Community Services and Youth Committee - Regular Meeting

good evening good evening commissioners good evening afternoon we're going to call this meeting to order at 403. the commission on aging meeting is now open the meeting is called to order I'm waiting on the prompt. No prompt?

Pursuant to the City Council rules of procedure and order of business resolution, the members of all Boards and Commissions and the public are reminded that they must preserve order and decorum throughout the meeting. In that regard, members of the Boards and Commissions and the public are advised that any delay or disruption in the proceedings or a refusal to obey the orders of the Board or Commission or the Presiding Officer constitutes a violation of these rules. The city of Riverside is committed to fostering a workplace that provides dignity, respect and civility to our employees, customers and the public they serve.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag We will now move to public comment.

Public comment is now open for this item. Call 951-826-8688 and follow the prompts to access the meeting. To request to speak, press star 9. When called to speak, press star 6 to unmute. You can also join via Zoom. The meeting ID can be found on the agenda.

I have one speaker card. Janet Palacio and Isaiah Carter, senior program update.

hello good afternoon commissioners thank you for having us my name is Janet Palacio I'm the recreation services coordinator over at Bordwell Park and I'd like to introduce to you hi good evening my name is Isaiah Carter the assistant recreation coordinator at Bordwell Park And we're here today just to give you some information on our upcoming programs for all our senior programming throughout our centers. So you have a copy of the Dales, La Sierra, Boardwell, and Villegas upcoming programs that is being passed out. That way you can have that on your calendar. We'd love for you to stop by and visit any and all of these programs if you can. But just importantly, too, just a reminder, we have our Senior Expo happening this Wednesday from 8 to 10 at the Dale Senior Center. Thank you.

Thank you, and we will now move to presentations.

Presentations from Park and Rec.

Hello. My name is Pamela Gallera, and it's my pleasure to serve as the Park and Recreation Commission Director. So last month, we celebrated Park and Recreation Month, and we recognized the incredible impacts that parks, recreation, arts, transportation, and public spaces have on the quality of life in Riverside. Since the City Council first proclaimed July as Park and Recreation Month in 2018, Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department has proudly partnered with the National Recreation and Park Association, otherwise known as NRPA, to highlight the essential role parks and recreation play in building healthy, connected and resilient communities. This year's theme is the power of parks and recreation and recognizes that parks do more than just provide places to play. They strengthen neighborhoods. They improve physical and mental health. They create opportunities for lifelong learning and preserve our natural resources. And they also foster a strong sense of belonging in our community. So some highlights. In the past year, we wanted to just share with you a little bit about our department. So we actually have 14 community centers, and that includes three senior centers. We have seven pools and almost 60 parks. And we have over 200 part-time summer staff that come on board in the summertime, which include 80 returning lifeguards. A lot of times these kids will come back from college to take that summer job with us. And so this year we really expanded youth sports, adaptive recreation, camps, after-school programs, aquatics, and senior services. and we continue to invest in nearly 3,000 acres of parkland. We also have our own transportation services, which I know you know very well, our Riverside Connect. So this year we had over 100 community events along with film permits, and of course we expect our Festival of Lights to be better this year than ever. And so in this way, we are really supporting healthier residents throughout our city. So none of these accomplishments would be possible without the continued support of the mayor, the city council, community partners, volunteers, dedicated staff, and of course, commissions such as yours. We partner with you every day to make Riverside a safer, a more vibrant community. So thank you for your continued support and for Parks and Recreation Month and for recognizing the power of Parks and Recreation in the community of Riverside. And so at this time, we are very pleased to share with you a very short video about all the things that we do. Could we play the video?

Every day across Riverside, something powerful happens. Neighbors connect. Children discover new passions. Families create memories. Elders stay active and engaged. That's the power of Parks and Recreation. We create spaces where people come together. Our community centers welcomed nearly 1.8 million visits this year. Each visit represents an opportunity to connect, participate, and strengthen our community. Play builds confidence, creativity, leadership, and lifelong skills. More than 47,000 program registrations connected residents to recreation opportunities across the city. Our pools have served over 30,000 residents, developing life-saving water safety skills. The community is strengthened when people have opportunities to gather and celebrate. Through the arts and culture and recreation divisions, Riverside creates shared experiences that foster civic pride, cultural appreciation, and a deeper sense of belonging. This year, our park scene planted over 650 plants, including native species, added nearly 80 trees throughout the city, and improved more than 5,000 feet of trail in Sycamore Canyon. Mount Rubidoux welcomed more than 1 million visitors, creating more access to recreation, wellness, and connection to the outdoors. Strong communities ensure everyone has opportunity to participate. More than 3,100 scholarships helped remove barriers to recreation and enrichment programs for local youth and families. Parks and Recreation contribute to the overall well-being of our community. This year, Riverside Connect provided more than 67,000 rides for seniors and adults with disabilities. More than 4,200 food boxes were distributed to residents in need. Through Spark of Love, more than 1,000 children received holiday gifts. And Adopt-A-Family matched a record 51 local families' generous donors. The power of Parks and Recreation can be seen throughout Riverside in healthier residents, stronger neighborhoods, and public spaces where people have opportunities to connect, grow, and belong. This is the power of Parks and Recreation.

So we are so proud of that video and we're so proud of what we do every day. And so I'm available for any questions if anybody might have. No questions? Yes, ma'am.

If we see the parks being abused on the weekend, who do we call?

So call 911. I'm sorry. Well, if it's an emergency, call 911, but also 311. So you can report non-urgent issues to 311.

311 does not operate on the weekend.

I think it does. Maybe you can leave a message. You can also, does it work? Yeah, it does. It functions on the weekend. There's also a 311 app that you could take a picture and send it in.

Okay. All righty. Thank you.

Great question.

Thank you so much for all that you do I have a question yes. Could you recognize me please yes commit commission across. I would love to have that video to post on my social media can we make that available right it is available to the public is so.

How do I access yes can we send that to the commissioners maybe.

Thank you.

It is great. Yeah. It's great.

Thank you.

Commissioner Clark.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to leave. I'm looking at the Recognizing the Department's 2025 Employee of the Year. Are you going to tell us that right now? Oh, yes, yes.

I'm very pleased to tell you that we do each year select an Employee of the Year, and I'm thrilled to let you know that this year our Employee of the Year is a Victoria Koo Young. So she is the one that manages the Youth Innovation Center at Arlington Park. So Victoria joined us in 2021 and quickly became an invaluable member of our team. She played a critical role in launching and operating the Borns Family Youth Innovation Center during COVID. She opened that center during COVID, and she helped establish meaningful program and services during one of the most challenging times in our society. And since then, Victoria has continued to lead the department in innovating STEAM and STEM programming, creating engaging educational opportunities that inspire youth and families throughout Riverside. Through her creativity, leadership, and strong community partnerships, she has helped transform the Youth Innovation Center into a dynamic destination for learning, exploration, and innovation. And if you all have never been to the Bourns Youth Innovation Center, I highly recommend you go check it out. It is really something that we're very, very proud of. It's at Arlington Park. Thank you so much.

Thank you. At this time, we will move to our consent calendar. All matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine by the Commission on Aging and may be enacted by one motion in the form listed below. Do we have a motion to approve the consent calendar?

I'll make a motion to approve with one correction. Correction is on page 11 under senior health, networking with seniors to create workshops. That's all, just a little typo. With that, I motion to accept with the correction as noted.

Would you please state your correction again?

On page 11, under communications, under the senior health ad hoc committee updates, the second sentence, discuss network with senior centers to create workshops.

Can I get a second? Okay, great, Commissioner.

I second.

Thank you, Commissioner Pendergraft. Ready to vote. thank you motion passed we will now proceed to the discussion items portion of the agenda

been the draft citywide general plan park and recreation element policies and again Pamela galera director and it's my pleasure to introduce Matthew Taylor who is the principal planner with the community economic development he will introduce the team and give a presentation and I will also be available for questions should you have any at the end.

Thank you, Director Galera. Madam Chairwoman, members of the commission, my name is Matthew Taylor. I'm a principal planner with the Community and Economic Development Department. And I, along with my co-project manager, Fortina Morales, our sustainability manager, are project managers for the Riverside 2050 project, which is a comprehensive update of the city's general plan and development of a climate action and adaptation plan, all with an eye toward the year 2050. the general plan is the city's blueprint for how it will grow and develop over a generation general plans are required by california law all cities and cal and counties in california must adopt a general plan that guides growth and development and establishes policies for city priorities budget priorities service priorities and other aspects of delivery of government services and guiding growth and development this project kicked off just about two years ago now to update the current general plan which was adopted by the city council in 2007 which is nearly 20 years ago at this point and so it is high time for an update the world has changed quite a lot in the last 20 years as I'm sure you may have noticed but one of the things that we are excited to bring forward as part of the general plan update is new policies to guide the city's activities and priorities in a number of different areas One of the things that we have been focused on is community outreach and engagement. We'll talk a little bit more about some of the activities that we have done specifically with a focus on our senior population here in the city, but it is incredibly important to us that we reach as many members of the community for their input on what this city looks like over the next 25 years because this plan needs the community's buy-in in order to be successful. some exciting upcoming events that we'll talk a little bit more about public events specifically we have a city-wide community workshop scheduled for october 14th that's a wednesday evening we will be talking all about mobility and circulation which is an important aspect of the general plan it deals with how we get around our city how our transportation network functions and what kinds of new technological innovations we will see coming forward that will potentially change how folks move around the city over the next 25 years. That's an in-person workshop at the Riverside Airport on the evening of October 14th, and all are welcome, so we hope you'll consider joining us. I mentioned that the general plan sets forth the city's policy vision for a generation that those policies cover a huge variety of topics in planning parlance we call those elements think of them as chapters of the general plan but those include here in Riverside arts and culture historic preservation air quality conservation land use and urban design economic development, education, housing, mobility and circulation, noise, open space, parks and recreation, public facilities and infrastructure, and public safety. In addition to that, environmental justice is a topic that we are required by California law to address in our general plan as well. Environmental justice will be addressed throughout the general plan because it does cut across all of those other topics that the general plan will cover. Today, I'm happy to introduce to you some of the consultants that we have been working with, the expert consultants that have been working with to help us develop this plan. Participating remotely are Michael Millett and Michael Uday of WSP Incorporated, which is the consulting firm that is assisting us with development of this plan. They're going to review draft policies for parks and recreation with you, and we'll have some time for discussion and feedback if you have any. And then following that, Fortino will give you a little bit of an overview of the climate action and adaptation plan that is being prepared jointly with the general plan update. So with that, I will hand it over to our remotely participating consultants, Michael Uday and Michael Millett, who will move forward from here. And gentlemen, if you need to prompt me to advance the slides, just say so. Thank you. Control room, we cannot hear. I think they are still muted. Even if they've unmuted themselves, you may need to unmute them. Bear with us just a moment. Thank you. Michael, can you unmute yourself and see if you are able to speak? Either one of you. they're not able to do so apologize for the difficulties just bear with us please okay your microphones have been enabled and we're still not getting any audio I promise we've done this before.

Madam chair. Madam chair. Madam chair. May I ask a question. Sure to to Pam. Commissioner Clark which will which is germane to This ma'am what the what are the three senior centers? Under parks and rec and how does the Goss key fit in?

Yes, so, um, it is Dale's a la Sierra and we do consider Goss key to be one of our community centers because we actually own the building Although the Goss key center they run the building so we we include that in our portfolio and We'll give this just one more minute, but I am standing in the wings and ready to jump in should we have technical difficulties. So let's give it just one more minute to see if the consultants can call in.

Any other questions commissioners. I have a small question. Commissioner Dove.

Yes. He mentioned October the 14th in the evening. Did they have a time though? I didn't get I might have missed the time for the October 14th meeting.

Yes. I'm sorry. Thank you. The workshop will be 6 to 8 p.m..

Very good questions.

And if you sign up for email updates at riverside2050.com, you will receive invitations to all of the events that we are hosting. In addition to the workshops that we host, we also do pop-ups at community events all across the city. In fact, we make it a point to at least every quarter do show up at a community event in every single ward. And so we also like to announce where we'll be next. So you can receive email updates on where you can find us.

Can you repeat? Can you repeat the email?

The website is riverside2050.com and you can sign up for email updates there.

All right, so that's on page 14 then. Thank you.

Okay, Michael, can you try speaking now?

Yeah, can you hear me?

Yes, we can. All right, we've got it.

fantastic all right well good afternoon everyone i'm michael ud with wsp i'm part of the consultant team assisting the city with the riverside 2050 general plan update today i'll walk through the draft policies for the open space parks and recreation element they were developed through review of the existing general plan the parks and recreation master plan the trails master plan broader general plan input and coordination with city and park staff. One of the bigger structural changes from the original general plan is the move from the previous three objective structure to instead five guiding principles. Maintaining and strengthening the park and recreation system, safety, equitable access, partnerships and programs, and sustainability and resiliency. you'll see a mix of original, revised, and proposed policies. Some changes are mainly organizational while others give update the policy direction or fill gaps identified through the update. Given the number of policies in our limited time, I'll move fairly quickly through the original policies and focus on the revised and proposed policies behind those changes. And once they're all presentations complete, our consultancy and city staff will be available to help answer any questions. So starting off, Guiding Principle 1 focuses on maintaining and strengthening Riverside's overall park, open space, and recreation system. The biggest change is PR 1.0. Rather than keeping a fixed parkland ratio in the general plan, The revised policy relies on the Parks and Recreation Master Plan to establish and periodically update those standards. That lets detailed standards evolve with population, development patterns, and community needs without requiring a general plan amendment each time. 1.1 retains the existing direction to locate parks near compatible uses. 1.2 broadens older design language focused on natural site conditions, zero escaping maintenance, so park design can respond more fully to its surrounding context, community needs and long term quality. Next slide. PR 1.3 and 1.4 strengthen the relationship between the general plan and the city's adopted master plans. 1.3 supports continued implementation and updating of those plans while 1.4 ties trail access points, trail heads, way finding and amenities back to them. The reason is to let the detailed plans carry standards and that need to evolve over time while the general plan provides the long range policy direction. 1.5 addresses excess, underutilized, or undeveloped park property. It sets criteria such as community need, access, and long-term maintenance to help determine whether property should be retained or repurposed or where appropriate sold. For legally permissible, proceeds from a sale could be reinvested in higher priority park needs, including acquiring parkland in underserved areas or improving existing parks. Next slide. The last two policies under this principle deal with how the park system grows. PR 1.6 supports acquiring, developing, or designating land for future parks and open space while considering service need, access, environmental conditions, and feasibility. 1.7 adds the operational side. Before adding new parkland or facilities, the city should evaluate the staffing, maintenance, and operational capacity needed to care for them over time. Next slide. Guiding principle two focuses on safety. The first two policies are existing. So PR 2.0 supports safer bicycle, pedestrian, and equestrian trail connections, while 2.1 calls for periodic review of parks, programs, and infrastructures so they continue to safely meet user and neighborhood needs. Next slide. PR 2.2 and 2.3 add more specific implementation direction. 2.2 addresses safety through the physical design of parks and recreation spaces, things like lighting, visibility, wayfinding, and emergency access. 2.3 addresses facility condition through preventive maintenance, inspections, asset management, rehabilitation, and capital investments. Together, the policies address both safe design and how facilities remain safe and functional over time. Next slide. Guiding principle three addresses equitable access. PR 3.0 is an important revision. The previous policy called for facilities to be distributed equally. The update looks more directly at access and community need and ties the evaluation back to the Parks and Recreation Master Plan. It also recognizes that access needs vary across Riverside. Walk-based standards can make sense in urban and higher density areas, while longer travel distances may be more appropriate for rural, hillside, or lower density areas. Next slide. remaining policies look at access from several angles pr 3.1 retains consideration of public transportation 3.2 broadens trail connectivity between city county and state recreation areas and 3.3 retains consideration of all ages abilities disabilities and user groups and park planning and design The new 3.4 adds an equity-based investment policy using demographic, access, community needs, and other relevant data to identify underserved areas and prioritize future acquisition improvements, amenities, programs, and services. Next slide. guiding principle four focuses on partnerships and programs that help grow and maintain the system pr 4.0 broadens the private development policy to include parks and trails while 4.1 modernizes an older policy that names specific agencies and funding programs the broader language allows the city to pursue partnerships and outside funding as opportunities change 4.2 brings recreation events together and with broader community engagement and stewardship. Next slide. The next group expands that partnership approach. PR 4.3 updates neighborhood engagement so it's less dependent on a particular office or meeting format and focuses instead on regular resident engagement. 4.4 adds coordination with tribal governments and representatives for cultural interpretation, programming, signage, and related park and open space initiatives. 4.5 broadens the funding tools the city can periodically evaluate for park improvements and long-term maintenance and 4.6 supports partnerships and joint use agreements to expand access facilities programming and stewardship without relying on the city to provide every opportunity itself next slide Guiding principle five addresses sustainability and resiliency. This is also an area where the consultant team developed several new policies to translate the broader guiding principle into more specific policy direction. PR 5.0 addresses sustainable, resource-efficient park design, including the climate-appropriate landscaping, water efficiency, durable materials, habitat-supported planning, and energy efficiency. 5.1 takes the broader view by incorporating climate resilience and natural resource stewardship into park and open space planning and management. 5.2 focuses on shade and tree canopy to improve comfort, air quality, and resilience to extreme heat. And lastly, 5.3 looks at the role park buildings can play during extreme weather and other emergencies, including potential cooling or heating functions, care and shelter, and other emergency response needs. That concludes the park and recreation policy portion. With that, I'll turn it over to Fortina, who will walk through the climate action and adaptation plan.

Thank you Michael for Tina before you get started. I just wanted to make a quick note here This is just one element of the general plan and you can see here by the sort of breadth and and scope of the policies that go into this general plan element the intention with the general plan is to create an underpinning for all of the decisions that the city makes about how to prioritize investment deliver services and you know serve the community in all of the different areas or topics that I covered. And again, you're getting a sampling of this here with the park and rec element. To be perfectly honest with you, it is the one that is furthest along in this process. So you were kind of first up. in hearing about these. But there are over a dozen other elements that we will be seeking policy input on over the next coming months. And this is a great transition point to turn it over to Fortino talking about sustainability and resiliency. The climate action and adaptation plan is closely integrated with the development of the general plan. And he will share a little bit more with you about that now. Thank you.

Alright, thank you for that introduction. So I wanted to share a little bit about the Climate Action Adaptation Plan and where that process is. So this, like Matthew mentioned, the General Plan and the Climate Action Plan are taking place at the same time and it's a project in itself where we're working together. I did want to share here too that we'll go into more detail about the Climate Action Adaptation Plan in the future, but we just want to provide a very quick update here. So you can see right now we are, we've, in the 2024 and 2025 year, we've been working on data collection and collecting an inventory and doing some background analysis, and we're now in the phase where we're developing the measures that we'll be developing for reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and also adapting and planning to adapt to the changing climate as well. And so what is the Climate Action Adaptation Plan? It consists of a couple of different aspects. The first is developing an inventory of the current greenhouse gas emissions and climate risk. And the way I think about this is it's the city's carbon footprint. So there's carbon footprint calculators for yourself as an individual, but this is on the city scale. And then we're also looking at now, looking at projecting out the future emissions. So what does science and the latest policy and legislation say about future emissions that are expected? And then from there, we start to develop ambitious targets and goals for reducing our emissions. And then from there, we're able to also develop a strategic roadmap that starts to address the climate adaptation piece as we're preparing for the changing climate as well. So when it comes to climate adaptation, the first thing that we've done here is a climate vulnerability assessment. So this is looking at what are the people, the populations, services that might be impacted by climate change, and how do we start to plan around that. We're also developing a sustainability framework that will kind of sit between both the general plan and the climate action plan and really kind of sets a framework for the way that the city develops and incorporating sustainability and resiliency in that development. And again, as I mentioned earlier, it is integrated very deeply with the general plan update that's taking place right now. And I think there's a lot of really great opportunities that come with doing both plans at the same time. You can find more about a couple of workshops and outreach that we've done when it comes to climate action adaptation at the Riverside2050.com website. And with that, I'll pass it on to Pamela.

Well, I just wanted to thank the team so much for such a great work, and I want to let you know it has been a lot of work behind the scenes, and we will continue to do a lot of work. So we are available for any questions you might have.

Commissioner Clark.

Pam, we're just enjoying each other's company today. We are. It's really good to see you. Remember when some of us were able to go to the fact-finding tour? Was it the state Parks and Rec? And I believe we were over.

Yes, yes, that was the... Jackson? Yes, that was a plan that the state of California was putting on for Parks and Rec. And we invited many, many members of the community to give input on. So that is similar, but it's the state of California and their parks and recreation vision plan.

All right. So that really answers my question. There's no input from that into our general plan, our city's general plan.

Correct. So the information that we gained through that went to the state parks and was incorporated into their plan. So this is a different effort. Okay.

Correct. I'm looking at some good duplication because both were asking for input and both of the plans are very broad in looking at many, many options and ways to serve the community through parks and rec.

Thank you. Correct. Thank you. Any other questions? Excellent. Well, we hope that you all turn out at some of these very important community meetings and get the word out.

Commissioner.

Can we ask the gentleman?

Of course. The whole team is here.

Yes. Does somebody want to go before I ask another question? Commissioner Bass.

Commissioner Bass.

So if we go to the website, we will be aware of the meetings and when they are? Yes, you will.

And you can also give them your email, and you will get updates.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, did you have a question for the team? Yes.

Commissioner Clark, yes.

Thank you.

I looked at the fact that the cyclists have been included in this. They're paths that do some connecting. You said when he was giving the update. How is that going... with the streets that already have bicycle paths. Have there been any complaints? Have there been accidents? What is that looking like that now you want to really do some weaving and intertwining?

I'm actually very glad you asked this, Commissioner, because this will be one of the primary topics of discussion at our October 14th workshop, because the mobility and circulation element deals very much with all different modes of transportation, not just transportation. cars and trucks, but also bikes and pedestrians and public transit vehicles and even potentially new technologies that we're not quite used to seeing yet on our roadways and in our city. I don't have specific data for you right at this juncture about conflicts and collisions related to our bicycle and pedestrian network But I do envision that we will be having some more focused discussions about those as we develop that part of the general plan So we'd be happy to address it as part of that effort

Madam Chair, may I ask another question? Yes. Thank you. The climate plan, to the gentleman who just presented, we have a lot of new industries coming into the city of Riverside, County of Riverside, which is wonderful in one way, but it certainly adds pollution. It adds more traffic. Are you monitoring or keeping track of the new industry? And we've got a few that have come in already to the city and kind of considering their footprint of maybe adding pollution or taking away land for parks. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for that question. So yeah, there has been quite a few new businesses coming to the city of Riverside. And in fact, I think the largest grouping or sector of that has been within the green tech industry. And so I think there's a lot of really good things there about tying both economic growth with addressing climate change. And so I think that's a really exciting development. But that is exactly, you know, I think part of the question in working on the general plan and the climate action plan at the same time is looking at what does that growth look like over the next 25 years in terms of, you know, households, populations, residents, industries. So that is a part of what we're looking at now.

Madam Chair, if I may add one thing. The general plan will also include an economic development and innovation element, which will address our efforts to attract new types of industries to the city and what that looks like. But the benefit of doing a comprehensive update like this is we can really think carefully about how we balance all of those priorities between the different areas that we need to address. We also have an air quality element of the general plan. So addressing strategies to manage our local air quality to the extent that we have the authority to do so, balancing that with our economic development priorities and looking to attract viable industries to support wage and employment growth in the city, and achieving our priorities around sustainability and climate action. It's all part of a big package.

any other questions yes commissioner clark thank you my last question i promise i'm looking at the fiscal impact i know this is over time and i when you begin to prioritize what will be the fiscal impact and how will that be attained sustained and will it kind of wind up with consumers bearing some of that burden because the city has to be very intentional about its budget. So fiscal impact.

that's a really important consideration and a fiscal impact analysis is part of this effort we have not actually begun that work yet because we have not identified draft policies for all of the elements like we have for the park and rec element so far once we have a draft of policies for all elements we will then be able to complete that fiscal impact analysis and that will be a significant factor in the decisions that our elected representatives make about what goes into the final plan. They are going to need to be balancing fiscal responsibility with community priorities and with state mandates because the plan does also need to address mandatory compliance with state law for a variety of different areas, things like housing or energy efficiency or what have you. And certainly we do not want to adopt a plan that will constrain the city financially to the point where it can't deliver the services that its citizens expect, or a plan that passes costs along to residents in an undue or inequitable fashion.

Any other questions from the commissioners? Thank you. We will now open for public comment for item five, audience participation is encouraged. Public comments are limited to three minutes. We have no public comment. At this time, can we have a motion to receive and discuss draft policies for the park and rec element of the Riverside 2050 general plan update?

I make a motion that we receive and discuss draft policies for the parks and recreation element of the Riverside 2050 general plan update. Second.

I will second that.

Now we're ready to vote.

I don't know what I'm voting on.

Motion carried. Thank you. We will now proceed to the communications part of the agenda. I called the ad hoc committees please give an update for your committee housing so

So housing had a meeting on August the 4th in regards to how to proceed with meeting at the senior centers so that we could focus on the seniors that are most at risk of not having adequate housing. So we're gonna contact the senior centers. Each one of us have a list that we're going to contact. And then Diane also has two companies or two entities that that's what they do. They just work with seniors that don't have, or they work with people that don't have housing. So that's all that we've gotten done.

Commissioner Kwasman, you want to add? The entities are Path of Life and Illuminations who offer housing to seniors and I've reached out to both of them and Is that not true, Marnie? Okay. I've reached out to both of those companies, and they haven't returned my call. And I was at another meeting, and I was able to connect with some other people that might have better resources for me. So I'm following up on that, but I'm still going to go after the two because they're the ones that have the – the housing for people in the evenings. They have to depart during the day, but at least they have somewhere at night to go.

Thank you. Senior Health.

We had to reschedule our meeting, and that's what we're going to do today. We had some pressing things that came up, so we're going to reschedule our meeting today. So future information.

Thank you. Events?

Well, I don't mind talking again.

Thank you, Madam Chair. For events, we have coming up, Pam and I have been able to coordinate with Connect Bus, and we will be doing a presentation on August 27 at the Dales Senior Center. It will be a presentation by Connect. with question and answers and tutorial on using the mobile app. Most importantly, Pam and I discussed with Connect that we take this to other senior centers, and La Sierra we're going to be doing in September.

Thank you. Commissioner Bass, do you have something to add?

we have a meeting an event this Wednesday 8 to 10 and the commission on aging will be there and with their little table and all their little pamphlets okay environment Elizabeth and I will be working on that today as well after the meeting

Thank you. Mobility.

So I just, I was alone for a while. So what I have is just the, you know, I didn't have nobody to tell me no. Elizabeth will be joining me and we'll set up new meetings.

With that said, I did quite a bit, I will say.

Let's see. On June 27th, I'm just going to send you a list because I think that's better, okay? So I'll email it. On June 27th, I had a phone meeting with Felicia for the Senior Expo at White Park. We talked about, you know, kind of what seniors like and don't like. And I just was trying to find out what we really needed to do or what was required for me. So we did that. And then we met again on August the 2nd. I did a pop-in because I just hadn't been to that center, like inside. I really had a good time. Played pool. She did meet with me. I appreciated her time because it was just a pop-up. And again, we just kind of finalized when I would need to get there. So that was, I appreciate Felicia for that. On July 15th, I met with Marty, and we also discussed. Marty, remember, we discussed, again, what is required and what I would need to do. Yes, with the Senior Expo. On August the 5th, I did a Zoom with Nick's Community Garden. This is something I'd like everyone to try to attend. Oh, it's going to be so much fun. It's a community garden. They got a grant. And the Office of Sustainability, I think, is running it. But Blue Zones is involved. A couple of residents are involved. And the property is over there. I forgot the name of it. I'm so sorry about that. I'll have to get that info for you. But what I wanted to give you is to go to the Office of Sustainability website. There is a meeting on Wednesday at 5.30 in the evening. It's Zoom. And they're going to discuss all of the different who's doing what type of thing. I did get on the steering committee, so I will be coming back to report information. I'm kind of excited. I just started a little garden, and I think I'm a queen, but I grew a pumpkin. So with that said, though, I'll get you all more information that we could do. But the next meeting is August the 19th at 530. You can check the website of Office of Sustainability. Then on 7-16, I did the senior, it was the Golden Senior Forum, the Golden Future Forum.

Right. Mobility. Only mobility.

Oh, OK. You're right. I put that under some note. OK. So one other thing. Is this mobility the senior farmers? No, that would be mobility. IE coalition on aging, not mobility.

I'm finished. Thank you.

Oh, yes. On Wednesday from 8 to 10, everyone is invited. We'll be at White Park. I'll be signing people up for the walk-a-thon. Oh, yeah, that's mobility.

Thank you, Commissioner Dove. You will be given the opportunity to give your committee updates during this item. This item is only to, oh, I'm glad that was for ad hoc committee updates. Okay, so updates of conferences, seminars, and regional meetings attended by commissioners. Are there any updates for conferences, seminars, and regional meetings attended by commissioners? Commissioner Pendergraft.

I attended the Mayor's Senior Forum on June 24th and this was at the Dale Senior Center. It was really well done and well attended. On July 16th, I attended the Golden Futures Expo that was at the Raincross Convention and that was really, really great too. And then on August 13th, I attended the Del Roberts Gymnasium Topping Out Ceremony and signed the beam, and that was lovely. Wonderful food, wonderful information, very inspirational. It was great. That's it for me.

Commissioner Dove?

Okay, I see. Where was I? Where did I leave off? Okay, the Golden Future Senior Expo on July 16th. I also follow up today with the senior farmers we had discussed at the last meeting. And I sent an email out to Lucy. I can't pronounce her last name spelled C-E-J-A. She will get back with me concerning after she talks to her team about the needs and challenges for senior farmers. The other thing I did, the IE Coalition of Aging on July 28, Zoom meeting, it was about independent living centers. They talked about legislations SB 1261, SB 837, and AB 2037. So that was pretty interesting. They want you to support the legislation. You can go on votersvoice.net. or dot org I'm sorry voters voice dot org I attended the. We're talking about seminars and stuff right yes. He'll be all today thank you.

Okay.

Yes commissioner lossing good afternoon on June the twenty fourth I also attended the mayor's senior forum at the Dale senior center. And it was well attended. I was surprised at the number of attendees. Everyone was interested and participated well. On July 2nd and again on August 2nd, I attended the Arts Walk, the Open Arts Walk in downtown Riverside those two evenings. And again, well attended. Visited a couple of the art galleries to look for and to see that senior art is being displayed. And then on August 13th, I also attended the Dale Roberts Gymnasium topping out and had the opportunity to sign the beam I'm new enough, I'm hopeful that this is, I'm supposed to tell you this now. On Sunday I met with the members of Trinity Lutheran Church, the church that I attend. Trinity offers to the community breakfast on Saturday mornings, dinner on Monday nights, and a food pantry on Wednesdays. Trinity's, the availability for the seniors was made known at one time. For some reason, Trinity's fallen off the list. So I met with the people with whom I need to meet to make sure that those opportunities get back on the list of being made available in the community. Was I supposed to say that? Yeah. Okay. That's all.

Commissioner Clark.

I'm echoing my previous commissioners. I was at the Golden Future Senior Expo, and it was good to see everyone, and also the Dale Roberts, Jim Days, and I got to sign the beam, too, a little bit. Thank you.

Commissioner Bass.

I attended the Senior Expo with, I guess, everybody else. On July the 11th, I went to Broadwell Park and I helped Carmen pass out backpacks for all the young kids. That's always fun to see. I attended the renaming of the Cesar Chavez building. I did that on August the 1st. I attended that meeting. I was at the mayor's senior forum, and that's all I have.

Thank you. Commissioner Kuhn.

Yes. which I love, with the whole family and some of my neighbors. And also, I attend every month, and I do a lot of work with the AARP 237 that meets at Janagoski. We meet the first Saturday of every month. And I've been working on a program. When I work, we started this years ago, Yana. With the police department, you are never alone. And I can guarantee there are five people I know that have really gained from this program. And I kind of would like if sometime in the future they could come over here and give you a rundown of what Yonah does. I have three people in my own neighborhood, and there's about five people at Janet Goddard that have utilized this program. Can you hear me? Okay, I'm not too bright. And I also went to Villegas Park, June the 18th, for cooking and chilling with Dad. What a great program that was. And we had a great time. And we snuck a little beer on the side. But it really was neat. Also, I attended, I help out, too, with the food. We do a Janagoski food pickup once a month, the food pickup. And let's see. Oh, there was something else here. Yeah, the, oh. Yeah, there was something else. I don't know what it was, but I went to Dale's, and I talked to some people about this Yana program, too. So if it could be possible, if you don't want to, you don't need to, but it's a great program. And they call you, and I have one lady, she fell down, and they called the next day. She'd been laying for a day. And my God, she could get to the phone and she told them I've been late. Otherwise, she'd have been there. There's a lot of seniors that are really lonely. And this helps. Thank you. That's it.

Thank you. Commissioner Quasman.

Thanks, Sean, if you could.

I also attended the Golden Future Senior Expo on July 16th, and it was wonderful, and it was wonderful to see my other commissioner friends there. We had a really good time, and it was really fantastic. The vendors were amazing, and it was so well attended. It was gorgeous. Then I had the opportunity through the Riverside Community Services Foundation to attend the Policy and Philanthropy Summit. And that was great. And that's where I made other networking for Housing for Seniors, some other contacts to meet. And then I got to volunteer for three concerts in the park. And that was great. So much fun. Can't wait for next year. Oh, and also one more thing. I was involved in the voting for the Goski Center. We had a contest put on by Harrah's in California. And we had all the seniors come. We had voting parties where all you had to do for this contest was vote for your favorite vendor. And we could do it over and over. Just click Goski Center. back out, go back in, Goski. We blew it away. And we won first place. And that's $100,000 to the Goski Center. So I'm very excited about that.

Thank you, Commissioner Pilsman. Okay. Okay. I can't remember dates, but I attended Park and Rec Volunteer Appreciation. That was at La Sierra. Also attended the Senior Expo. August 13th, topping of the beam, beam signing, I was there. On Friday, August 14th, I attended Chair Zumba. for seniors at Bordwell, and Tenille and Jamal have a eating healthy class for seniors, and so I attended that on Friday also, so that's all I have right now. Okay, moving right along. Are there any requests for items for future consideration? Besides Yana. Commissioner Bass?

I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, we've already had Yana come here.

They will come back. It's been a while since they've been here. Okay. We had the blue envelopes, which are also Riverside Police Department, but we will have Yana come out in the next couple months.

Okay. Because it sounds like it's really needed. Yeah. Okay.

I might have mentioned this last time we were together, but I would love it if we could have Aqua Motion Ability Foundation come and do a presentation, an updated presentation for us about their programs, about their classes. They've really been adding on some more people and more classes. We have an aquathon coming up in October, October 3rd over at Shamal Park. That's it, though. Thank you.

Any other future considerations? Thank you. Okay, now we will have, are there any, do we have any commissioners and or city staff announcements? Commissioners? That's a, Commissioner Pendergraft, that's a, Commissioner Dove? Well, okay, so I don't know if it's an announcement, but these are for announcements.

Well, it's kind of,

yes no announcement it's a question yeah we'll come back to your question yes any no no no these are announcements right now okay i do um next tuesday they will be at here, City Hall, at 3 o'clock. They're going to be celebrating. The city's going to recognize Dale Roberts for his 90th birthday party. So it's going to be the Dale Roberts Day in the city of Riverside next Tuesday, August 25th. So everybody's invited. I'm sorry, there's a question?

Yes, what was the time again, please? 3 p.m.

I think the city council meets at 1. You know, they have city council, then they'll have that. Okay. Okay. Yes. Will there be cake? Now we will have Supervisor, I know Sonny, I don't know, Summer Kramer. Right, I'm sorry for mispronouncing your name. You have the floor.

All right, good afternoon, Commissioners. Summer Cremo, Recreation Supervisor with the Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department. First off, I just want to say thank you to the Commissioners. It's been so wonderful seeing so many of you out at our Parks and Rec events throughout the summer. That's been really fun and exciting, so congratulations. Thank you. Most recently, it was really lovely spending time with you all at our topping off ceremony for the Dell Roberts Gym at Boardwell Park Stratton Community Center. I mean, what an exciting both construction and community milestone. And it's just such a fantastic development for the entire Eastside community. And I'm really excited because it will allow us to provide more senior health and fitness programming over at the Bordwell Park Stratton Community Center. So look for that once the doors open. That's really exciting. Since we last met back in June, Parks, Rec and Community Services has distributed 700 commodity boxes to seniors in our community. That's 400 at La Sierra Senior Center and 100 boxes each at Dales, Bordwell and Villegas. We also have had our senior excursions. So we had our June excursion to the California Science Center with IMAX. We did end up having to cancel our July excursion. We did notice across all of our centers that participation is lower in July. So I don't know if people are traveling, it's too hot, I don't know if everyone's doing stuff with family. But then our August 13th senior excursion to Pagina the Masters was sold out, big success, popular every year. And we're currently taking registrations for our Getty Villa in Malibu trip that's upcoming next month. In terms of social engagement, we've hosted three luncheons, two elder-tainment events, and two brunches. So for this summer, we've kicked off Bunko at La Sierra Senior Center with our Brunch and Bunko event the end of June. We, over at Dale's Senior Center, had a really fun event called Meet the Team, Share the Dream. And this was kind of a center open house where seniors got to come in and do like a micro experience of all the different classes and program offerings. at the Dales Senior Center, and that was back in July. We've also celebrated the summer season with both the Summer by the Sea Luncheon at La Sierra Senior Center on July 16th, and participants enjoyed a seashore-themed luncheon complete with seashell-themed food, which was fun. We also had a summer carnival event. on July 23rd at La Sierra Senior Center, which was a fun-filled carnival game event. And man, seniors are competitive. Wow, those minute-to-win-it games. That was a lot of fun. So our 55-plus events continue through the late summer and into fall with our upcoming Eldertainment and Luncheon events. We've got Jazz and Java tomorrow at Dale's Senior Center from 4 to 6 p.m. our fireside luau luncheon on thursday august 20th at la sierra senior center and our popcorn and pictures event at la sierra senior center on august 25th and there's a variety of upcoming fall events that are listed in the new activity guide that should have arrived on your doorstep a few weeks ago so please make sure to look at the fall elder attainment event lineup and be ready when registration opens to sign up as they do sell out. I also wanted to take a moment to acknowledge our PRCSD team for a fantastic summer season. We've held six concerts in the park, two drone shows, two July 4th fireworks shows, and hosted a variety of community center and ward events. in addition to a robust swimming lesson program across seven pools and engaging summer camp programming across our centers. Now that the kids are back in school, more robust senior programming will resume at Villegas Community Center and our Bordwell Park Stratton Community Centers. and exciting news that this fall we're looking to increase senior programming up at Orange Terrace Community Center so there's always been you know our Zumba gold and our line dancing that are popular with our senior community members but we're looking to add maybe some arts and crafts some kind of coffee and conversation walking groups and hopefully we can bring luncheon or an elder-tainment event up there as well so stay tuned we're really excited and I know Diane will look to you to And finally, this week, we have a lot going on. Tomorrow, that's Tuesday the 18th, at Dale's we have our Farmer's Market event. This is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. And any seniors who are interested, if they come into Dale's and pre-register, you'll be given a $50 gift card to spend on fresh produce. And then finally, like has been mentioned many times on Wednesday, we have Wednesday morning from 8 to 10 bright and early before it gets too hot. We have our senior expo that will be happening in White Park and we're really excited to see you all there. And that's everything I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Now we can mark our calendars for all those things and we'll be busy.

She talked faster than we could write.

Thank you. Okay. So... Commissioner Dove had a question.

And I think it might have been a question for Pam. At Fairmont Park over by the American Legion Post 79, the new parking poles, what is that? Is that they closing that off? Anybody know what's going on with that? I was over there, I go over there, and everybody was asking why did they put up It's like there's a parking area for American Legion 79. I want to say it's a lot six or lot three, because it has a lot number on it. And it was open. But now they've got these steel poles through there, and you can't get in. So I was just wondering, were they closing that off? Does anybody know? No? I probably should. OK. Thanks.

We'll find out and email you guys.

Okay. I know. I go to the beach in there once in a while to look.

The next regular meeting, Commission on Aging meeting, is scheduled for Monday, September 21st at 4 p.m. It is 522, and the meeting is now adjourned.