Chairman’s 2017 Year End Message

2017 has been a busy year for the Mira Mesa Recreation Council.

– Held five Workshops
• Walker/Wangenheim Joint Use – 2
• Salk/Maddox Neighborhood Park/Joint Use – 2
• Canyon Hills Resource Park – 1

– Approved three GDP’s and forwarded them to the Park and Recreation Board
• Walker/Wangenheim Joint Use Park
• Salk/Maddox Neighborhood Park/Joint Use
• Resource Park in Canyon Hills Open Space

– Got a briefing from the City Attorneys Office on the “Brown Act”

– Requested suggestions from the Community regarding the naming or renaming of the new parks being proposed
• Received 339 suggestions for two of the future parks

– Approved over $50,000 in support of improving our Parks and Recreation including but not limited to:
• Refurbishing the Veteran Wall and Flag pole area at the Mira Mesa Park
• Items requested by Park and Rec. staff to improve local Parks
• Help support the Street Fair and 4th of July (for 2017 &2018)
• Scholarships for low income families
• Spring and summer camps
• Easter Egg Hunt
• Several bulletin boards for community use at local parks

– Greatly increased our outreach to the community through:
• Posting meeting notices on Community bulletin boards at local parks
• Using Nextdoor to invite the public, sometimes using different languages that are spoken within Mira Mesa
• Moving meeting location to local Neighborhoods for Workshops
• Expanding and enhancing the MMRC website
• Inviting public to attend our meetings at the MMTC and MMCPG

-Got a briefing from Hanson’s consultant on 3 Roots and possible 25-acre property in Carroll Canyon that could serve as Mira Mesa’s third Community Park

Whew!! That’s a lot!!! A special thank you to Al Radick for working so diligently on the website and posting all those wonderful messages on Nextdoor. I would also like to thank John Pollard for the postings notices on the Community bulletin boards in our local Parks – thanks John!!

Now – what is in store for 2018??

Phase one of the Mira Mesa Community Park expansion project will be completed and ready to use in the first quarter, the Mayor will almost certainly want to have a ribbon cutting grand opening.

We have a lot of questions right now about what we can and can’t do as a Recreation Council since the City Attorney memo came out – but, for now we are going to continue as always until we get more direction and we’ll continue to help make our Parks and Recreation Centers the best they can possibly be.

A big item we will be spending a lot of time on are Phases 2 & 3 of the Mira Mesa Community Park expansion which could include a new Swimming Pool, a new Recreation/Fieldhouse, a wheel friendly plaza as well as other amenities. This is going to be fun!!!

So, buckle up buttercups, see you all in 2018 !!!!!!