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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/06/2006 B A K E R S F I E L D Jacquie Sullivan, Chair Staff: Alan Christensen Sue Benham For: Alan Tandy, City Manager Irma Carson AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, February 6, 2006 - 1:00 p.m. Suite 201, City Hall, 1501 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 1. ROLL CALL Called to Order at 1:09 p.m. Present: Councilmembers Jacquie Sullivan, Chair; Sue Benham and Irma Carson 2. ADOPT NOVEMBER 28, 2005 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Adopted as submitted. 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS 4. DEFERRED BUSINESS A. Staff report on skateboard parks Recreation and Parks Director Hoover provided an overview of the memorandum in the committee packet. Potential locations for future skateparks throughout the City are: An addition to Beach Park Skatepark upon funding approval; Old River Ranch Park in the southwest with estimated construction in three to five years; Paladino Park in the northeast with estimated construction in five+ years; and Linnell Brahma Park in the southeast with estimated construction in five+ years. Committee Member Benham expressed the future plans are great, but young skateboarders really need facilities now. Although realizing it is difficult to build in an established park due to reluctance of nearby neighborhoods, Committee Member Benham requested staff to check with the residents close to Jefferson Park to get input on whether or not they would like to have a skateboard park built in Jefferson Park. Committee Chair Sullivan suggested another good location would be at Heritage Park on Mt. Vernon. However, Heritage Park is a County park. Committee Chair Agenda Summary Report Page 2 Community Services Committee Meeting Monday, February 6, 2006 Sullivan requested staff to check with the County to see if they would consider a joint effort to build a skatepark in Heritage Park. Staff will report back to the Committee. 5. NEW BUSINESS A. Staff report and Committee recommendation on the graffiti enforcement program and graffiti deterrence concepts Recreation and Parks Director Hoover gave a PowerPoint presentation on masonry/brick walls, streetscapes, types of landscaping being used, irrigation, and samples of graffiti. The following was staff's action plan: · Installation of surveillance camera systems · Where irrigation exists, adding plant material · Create hedges when possible · Addition staff to be hired to address covering graffiti in parks and streetscapes · Additional police personnel assigned to the Graffiti Section · In new developments require the planting of fast growing, larger sized plants Police Captaih Stokes reported on Neighborhood Watch. Last year the Neighborhood Watch network was updated to ensure all the groups in place were actually viable and active. There are 626 Neighborhood Watch groups Citywide. One component of the Neighborhood Watch is anti-graffiti. Neighborhood Watch groups are an important tool for crime and graffiti prevention because the groups are aware of what goes on in their neighborhoods. Because some of the graffiti is on private property or requires power washing and paint-matching, the clean-up efforts for the most part are handled by Public Works Graffiti Division. Police Community Relations Specialist Rachel Meek reported on E-Watch programs being used to inform Neighborhood Watch groups about available resources and utilized to send out graffiti and crime prevention tips or alerts. City Manager Tandy provided an update on an administrative report going to the Council at the February 22nd meeting requesting approval of one Maintenance Craftworker position for graffiti removal and the addition of one Police Officer for graffiti enforcement. Committee Chair Sullivan expressed she would like to see the landscaping plants. near the walls not be pruned and allowed to overgrow wherever possible to deter graffiti vandals. The Committee took no further action. Agenda Summary Report Page 3 Community Services Committee Meeting Monday, February 6, 2006 B. Staff report and Committee recommendation on downtown Christmas decorations/lights Recreation and Parks Director Hoover reported she met with Jim Foss, General Manager of the Rabobank Arena and Convention Center. Mr. Foss will continue decorating the buildings with lights, and the Recreation and Parks Department will put up lights around the fountain area. The lights will be up and operating from mid-November to mid-January. Recreation and Parks Director Hoover reported she also met with Cathy Butler of the Downtown Business Association (DBA). The DBA is in the process of securing sponsors for lights and labor for the Chester Avenue Median. According to the DBA, Broad Electric has agreed to string the lights in mid-November and remove the lights in mid-January to avoid tree damage. Committee Chair Sullivan asked about having lights across Chester on the parade route and requested staff to contact the DBA. Also, she requested staff to check into decorating with poinsettias outside the Arena, Theater and Convention Center and asked staff to contact her with information on both requests. C. Committee discussion and recommendation on 2006 Committee meeting schedule The Committee discussed the meeting schedule. Due to scheduling conflicts, it was noted one committee member may not be available on April 17th and May 8th, Due to the difficulty to find other open dates, staff was requested to monitor agendas for April 17th and May 8th, as these meetings may need to be rescheduled. Committee Member Benham made a motion to adopt the meeting schedule. The Committee unanimously approved the motion. The meetings are on Mondays at 1:00 p.m. on the following dates: March 6, 2006 April 17, 2006 May 8, 2006 June 12, 2006 July 17, 2006 August 14, 2006 September 11, 2006 October 9, 2006 November 13, 2006 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS 7. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 2:05 p.m. Agenda Summary Report Page 4 Community Services Committee Meeting Monday, February 6, 2006 Staff attendance: City Manager Alan Tandy; Assistant City Manager Alan Christensen; City Attorney Ginny Gennaro; Police Chief Bill Rector; Recreation and Parks Director Dianne Hoover; Police Captain Kevin Stokes; Police Community Relations Specialist Rachel Meek; Assistant Recreation and Parks Director Allen Abe; Public Works Civil Engineer Arnold Ramming; Public Works General Services Superintendent Steve Hollingsworth; Parks Construction and Facility Planner Ken Trone; and Parks Director of Operations Greg Cronk. cc: Honorable Mayor and City Council S:~AC\06 Community Services Committee\cs 06 feb 06summary.doc