Second half of the Year

As we approach Summer I thought this might be a good time to let everyone know what is in store for the second half of 2017. Below I have listed the upcoming meeting dates, their location as well as the main topic on the agenda at each meeting. So here we go:

July – No meeting. Have a great vacation!!

August 8th – We will be back at Lopez Ridge Neighborhood Park for the final workshop and vote on the Salk/Maddox Park GDP. Councilman Cate will also be there to give us an update on the Neighborhood First Coalition.

September 12th – Hanson’s will be making a presentation about a potential twenty three acre property located in Carroll Canyon that may end up as Mira Mesa’s third Community Park. The meeting will be at Lopez Ridge Neighborhood Park in the meeting room.

October 10th – City staff has requested a workshop and final vote on the Resource Park within the Canyon Hills Open Space. It will depend on how they have responded to our many questions concerning the design that was presented earlier in the year whether we will take a final vote or make more recommendations. This meeting will be at Lopez Ridge Neighborhood Park in the meeting room.

November 14th – Form nominating committee to select officer’s for next year. I will see if we can get the final workshop on Wangenheim scheduled. Location of this meeting –to be determined.

December 12th – Elections – We will be back at Lopez Neighborhood Park in the meeting room.

Please put these dates on your calendar, it will be extremely important that we must have good attendance by our membership at each of these important meetings.

Recreation in Mira Mesa

By Bruce Brown

Over the course of the last two years the Mira Mesa Recreation Council has devoted much of its time and effort to designing future parks within Mira Mesa. This important work will continue; but, I would like to take time in this Spring Chairman’s report to highlight something really wonderful that our local Park and Recreation staff puts together every quarter – the programs that can be found at all of our recreation facilities.

Hourglass Field Community Park & Field House
Mira Mesa Community Park & Gil Johnson Recreation Center
Lopez Ridge Neighborhood Park & Recreation Center
Ned Baumer Aquatic Center

Staff has just published the Spring Programs that can be found at each of the centers listed above and is also located in the Mira Mesa Recreation Council website at miramesarecreationcouncil.org. The program which has been artfully done includes classes in all types of dance (from Hip-Hop to tap), ice skating, tennis, skateboarding, volleyball and the list goes on and on. It has arts and music classes for all ages along with fitness classes from the most challenging yoga and cardio classes to exercising in a chair (which is more my speed). For the sports minded they have basketball leagues for kids of all ages, flag football (in the Fall) to pee-wee sports with tumbling and basketball for the little ones.

If sports and exercise aren’t your thing they have arts classes from pencil to gardening to crafts projects. In other words something for just about everyone. Costs varies depending on if City Staff runs the event or a contractor who charges a small fee. Our staff has even organized events for the smallest among us with Spring Egg Hunt extravaganzas at all three recreation centers.

So check out the new programs, it will be well worth your time.

And finally, major kudos to our wonderful local staff, Trena, Joe, Chris, Vivi, Denise, Michelle, Saunia and Tim for putting together such an all inclusive program for the Mira Mesa Community and all its residents.

Chairman’s Report

by Bruce G. Brown

What does 2017 have in store for the MMRC?

The most important role the Mira Mesa Recreation Council (MMRC) has is to serve as a liaison between the City of San Diego and the Community of Mira Mesa and help make sure our community has enough park space for our growing population. With that in mind 2017 should be a very busy year.

On January 10, 2017 at 7:00 PM the Recreation Council will be hosting the first workshop for the Wangenheim Joint use and Walker Neighborhood Park area. The workshop will be held in conjunction with the Rec Council’s January meeting in the Wangenheim Middle School auditorium located at 9230 Gold Coast Dr. This area has great potential to expand the active play area by more than four acres and when completed can big a huge boost to the annual Top Gun Tournament. I have a little history with the site myself as I coached soccer for several years when my son Greg played many games and I held practices there as well. It is a big area but currently has no restroom or on-site parking. Hopefully, these issues along with several others can be addressed with the $5.6 million budget that has been allocated to this project by our Facilities Financing Plan.

At our February meeting will return to Lopez Ridge Neighborhood Park. At this meeting it is our hope that we can present some internet tools that might be helpful for all the sites we are working on. I want to thank John Pollard for calling these to my attention and I hope – with a little help from our community Town Council President (and tech guru) Ted Brengel we can have remote access to the information we need. Stay tuned.

March 14, 2017 we will be back at Salk Elementary School auditorium (7825 Flanders Dr.) to review the “first draft” of the plan the consultants come up with. This draft will have hopefully taken into account feedback they receive, from those in attendance, at our August meeting. The purpose of this workshop will be to add, change or edit the design the consultants come back with. With these tweaks they will go back to work and come up with the final version of the General Plan Description (GDP) at our May 9, 2017 meeting. It will be at this meeting that the Mira Mesa Recreation Council will hopefully approve the plan including a proposed new name.

Well that takes us through the first quarter of the year. Below are some other items that will be on future agendas but have not yet been scheduled:

• A briefing from the City Attorney Office on the “Brown Act” (no relation)
• Follow up workshop on the Wangenheim joint use and Walker Neighborhood Park
• Another workshop on the Resource Park with the Canyon Hills Open Space hopefully with some solutions to the many issues raised by our September 2016 workshop
• Opening day for the Mira Mesa Community Park (phase 1) – July
• Hopefully a start of a more detailed discussion and the hiring of the consultants for phase 2 & 3 of the Mira Mesa Community Park expansion

Should be a busy year – please attend and give us your thoughts!!