at Bayport Park for an event. saw that the soccer field is being reseated. Is that open yet?

Yes, Bayport is fully open now.

I went to the community meeting at Tillman about the Little League being played there, so we can talk about that later. I did attend several Little League games at Little John and watched the transformation from one game to the next to see what was going on. I did go to some games at Rittler Park, and that's a curious way to figure out how to get through the soccer game to get to the right softball field. But that worked out all right. I do like the new sign that tells you why the parks are closed. It has a QR code. I noticed that the other day. Great idea. Great idea. Drove by Estuary Park. The playground equipment is in. The dog park area is, I don't think it was paid, but it's set out. The bathrooms are there. The pickleball courts were, the asphalt was down. So that was kind of exciting to see. I did go to Longfellow Park and look at the new entrance, the ADA entrance we want. I do have one question as to the letter received about the locked gate. I looked at that, and for me as an old park director, it looks like that might have been a safety issue, so kids aren't running out. I don't know, but I think that's enough. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Burney.

I do not have anything, but I would just like to give appreciation to Commissioner Alexander for all the work that she has done on the commission and, in a sense, helped mentor the three of us in the ways of the commission. commission since we were all new while she was on the commission. So I would like to give thanks to her for all the help that she's done with the commission in general and passing of knowledge of her experience on the commission to us to have some continuation of the issues that she has brought up while we were all on the commission together and to help us address the future issues moving forward.

Thank you.

Thank you. Vice Chair Schwartz.

So I was a judge at the sand sculpture and sand castle contest back in June. So I had a great time. My parents were in town. I brought my son, who played in the sand while everyone was building their sculptures. So that was a lot of fun, really great event. So thank you for that opportunity. And thank you to ARPD and East Bay Parks for putting on a really spectacular and fun and engaging event. It was a lot of fun. I also participated in the Alameda 4th of July parade on a float, which is always fun. I did drive this year instead of walk, which was actually way better. I agree. Yes. And again, thanks to ARPD for all the work that I know goes into organizing a really great event like that. I DID LISTEN TO THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING ON TUESDAY HOPING TO SUPPORT THE ADDITIONAL FUNDING AND AWARD OF THE CONTRACT FOR THE CITY ECONOMIC CENTER, BUT I DID NOT MAKE IT UNTIL 1120 P.M. WHEN I THINK IS WHEN JUSTIN STARTED HIS PRESENTATION, BUT I DID WATCH THE RECORDING THE NEXT MORNING, SO REALLY HAPPY TO SEE that go through and finally see those final steps where we can start construction. I do know the contract was awarded to the same company that did the Piedmont pool and is doing the South San Francisco pool. I know that are also both all electric. I do believe there were some delays because of commissioning the Piedmont pool. I know this is a newer technology. But I will say, I know we're still two plus years away from that stage. But hopefully by then, we'll have some lessons learned from some of those earlier projects I know they've done. So it was definitely reassuring to see we went with someone who's done an electric heating system before. So really excited for that. I know I think Justin mentioned this in the staff communication. Thank you for bringing the flexible swim lessons this year. It's been way easier to get. My son just had lesson three of 10 this evening, which is where I just came from. So really nice to be able to have more flexibility scheduling lessons, and then just being able to keep him with the same instructor. So he's turning five end of this month, and definitely want to get him. He's very confident. um but gotta get him to actually swim and not drown is is the challenge so that's uh our goal for the year um and then lastly again thank you to commissioner alexander um for your uh service over the last eight years and uh as commissioner bernie mentioned really mentoring us uh uh the last couple years really appreciate it thank you very much i appreciate that thank you

I'll start by joining Vice Chair Schwartz in offering congratulations for the decision on the Aquatic Center on Tuesday night. It's a wonderful endorsement of the department and your leadership director, Director Long. It's not every day that a community makes such a sizable investment in helping make sure that everyone has the opportunity to learn how to swim. It's really wonderful. Like Commissioner Alexander, when the subject of Little League and Little John Park was on the council's agenda and in the weeks following, I spent several weekends out at Little John Park observing transitions between games, crowd flow, et cetera. Wonderful opportunity for all of us just to be eyes and ears out in the community. And I've asked Director Long for support moving forward in making sure that when different public meetings and so forth occur out in the community that we're just part of the core distribution on those. We're certain to be aware of those moving forward. I want to give a shout out to all the staff associated with ARPD's summer programs. As the parent now of, I can't believe it, of a teenager, certainly it is a different set of summer programs that we're looking at. The parent text threads that I'm a part of are full of interests and requests for skill building opportunities for this age group, life skills. And in particular, one gap that I would call out is cooking lessons. To our knowledge, the closest set of age-appropriate cooking lessons for this cohort is at Kitchen on Fire in Berkeley, which is quite a ways. So perhaps an opportunity for future summers for that age group. That being said, frequent visits to the Underground Teen Center. And so to give a shout out to that wonderful opportunity for this age group. Last thing I'll mention, as I continue to tour the island's facilities through work with my son this month, took us out to the golf course for the first time. I was certain that my golf clubs had gone away for the duration of... the 18 years of childhood. So it was very exciting to go out together and start hitting balls together. The entire staff out there was wonderful, welcoming. It was great that for a child who maybe you don't know if the game's going to stick, that there were clubs available for him to borrow and hack around with. So just a great experience to share together, and thank you for that. OK, thank you all. And moving forward, the next item on the agenda tonight is our consent calendar, which is a new item for us as a group. Just to call out, the consent calendar consists of routine items that are considered together and acted upon with a single motion, unless a commissioner requests that an item be removed for a separate discussion. Tonight, the consent calendar includes item 5A, which is approval of the May 14, 2026 Recreation and Parks Commission regular meeting minutes, item 5B, which is a recommendation to approve the Longfellow Park ADA Access Improvement Project, and item 5C, a recommendation to approve the Alameda Recreation and Parks Department public office hours. Before we move forward, are there any clarifying questions from commissioners? about items on the consent calendar tonight. Are there any members of the public who wish to speak on a consent calendar item?

No speakers.

Are there any requests from commissioners to remove an item from the consent calendar? No. In that case, can we have a motion to approve the consent calendar? I will motion to approve the consent calendar. Second. And could we have a roll call vote, please?

Commissioner Alexander? Yes. Commissioner Birney?

Yes.

Vice Chair Swartz? Yes. Chair Rades?

Yes. Thank you. The motion passes unanimously. The next item on our agenda is regular agenda item 6A, which is to consider a recommendation for the relocation of Alameda Little League's Majors Division from Little John Park to Lower Washington Park for fall of 2026 and Tillman Park for spring of 2027, following the approved athletic facility allocation policy. We'll have a report and presentation. Then the commissioners can ask clarifying questions. We'll have public comment. The commissioners will discuss and offer comment. And then from there, we'll need to make a motion to either approve the recommendation, provide direction to staff to explore other specific park locations, or recommend staff explore other solutions and return with additional recommendations at the end of our discussion. Director Long.

All right. Thank you, commissioners. I'm just going to tilt this up a little bit. Like I said, we're here tonight to discuss the Little League majors usage. As you know, we started a trial at Little John Park this last fall. Or sorry, spring. Sorry, I forget my month, where I'm at right now. But we started for the spring. And we held two community meetings there prior to it happening. We took their feedback. However, I think what we found out through the process was that due to the size of the park, these were the main concerns that people had was parking plan, the transition between games, no amplified music, specific time. allocations that the group had specific access to and then neighborhood access when Little League wasn't using the park some of the things that what we were looking at at the time was a schedule from March until June then with some playoffs in June but overall the the memo memorandum of understanding or MOU was to cover those main items to give some leeway and feedback for the neighborhood to be able to have input to literally continuing to use the field. Again, these were the primary concerns with parking conditions, noise access. And as Little League was using it in the spring, there was a lot of angst with the neighborhood. I think the inundation with the number of players in a confined space and just the overall size of Little John made it feel like the park was being taken over for a specific period of time. And with games back to back, we really took that into consideration as we're starting to approach alternatives tonight. We did bring it in front of city council at first to bring an MOU, and they wanted us to come back here to this commission and bring some alternatives, which is why we're here tonight. Little League also had the same concerns about the size of the field after they started using it. Originally they thought it would be a good fit but they too agree with the neighborhood in the sense that this was not the best fit at this location and they worked with our staff to try to figure out what alternative locations might work and so that's what we're here to talk about. So what our staff did was they started to review the spring field allocation and really look at to see where we had underutilized fields based on the requests that were made. It also helps us to look at just our allocation process in general. And then we also looked at the fall 25 allocation to see what potential impacts would happen for this coming up fall season for Little League, knowing that they needed a home for this fall, and then looking at a solution for the spring of 27. So of the options that they came up with for fall, Lower Washington was identified as a site that would be suitable for Little League to utilize. And based on the fall allocation previously, we didn't think that there would be a big impact to other users by using this field as where the requests were last year. This field has a parking lot off to the side. There's street parking. And so the transition, this is the same use. There's currently games being played here now by a different variety of groups. So we don't really consider it a change at all. And their fall season is not as intense as their spring season. As anyone who is involved in Little League, spring is a big time frame for them. We also looked at, like say for Spring 27, this is the Tillman Park on Bay Farm Island. And as you can see, the sports field sort of in the center of the image there will leave actually a good amount of the park still available to the public to utilize during any type of game play taking place. The field size is appropriate. We actually held the community meeting, like we said earlier, on July 2nd. We sent mailers out to any properties within 300 feet, so everyone received a mailer about the meeting and what we were discussing. We posted at the location signs of that. We posted on social media. We also posted on our website that this was taking place. And during that meeting, it was not well attended. We had two members and then also Commissioner Alexander. We had more staff there than we had the public. But we talked about the process. The two individuals there were in support of the games taking place. We talked a little bit about just Little League's usage hours. Monday through Thursday, they'll be having one game a night. And then on Saturday, they'll be doing up to four. And as part of the conversation, we also talked about if there is an impact, there is a potential to split the Saturday games by doing two at Tillman and then two at the Wood Middle School still. So there still is that possibility with the group. Little League is also what was just off the north of the picture is the parking lot for the school. So they have confirmed with the school district that it is available for Little League to reserve or rent during the course of their season to limit the impact of parking as there's no longer parking on the road to the east. Sorry, my eyes are a little blurry to read the name. I think it's Avalon Way. I'm sorry. I can't really see from here. But there's a bike lane there now, so there's no parking along that east side of the park there. So in order to minimize that, they'll have to utilize that school lot. Now, this is the solution for 27. We are also looking at the long-term solution, which is out here at the multi-purpose field in the north side of the grass area is where we'd be looking at adding a new baseball diamond that can support both the age group for the 10 to 12 year olds, but would also support softball. One of the things that, as to our speaker earlier, Alameda needs more fields. They need more access to it. Increasing one more diamond is a way for us to do that, at least on an interim basis. One of the highlights I was not able to, or I did not include in there, is we are starting work on another Woodstock field, where they're actually going to be upgrading the lighting to LED. And that will allow that field to actually, with the new lumens, it'll actually support nighttime play. And for fall, for giving us one more lit field that can be fully used, there was one pole that was missing which made it not usable for nighttime play, which is now will be covered. So not a permanent solution to the shortness of fields that we have, but at least a little bit of improvement there. But the ideal thing that we'd be adding here is the infield. We would allow them to put a temporary fence in for their season like they do now. And then they would remove that so that the large grass area could still be used for soccer or other sports in the interim. And so we'll be looking at this for trying to get this into effect for the fall of 2027. You know, when we first approached and Little League approached us about needing a specific location, you know, we tried to look at what was the most available for the impact that we had. But, you know, I think this is probably a better solution for the amount of players that are happening and the turnover for the day as there's ample parking on Alameda Point and around this facility to support that activity. The other part is we're looking at the field allocation process in itself. So just to give you a little bit of a history and how it sort of functions is for those different time frames that we briefly discussed earlier, the fall, the spring, and summer, People make requests to us. We have a prioritization factor of how it ranks between school, youth sports, and ARPD programs and whatnot. But people make requests, and they often make requests for specific fields that they like. not necessarily the space that they need. And so what we're starting in this fall as part of the allocation is we're requesting people to provide what size field they need to support their program so that we can do the mastery in the back and putting the puzzle together to try to maximize all the fields that are getting utilized. And then is it a point so that we can minimize impact to other organizations? And then what we're really hoping to do, which we did this last spring, is we were able to take Bayport out of rotation. The last season in fall in soccer really did a number on it. And so right now, we have Rittler out of circulation. And it's getting restorative work right now. So in order for us to build that capacity into there, I know we shut down the fields from November till February, but it's not the best time to do field restoration work. And you don't really get good grass germinating in November and things like that. So we're really trying to work in a rotation pattern here. this field allocation process and review will help us do that so fall will be a trial on it and then hopefully we'll be able to institute it more fully when we get to the spring seasons and then summer and fall again so that's really where we are in the status Little League is pleased with the alternative location right now so and I think as we've heard not think but as we've heard from the Little John community Little League is lower age groups will still have their practices and their games at Little John. So there will still be activity at that field, it just will not be for games. And so they're happy to support that. I think the field improvements that were done at Little John were necessary for the safety of both the playground and the players, not to mention the ADA access that had to be addressed. I think the community still benefits from all of that, and I'm glad to have that. And I think this will be a viable solution into the future for Little League and to support sort of the allocation process as well as ARPD's overall field allocation that we have. So again, what we're seeking here is just for you guys to consider approving these recommendations to move these shifts. And then we'll open it up to questions if you have any clarifying questions on this. So with that, thank you very much.

Thank you, Director Long. And as we move into this item, I want to disclose to my colleagues my own association with Alameda Little League. I've shared previously that for many years I've volunteered and coached for Alameda Little League. And while I know many of the members socially, I don't and haven't ever held a position of decision-making authority with the organization or served on its board. In addition, I haven't participated in any of the department's conversations with Alameda Little League. So my participation on this item is entirely my own. With all that being said, can I invite from commissioners any clarifying questions for Director Long?

I have one question. So just to confirm, the long-term solution isn't a permanent solution. It's just long-term. Well, long term is that. How long is that?

Well, until there is a sports complex master plan done for that whole area, it'll stay in effect until we get to the point where we're actually looking at building the sports complex in that area. So that is a very long term project. Right now, it's an idea with about a $60 million price tag. It'll be there for a long time.

OK. And how much work will need to be done to make this long-term solution feasible, since it's out at the base?

So what I would say is, you know, depending on how much we do internally with our own staff and how much is done by contractors, it'll be a balance probably, it'll be about a $50,000 impact to skin the field, put fencing in for dugouts and whatnot, and a backstop. So there will be an expense associated with this, but the long-term access and cost availability to the community to utilize, I think it'll outweigh the cost of that. We have funds in our unassigned capital repairs and our deferred maintenance that we can utilize toward this. And we'll also look toward taking any donations. Anyone out there who supports youth sports will be more than happy to assist with that, if you're willing to.

And there's lighting. I haven't been out there in at least this part in a bit. There's lighting already at that field or will that also have to be included?

There is no lighting at that field and our solution will not include adding lighting at this time.

I just have a quick question. Tillman is my neighborhood park. I go by there all the time. There's older people playing baseball. There's volleyball. There's lacrosse. There's soccer. The question I brought up at the community meeting was, just for your clarification, is that those soccer teams and lacrosse teams will still have field access. It just may not be at the park of their choice. Is that correct?

That is correct. And as part of the allocation, we'll look at trying to accommodate all their needs and requests.

And I guess just another clarification is that I'm making the assumption that Godfrey, Lidecker, I'm going to miss a park along the way, that all those fields are being used for Little League that can be used, correct?

All the fields are being utilized as much as possible for Little League. As part of this last allocation, they got 12 of our 20 fields. So it's still a very large portion of fields that they're getting. But we're also balancing out full usage. We also work with the schools who utilize Godfrey and some of those other fields as well. So it's a balance of all of those.

And so in those fields, allocations are all equitable around the city, from Bay Farm to the base, all around, all those fields, all being used. Thank you.

I have three questions. The first is, can you take us through how the athletic facility allocation policy applied in arriving at this recommendation, and what alternatives were considered along the way?

So as part of the allocation process, like I was saying, we have a prioritization list that targets ARPD programs are first, school programs are second, youth sports are third, and then everything else goes to sort of adults and then any type of intramural or contract availability. so what we do is what we did in this sense is we reviewed the 26 and 25 both seasons both spring and fall to try to verify usage hours used and then what wasn't utilized and try to evaluate basically where we had gaps and then try to look at where we could shift and And that's how we evaluated it. The alternatives were looking at how many sports were affected, how many are already utilized, does it impact our Title IX, and making sure that we're balancing usage between both girls and boys sports. And so we have to take that into consideration as part of this. And so we looked at all those different opportunities in order to identify these as solutions.

Great, thank you. The second question is part of the controversy around the use of Little John was regarding the use of an MOU in that situation that granted certain rights and so forth. Can you take us through the circumstances in which an MOU is appropriate and why in this situation an MOU isn't applying?

Yes, so often we've utilized MOUs when an organization actually makes improvements to a field, which is a financial improvement. So for example, at Little John, Little League contributed $55,000 to the city to make those improvements. And in lieu of that, you would actually give exclusive rights to utilizing it for certain hours. Not all of it, but very specific hours of usage that they would need. That's sort of the donation in kind. They also rent the fields from us following our field allocation policy. So that's generally when you enter into an MOU. Where Tillman sits right now, Tillman doesn't need any significant major infrastructure improvements to support them playing. And there's room within the allocation that we can just go through the normal process. And like they already did through, even with the MOU, they were paying the same hourly rate as everybody else. They weren't getting it for free. They were still having to rent the fields. So I think it's an important distinction around that. But it was really to cover the capital improvements. I see.

OK, thank you. And then the last question, building on what Commissioner Burney asked, just of course, long term is a difficult statement. But I'm curious, does staff view the proposed Alameda Point baseball diamond as a response to a temporary field shortage situation? Or is that evidence of this broader athletic field capacity gap that needs to be addressed otherwise?

It's evidence of a larger field capacity issue. There's a couple of things that we're also in consideration of fields that we're going to lose in the future. So the Hornet field that is out at Enterprise Park is in a tideland zone, and this is not a compatible use. So at some point, that field will be decommissioned. And then the Main Street linear soccer field will become housing at some point. Again, when we talk about lifespan and expectation, do I think that's going to happen in five years? No. Do I think it's going to happen in 10? Maybe. But I don't know. But that would mean that we lose two significantly sized fields to have access for the public to have. And as you well know, here in Alameda, we are a very dense community. We do not have lots of surplus open space. There is room on the base that has been identified as for a sports complex that could support the addition of potentially for baseball diamonds, for soccer fields. We have about 40 acres that are available to us for future development. But again, that is sort of a long-term plan to address the increase in population and just the need for more open space for the general public to play. So that will be our long-term plan. And when I mean long term, that's probably a good 15 to 20 years from even consideration, I would say, at this point. Our predicted estimate for that is roughly $60 to $65 million in today's dollars to build. There's also sea level rise issues that are happening in that same zone that will have to be addressed when that happens. And so as the base develops, we'll be able to try to figure out how do we incorporate the sports complex overall. It would build upon the skate park that exists, as well as the large gymnasium that we currently have, which is one of the largest in the East Bay.

Thank you. And thank you for mentioning, too, the Title IX evaluation as part of your analysis. Any further questions?

I have one more. Did you say we're putting in another field at Woodstock or just lights?

We're replacing the LED lighting, which will make the field available because it will have enough coverage for nighttime play.

But we're not adding an extra dime or anything? No, we're not. Thank you. I didn't think so.

Great. Thank you all. Do we have any public comment on this item?

We do we have one online speaker speaker Rick Breslin.

Welcome speaker Breslin.

Thank you very much. Good evening, esteemed commissioners and staff of the Alameda Recreation and Parks Department. We have two children that attend eight of these schools. local sports my wife karenna and us for his board members for alameda youth basketball and alameda little league and by the way i'd like to thank chair radius for all the coaching over the years the kids love being on his team Over the past year, we've worked closely with ARPD while Alameda Little League sought additional permits to accommodate its continued growth. That work has included expanding the use of Alameda's baseball fields and addressing the infrastructure needed to support hundreds of children and their families. For some context, Alameda Little League has grown by approximately 10% each year since the pandemic and now serves more than 800 Alameda children between the ages of four and 13. For the past three decades, approximately 400 to 500 players across 40 teams have spent every spring season playing baseball seven days a week on the two fields the league built at Wood Middle School four years ago. Those fields hosted roughly four hours of play every weekday and nearly 20 hours every weekend. One of those diamonds was demolished in the summer of 2024, and the second diamond will be demolished in the next couple of years. Those hundreds of children need a place to play. so thousands of more places to play. Throughout the transition from maintaining and operating two dedicated baseball fields at Wood Middle School to relying more heavily on city park facilities, the ARPD staff has been outstanding. They have worked diligently to balance the needs of Alameda's youth sports organizations while making the best use of the limited facilities available. As I'm sure the staff would agree, and to echo Mark Klein's comments from earlier, Alameda is simply running out of park space to support the growing demands of our community. Looking ahead, we're excited to work alongside city leaders and ARPD staff to explore creative, long-term solutions. The future development of the city-owned property at Alameda Point presents a tremendous opportunity to meet the increasing demand for recreational space, and I encourage the Parks Commission City Council to lend their leadership, experience, and support to efforts that bring the city and the local youth organizations together in partnership to create these new recreational facilities that will benefit not only today's children, but generations of Alameda families to come. Thank you for your time and your continued commitment to our community.

Thank you, Speaker Breslin. Are there any other speakers tonight?

No more speakers.

Great. In that case, it's time for commissioners to discuss and offer comment. Who would like to start?

Thank you, Director Long, staff. This seems like a very thorough investigation into some better alternatives. I think we've heard over the last couple of months some feedback from the community on the Little John Park usage. And so I don't see any flaws here. I appreciate all the hard work. and the thoughtfulness and working with the neighborhoods uh the neighbors uh and little league to come up with what seems like a very agreeable solution to both the community uh alameda little league and arpd so uh i will be happy to uh support this mr bernie

I do not have any issues. I think this is a very well put together plan and I'm glad that the Little League organization and the communities are all aligned with the proposal and I have no issue moving forward with it.

I want to thank staff for trying to solve our problems quickly. That was a trial period at Little John. I think there was a necessity, and they needed fields. And that's what was there, and that's what we tried. And I think for what it was, it was a good process. I was down there for several games. I watched. I was able to find parking. You could still use the park. But I understand the neighbors' concern. So I'm glad that we found another solution to that. I want to thank Little League for all of the improvements that they made at Little John. I know that they needed to make the dugouts ADA accessible, and it was. And the new fences were really nice. I think that this will be great at Tillman. As I said, I live in the neighborhood. I see cars there all the time. And we have to remember, our neighborhood parks don't have parking lots, whether you're at Franklin or you're at Rittler, with two soccer games and two baseball games. So the neighborhoods are impacted when we have these sports games. There's just no way around that. One question, Director Long. The diamond at the school that's still available, is Little League able to use that or not?

So the diamond that is available literally is able to rent it, yes.

They can still rent that one diamond that's available at Wood?

While it still exists. As the speaker mentioned, it's on a limited timeline of two to three years.

OK, well, thank you. I am all in favor of this proposal. I think it's great. I'm anxious to go down to Woodstock and watch a game at night.

There you go. I'll close by offering a similar effort to commend both the Little League and the ARPD staff for actually collaborating in this instance through several cycles of effort to find a home for the kids out on the fields, both in the spring and the fall seasons. And that spirit, more than anything, an effort to engage and work together, I think I find most encouraging from the entire process. Looking back, what happened at Little John, in some sense, having spent weekends out there, it was at some level unsurprising and possible to anticipate when you put so many people together in such close proximity over a period of time. And I would just offer up the commission in the future for situations where an MOU is under development, which would imply a deeper sense of engagement and investment on the part of a sports league, as well as potentially greater impacts on a surrounding neighborhood, to offer up the commission as a place to offer eyes and ears to receive that type of feedback and hopefully get further in front of some of the issues that ended up arising. But with that being said, I'm in agreement with my colleagues that I think this is a well-thought-through proposal, and I would offer my support as well. Hearing that it feels like we are in a unanimous position of agreement, does anyone have a motion to approve the recommendation that's in front of us?

I'll make a motion to approve the recommendation.

And I'll second that. And could we have a roll call vote, please?

Commissioner Alexander? Yes. Commissioner Burney?

Yes.

Vice Chair Schwartz? Yes. Chair Radice?

Yes, thank you. The motion passes unanimously. OK, moving forward, the next item on the agenda is our next meeting, which is on September 10, 2026, after we're on recess during the month of August. Do we have any agenda items that anyone would like to put on that agenda? A couple of proposals. I'd like to reiterate Commissioner Alexander's suggestion from earlier in the year to have a recap of the summer season and the summer programs in terms of attendance and operational takeaways. That'd be wonderful to have as part of our practice. My other two were just actually my only other one is just a question more than anything. Knowing last year that we had so much conversation leading up to the recreation parks user fee schedule, does it make any sense to bring that forward earlier in the planning cycle, even if just to discuss it from a philosophical standpoint before we get into the nitty gritty? So I offer that just as a question.

Yeah, I think we've already considered that. And so we'll be bringing it earlier and allow more discussion to happen around those different fees and different proposals. I would just like to note on the September meeting, we will have two new commissioners. The mayor will be on the 21st of July. the council will take a vote on appointing those two members. And so that'll be their first meeting. So just wanted to make you aware of that as part of this. Terrific. Thank you.

Can I add something? Are you done? OK. Want to add to that agenda item? Please, please. We've talked about in the past having the aquatics supervisor come talk to us and the leisure club. So I hope that they'll continue to have all the different departments come. maybe not once a year, but every year and a half to come and give a report, not only so we can meet them, so that they can meet the new commission and have a conversation.

Thank you. Director Long, is there anything else that you'd like to add to that agenda?

Not at this time.

Wonderful. Before we adjourn this evening, I want to offer the opportunity, the floor to Commissioner Alexander on the occasion of her last commission meeting.

Thank you. Let's see if I can do this. You know, 54 years ago, I walked into Kruse Park right out of high school. Do your math. You can figure it out. I want to thank Amy Woolridge and former Mayor Spencer for giving me the opportunity to serve my first term here on the Alameda Recreation Parks Commission. I loved it so much, I asked for a second one. So I'd like to thank the current mayor, Ashcroft, for that. It's been a privilege to serve with Director Woolridge and new Director Long. It was a privilege to be here during that transition period that ARPD had for a while and with the new commission. And seeing the department behind the scenes in a different way from being a park director was really interesting to me. It is amazing what 14 people, full-time staff members, do in this city. And the recreation services that you have, the maintenance crew, it is absolutely amazing. Getting to know the staff has been a real joy. Bringing them cookies once in a while doesn't hurt that, but anyhow. And I've learned that it takes a very long time to get anything done. Also the financing with that DPay Park is still on the horizon somewhere I remember probably seven years ago DPay Park came to us the sports complex I talked about that about eight years ago. We looked at that so it takes a long time to try to get these fields the new cruisy building It took over 10 years. And it was a real pleasure to open that building. Although it was during COVID and we had to do it on a Zoom thing, it was really a pleasure of mine to open that new building. And the way that building looked before, no building in this town should ever have looked like that. It was in deplorable condition, whether it was a rec building, any city building. So I implore the city. city council on that to be sure that our buildings don't get into that condition again. I was able to open the Lincoln Playground after the trees fell down and we had a new playground, Seaplane Lagoon Park. I was able to open that. We named a boho circle Whale Park. three or four other parks that we named. We changed the name of Jackson Park to Tichenia Park. We added that nice natural playground there. The swim center has been on the agenda in the last two years that I've been here, along with the community garden. So it's really exciting to see that that's coming to fruition. And when you talk about the infrastructure bond, I watched the council meeting the other night. And it looks like almost half of the money is going towards improvements that we need for fire. And I'm all for that. However, I think you need to remember that parks and playgrounds are part of our infrastructure. We have several really old buildings that need a lot of work. The Oak Club needs a kitchen. It's sinking in certain places. Lightacre Park needs work. Godfrey Park needs work. I'm probably forgetting one along the line, but you can't defer this maintenance. The pathways in and out of the park, something really simple. I went to Lidecker a few weeks ago to watch a Little League game. Almost twisted my ankle, those paths are so bad. So that's all part of what we want in this town. We want safe facilities. There's a lot of old benches and picnic tables that have a lot of splinters in them that need to be repaired or something. The O Club, like I said, needs a kitchen. Everybody wants more pickleball courts and tennis courts. Well, the ones we have have to be repaired every three to four years. It's a big overhaul. That costs a lot of money. We request all the time for more indoor basketball, more outdoor basketball. Well, we don't have any space for that. So I just kind of want the council to remember that recreation is part of that infrastructure. Yes, we can't do everything, but I hope that they'll remember that when they put that forward. And to the new commissioners, I want to thank you for wanting to serve on the LMA Recreation and Park Commission. I have a few little tips for you. Be sure that you read your agenda before you come to the meeting. Take notes so you know what you're going to talk about. Get your questions in your head. Take the time to go to an ARPD event. Go to the movie night at the park. Or if there's the Sandcastle contest, pop down there. Just pop down to the local park and talk to the people that are there. Introduce yourself. You'll get a nice pretty name tag. Introduce yourself. And that's one way to get out of the community and see what they have to say. You can bring the questions back to the meeting. And finally, I would like to thank all the commissioners that I served with. I'm sorry that Commissioner Robbins was not here tonight to leave with me. And I want to thank staff again. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with everyone at the ARPD office. And I certainly hope to continue to work with you again. And this has been a really memorable experience. Thank you.

Thank you. With that said, the next and final item on the agenda is our adjournment. Can I have a motion to adjourn, please?

I'll make a motion to adjourn. Second.

And a vote, please.

Commissioner Alexander? Yes. Commissioner Birney? Yes. Vice Chair Swartz? Yes. Chair Radies?

Yes. All righty. The meeting is now adjourned. We'll see you all in September.