This meeting was identified as the May 2026 meeting in the transcript, but the provided date is June 2, 2026. The board discussed neighborhood planning updates, a park naming recommendation, and honored outgoing board member Paul Clark. Public comments addressed Japanese American heritage commemoration, park usage, and the discontinuation of the Bellevue Botanical Garden docent program.
Good evening and welcome to the May Parks and Community Services Board meeting. Eileen is absent today. Otherwise, everyone else is here. We are at quorum, and so this meeting is now called to order. Is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda? I move to approve tonight's agenda. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Let's vote. All in favor to approve tonight's agenda, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say no. The agenda is approved unanimously. Next up, is there a motion to approve the April 2026 meeting minutes? So moved. Thank you. Is there a second? Oh, second. Thank you, Eric. All right, let's vote. All in favor to approve the April 2026 meeting minutes. Uh say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say no. All right. The minutes are unanimously approved. All right, next up is oral communications. The Parks and Community Services Board values community input and looks forward to hearing from you during its meeting. Please be aware that in compliance with Washington state campaign laws regarding the use of public facilities during an election. No speaker may support or oppose a ballot measure or support or oppose a candidate for an election, which includes your own campaign. Any speaker who begins discussing topics of this nature will be asked to stop. There are rules adopted by the city council limiting the topics about which the public may speak during our meetings. Under ordinance 6752, the public may only speak during public comment about subject matters that are related to City of Bellevue government and are within the power and duties of the Parks and Community Services Board. Following the board's bylaws, the total time allowed for oral communications shall not exceed 30 minutes. Each speaker will be allowed to speak one time for up to three minutes. We will follow the order in which individuals signed up. If you do not get a chance to speak this evening, you're always invited to email your comments to us at Parkboard at Bellevue.gov. So now I'll turn it over to Ryan, who will read names from the online and in-person sign-in sheet. Thank you, Chair. We have three pre-registered speakers this evening. Excuse me. And there's also one written communication that I'll get to after those three. Yeah. So our first speaker this evening is Amy Hirataka. Yes. Hi, and thank you for your time this evening. My name is Amy Hirotaka. I am a fourth-generation Japanese American Yonsei.