The Recreation and Parks Commission held its regular meeting on July 9, 2026, at 3:00 PM. The meeting included staff updates, public comments, recognition of Commissioner Alexander's service, approval of a consent calendar, and discussion and approval of a recommendation to relocate Alameda Little League's Majors division. All items passed unanimously.
Recreation and Parks Director Justin Long provided a summary of recent and upcoming events, including:
Commissioners shared updates on park visits, events, and observations. Commissioner Alexander reported attending the Leisure Club Talent Show, visiting Gene Sweeney Park, and viewing the new ADA entrance at Longfellow Park. Chair Radies encouraged future coordination on community meetings. Vice Chair Schwartz highlighted the aquatic center contract award and praised flexible swim lessons. Commissioner Bernie thanked Commissioner Alexander for her mentorship.
Director Long presented staff’s recommendation to move Little League’s Majors division from Little John Park to Lower Washington Park for fall 2026 and to Tillman Park for spring 2027, following the athletic facility allocation policy. The trial at Little John Park had caused neighborhood concerns about parking, crowding, and noise. Little League agreed the park was too small. Staff evaluated field usage and identified underutilized fields. The proposed solution allows Little League to use Lower Washington Park (fall) and Tillman Park (spring). A long-term solution involves adding a baseball diamond at Alameda Point (funded by capital reserves, estimated $50,000) to address broader field capacity issues. Director Long noted that a larger sports complex at Alameda Point is a 15-20 year vision.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the allocation policy, the absence of an MOU for this relocation (since no capital improvements are needed), and the long-term capacity gap. All commissioners expressed support for the thorough analysis and collaboration with the neighborhood and Little League.
Could we start please with a roll call? Commissioner Alexander. Here. Commissioner Bernie. Here. Vice Chair Schwartz. Here. Chair Radies. Present. Thank you. The first item on our agenda is non-agenda public comment. Members of the public may speak for three minutes regarding any matter not on tonight's agenda. Commissioners will not respond to comments or answer questions. As such, speakers must stay on topic if speaking to a particular agenda item, and if speaking during non-agenda public comment, they must address matters within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city. If speakers fail to follow these rules, they'll be warned, and if they continue to disregard the rules, their opportunity to speak will be ended. Do we have any non-agenda public speakers tonight? We have one in-person speaker, Speaker Klein. Welcome, Speaker Klein. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Speaker Klein. Moving forward, our next agenda item is our staff communication from Recreation Parks Director Justin Long. Director Long. Good evening, Commissioners. I know we missed the last meeting, and so we're gonna just kind of catch up and try to condense this together. We're gonna start off by some community events that are coming up. We have the volunteer coastal cleanup. This is taking place every second Saturday of the month at 10 a.m. at Seaplane Lagoon. This is organized by the community action for sustainable Alameda Casa. The rhythmics in the park, the accordion soul music and line dance is taking place Saturday, July 18th, from 12 until 2 p.m. at Franklin Park. The Alameda Walk Series is on Saturdays at 9 a.m. July 11th will be taking place at Tawada Park to Veterans Court, and July 25th will be Old Town Alameda. Our Starlight movies in the park. These events begin at 6 30 p.m. with movies starting at 8 15. We've got the next one coming up on Friday, July 17th, which is the Little Mermaid. And the sorry, the July 17th is the Little Mermaid Dive-In movie at the NCNL Swim Center. Sorry about that. And our Friday, July 24th, Back to the Future movie will be taking place at the Alameda Point multi-purpose field. Some department highlights. Since we missed June, we held hosted all of the school picnics at the end of the year that took place in June. Our summer season is off to a great roaring start. ARPD currently employs over 200 young individuals to provide the recreational needs to Alameda. We're having a really great summer, and the theme this year is a totally red summer 2026. We did some work at the Lower Washington Field, the LED lighting conversion project has been completed. Park maintenance staff have redone water supply and drinking fountains at Cruzy Park. We filled the full-time gardener position. We welcome Jose Rodriguez to the team.