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* * BREAKING NEWS * *

The new Westview Shade Structure was dedicated on Saturday, October 10. Councilmember Chris Cate, along with a number of dedicated Recreation Council volunteers, helped cut the ribbon to officially open the play area.

It’s now official, as of 9:00AM on Monday, August 31, 2015 a San Diego City building inspector, Mr. Reynolds, confirmed that the Shade Sail Structure at Westview Neighborhood Park in Mira Mesa was completed in exact accordance with all plans and specifications.

The following are a series of photos of the construction process which began on July 7, 2015.

Westview Park shade structure construction begins:

Drilling the seven post support holes.	Rebar cages that will go into the post holes.	The holes are drilled and the cages are in place.	The holes and rebar are filled with concrete, a total of 17 yards.

Erecting the posts:

Here comes the first post.	Setting it in place.	Bolt it down to the concrete.	All seven installed.

Total project completion:

Post installation completed and play area restored.		The shaded playground at Westview Park	Our first customer

$ $ SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS $ $

Yup, you read that right, $60,000,000, a whole big bunch of money!

That’s the estimated minimum amount of money that will be required to plan, design and construct the four parks/park expansions that are currently under way in Mira Mesa.

These include a three phase addition/renovation to MIRA MESA COMMUNITY PARK, an addition to MADDOX NEIGHBORHOOD PARK, an addition/renovation to WALKER NEIGHBORHOOD PARK and the totally brand spanking new CANYON HILLS RESOURCE PARK.

The MIRA MESA RECREATION COUNCIL has been/will be involved in the planning and design of all four park projects and, in some cases, the ideas, thoughts & comments of the local community have been/will be solicited at community meetings.

About $25,000,000 is currently available to be spent on these projects. The first phase addition to the MIRA MESA COMMUNITY PARK is fully funded and construction will begin in late 2015. The final design and function/programming of phases two and three is not yet finalized.

The new addition to MADDOX NEIGHBORHOOD PARK is a “joint use” (SDUSD) addition to the park next to the new Salk Elementary School, it is fully funded and planning/design are imminent.

The addition/renovation to WALKER NEIGHBORHOOD PARK is another “joint use” (SDUSD) park. It involves both Walker Elementary School and Wagenheim Middle School. The project involves incorporating and expanding the playing fields of Wagenheim Middle School into what is now WALKER NEIGHBORHOOD PARK, it too, is fully funded and planning/design are imminent. It is hoped that the resulting new neighborhood park will be given an appropriate new descriptive name such as SCHOOLHOUSE PARK, EDUCATION PARK, EDUCATORS PARK, etc.

The new CANYON HILLS RESOURCE PARK will be a totally new type of park for Mira Mesa. At this time only the planning and preliminary design have been funded and will commence in 2016

And, in our spare time, we’re in the final stage of construction of the playground shade structure at WESTVIEW NEIGHBORHOOD PARK and we’ll certainly be involved in the repurposing of the MIRA MESA TEEN CENTER as the current lessee has advised that they are walking away from their lease as of November 1, 2015.

The building and it’s use/lessee are an important adjunct to our MIRA MESA COMMUNITY PARK and, therefore, the MIRA MESA RECREATION COUNCIL.

When all these projects are completed, on the long range radar, there are new parks such as PARKDALE NEIGHBORHOOD PARK, OVERLOOK NEIGHBORHOOD PARK and hopefully our third, yet unnamed, COMMUNITY PARK down in Carroll Canyon. These projects will almost certainly be planned/designed with the benefit, wisdom and input from a future MIRA MESA RECREATION COUNCIL.

The following “Vision” is the personal Vision of Al Radick. As shown below it was endorsed by several Mira Mesa community leaders. In June 2015, it was distributed to the upper management of the San Diego Park & Recreation Dept. as well as the offices of Council Member Chris Cate and Mayor Kevin Faulconer. Substantial interest was generated that resulted in many questions and an on-going discussion about how The Vision might be implemented.

A VISION and A PLAN

for providing maximum possible shade at the PUBLIC PARKS of MIRA MESA
June, 2015

by Al Radick, MMRC – MMTC

Endorsed by:
Bruce Brown, MMRC – MMTC – MMCPG
John Horst, MMCPG – MMTC
Ken Kaplan, MMRC – MMCPG – MMTC
Jeff Stevens, MMTC – MMCPG – MMRC
Julius Hitchens, MMAYSO – MMTC

THE VISION

The Vision, the long term Vision …..
All public parks in Mira Mesa offering the maximum possible shade protection for all users of the parks.

Doing so will help protect people, especially children, from the damaging rays of the sun which is a leading cause of skin cancer.

Interestingly, that same shade protection will also protect the shaded equipment and structures from premature degradation by the sun’s damaging rays thereby reducing the frequency of required maintenance/replacement of the equipment.

Wherever park equipment is shaded there is increased use during daylight hours because of the increase in user comfort. This is especially true of playgrounds and Par Fitness Stations.

Toward this end, no new parks, park expansions or major park renovations should be built or even considered unless they include all possible protection from the sun such as what has been planned in the First Phase of the Mira Mesa Community Park expansion and renovation project.

There are many opportunities in the existing 12 parks to increase the amount of available shade. These opportunities include;

> Shade screening over every baseball/softball field dugout.

> An appropriate shade structure over every spectator bleacher.

> A shade sail structure over every children’s playground similar to the one at Lopez Ridge Park.

> A Gazebo similar to the ones at Breen, Camino Ruiz and Maddox Parks. They would not only provide shade but they would also contribute to SDP&R revenue every year via reservation fees.

> A patio shade structure similar to the one at Lopez Ridge Park wherever a building exists, including restroom/concession stand & restroom only buildings.

> A shade structure over every Par Fitness Station like the station’s at Hourglass Field Park, Lopez Ridge Park & Breen Park.

> A shade structure over every canyon view point like the view points at Camino Ruiz, Lopez Ridge & Maddox Parks. Depending on the type of construction these might also serve as Gazebo’s.

> Currently, there are four open top structures at Breen @ Camino Ruiz Parks that straddle picnic tables. Shade covering/roofs should be added to these four structures.

> All picnic tables should have a center umbrella hole added to them so people can bring their own shade umbrella with them when using a park and, of course, any new tables purchased should come with the center umbrella hole.

THE PLAN

Obviously, there is substantial cost involved to do all of the retrofit projects listed above. Therefore the major projects will have to be done over a period of time as funding becomes available.

Some of these project opportunities can/should be addressed by local volunteers with their own labor. Many times local volunteers are even able/willing to fund the reasonable and appropriate cost of shade projects by hiring and paying reputable contractors to do the work.

SPECIFIC SHADE OPPORTUNITIES:

MIRA MESA COMMUNITY PARK
Dugout shade – Bleacher shade.
NOTHING else because of the imminent and pending addition/renovation projects.

HOURGLASS FIELD COMMUNITY PARK
Dugout shade – Bleacher shade – Playground shade – Par Fitness station shade – Patio shade @ restroom/concession bldg. – Gazebo.

LOPEZ RIDGE PARK
Par Fitness station shade – Viewpoint shade.

BREEN PARK
Playground shade – Par Fitness station shade – Picnic table shade.

CAMINO RUIZ PARK
Playground shade – Viewpoint shade – Dugout shade – Bleacher shade – Picnic table shade.

MADDOX PARK
Playground shade – Viewpoint shade

MESA VERDE PARK
Playground shade – Gazebo

MESA VIKING PARK
Playground shade – Gazebo

CHRISTA MCAULIFFE PARK
Playground shade – Gazebo

WESTVIEW PARK
Patio shade @ restroom bldg.
A playground shade structure is imminent.

WALKER PARK
NOTHING because of the pending expansion renovation project.

SANDBURG PARK
Playground shade – Gazebo