March 4th.

This is uh the city council chambers.

For public participation in the meeting, you can tune in to Comcast Cable 27.

The meeting will also be streamed live via the city's website at www.belmont.gov and via Zoom.

Go to Belmontgov.zoom.us, select join, and enter meeting ID 924 83193757.

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All public comments are subject to a three minute time limit limit unless otherwise determined by the committee chair.

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Gosh, I'm glad this is the last time I have to read this.

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Commissioner Basabada?

Here.

Commissioner Cunha?

Here.

Commissioner Whitmore?

Here.

Commissioner Hill?

Here.

Commissioner Leifern.

Here.

Commissioner Lee?

Here.

Chair Amkin.

Here.

Youth Commissioner Hallinen.

Here.

Excuse me.

Nara Yana.

Here.

Okay, item number two.

All rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Item number three, community forum.

This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the commission on any city matter within the purview of the commission, which is not on the agenda.

The period for public comment at this point in the agenda is limited to a maximum of three minutes per speaker.

Do we have any speaker slips or raised hands?

We do not.

And I'm really excited to be part of the Parks and Rec Board and be a part of the community and foster a sense of community.

So thank you so much for we're glad to have you.

And now are you for commissioners?

Hello, my name is Shavita, and I go to Ralston Middle School.

I'm an eighth grader there.

And I wanted to do this because I wanted to help contribute to my community and have some fun talking with people and all that.

Yeah.

Hi, my name is Ariel.

I'm a junior.

I go to Gunn in Palo Alto, but I lived in Belmont all my life.

Um I like playing sports, specifically volleyball.

I like talking to people, going to the beach.

I joined this commission because I wanted to talk to more people, learn about what goes on in Belmont, and then be a person that can reach out to others and then help people get involved.

So yeah, I'm really excited to join.

Excellent.

We're looking forward to working with you.

Um are there any other uh announcements?

All right.

Okay.

Um sent calendar.

Consent calendar items are considered routine in nature and will be enacted by one motion.

There will be no separate discussion on these items unless a commissioner or staff requests specific items be removed for separate action.

We only have one item on our consent calendar, and that is the draft minutes from the January 21st, 2026 meeting.

I move that we approve minutes as a git as presented.

I'll second it.

All right.

Commissioner Basabada.

Yes.

Commissioner Cunha?

Yes.

Commissioner Whitmore?

Yes.

Commissioner Hill.

Yes.

Commissioner Lieford.

Yes.

Commissioner Lee?

Yes.

Chair Emkin?

Yes.

Motion passes 7 and 0.

Now onto the fun part, the items of business.

So up first, selection of commission chairperson and vice chairperson.

Ah, here we go.

Um it's that time of year again when uh it's time for Chair Emkin to or the chair to pass on the gavel.

So what we're looking for is a motion from uh the commission to um identify a chair.

Do we and we do vice and uh chair and vice chair?

Uh we do separate motions for we do separate motions, yeah.

Um so I guess we can start with a chair.

Um, I would like to nominate Vice Chair Whitmore as chair.

I'll second that.

Okay.

So yes, I guess I'll make a motion for Vice Chair Whitmore to be chair.

Commissioner Masavada?

Yes.

Commissioner Cunha?

Yes.

Commissioner Whitmore?

Yes.

Commissioner Hill.

Yes.

Commissioner Liferd.

Yes.

Commissioner Lee.

Yes.

Chair Emkin?

Yes.

Motion passes seven and you get delete now.

Thanks for having me.

You are now the chair.

Okay.

Do we have a motion for vice chair?

Anonymous Scott.

I'll second.

Okay.

Commissioner Visavada.

Yes.

Commissioner Cunha?

Yes.

Commissioner Emkin?

Yes.

Commissioner Hill.

Yes.

Commissioner Leiford.

Yes.

Commissioner Lee?

Yes.

Chair Whitmore?

Yes.

Motion passes 7 and 0.

Okay.

Uh, next time an item of business.

Voices.

Volunteers, outreach, involvement, community events, and services annual update.

Very good sign.

Yeah.

Okay.

Hi everyone.

My name is Danielle Giuliashi, and I'm a recreation coordinator with the Youth and Teen Division, and I also am the advisor to the Voices group.

So they are going to go ahead and present on all the amazing things that they've done the last year.

So I'll let them take it away.

Recap.

So there are 24 total members.

We meet twice a month on the website.

Hold on one second.

Make sure you're going to move on to the closer to the microphone.

Thank you.

All right.

Recap.

24 total members meet twice a month on Tuesday evenings at the Hideout Hub at the Barrett Community Center and participate in at least one service product per month.

At each meeting, members host leadership presentations on topics that they are passionate about or want to teach the group, including applying at colleges using AI, baking, and more.

Mission to give a voice to the teen community by taking on leadership roles and implementing local service projects to work with existing community organizations to expand and diversify programs for teens.

To give the teen community a sense of cohesiveness and ownership for their local environment.

So last year in March at the Bear Community Center, we had the Shamrock Scavenger Hunt, where we assisted with the planning and execution of all the scavenger hunt stations and put together goodie bags for the participants.

Last April we held our Egg Adventure Hunt, where we helped with setting up hunts for designated age groups, hiding 18,000 eggs throughout the park, and manning the parks and recreation tabling booth and jelly bean guessing booth.

And then for our Arbor Day tree planting, also in April, we planted five trees around the playground of Bellamita Park to celebrate Arbor Day.

We did this in October.

You forgot to add that that was the best event all year.

And it was a great event and personally one of my favorites.

For the Samaritan House holiday kits in November, we made 95 kits for this American House annual toy drive distribution.

Kits included a variety of hygiene supplies and small holiday trinkets along with handwritten cards.

Oh yeah, the letters in Santa at this firehouse, where we helped um assist our local firefighters with um making sure this event went smoothly, where we hosted kids of all ages.

The voices turned 30 years old in December.

We celebrated at Santa at the firehouse by having a poster at the craft station where youth could add what they were thankful for during the holiday season.

We also received custom 30th anniversary ornaments.

We're accepting items that promote rest and wellness until March 16th, including warm compresses, coloring books, fuzzy socks, lotion, and more.

We have donation bins at the Parks and Recreation Office and Belmont Library, along with an Amazon wish list.

We are making the care packages at our next meeting on March 17th, and they will be donated to the organization ALS Network.

Oh the Buddy Meetup program was developed by Opening Doors PTA in collaboration with the Belmont Parks and Recreation Department.

This is the second year of the program.

The program pairs mentors who volunteer from organizations like Voices and Carmont Key Club with buddies who are youth with disabilities.

Mentors and buddies meet one Sunday per month at the Twin Pines Senior and Community Center or locations near Belmont and participate in a variety of activities to foster peer mentorship.

We average around 24 mentors and 20 buddies each season.

We will be setting up hunts for designated age groups, hiding 20,000 eggs throughout the park and manning the parks and recreation table booth and jelly bean guessing booth at the Egg Adventure Hunt on April 4th.

We will be planting 15 trees and spreading chips near the entrance of Hidden Canyon Park on April 17th in celebration of Arbor Day.

We will be creating a teen focus playlist to be used at the Belmont Library's 20th anniversary silent disco party on April 29th.

Before you guys change, we're gonna take a photo.

Yeah, let's do questions and comments.

Start out at this end.

Sure.

I'm just really proud of what you guys have accomplished, and it makes me really excited to be part of this community and see that my daughter gets sticker up and be a part of this community too.

Yeah, no, this is I think last year was like everybody's favorite day.

It's now become my favorite day.

Um where you get to see everything going on.

The egg adventure hunt's coming, and you guys do a great job, and we need your help, so it's so great to have you guys there.

Um it would be great for the hundred year, maybe the youth throw their own celebration.

So can't wait to hear about that next year.

So great as always.

I this is like she said, my favorite meeting because it's so inspiring.

And I love all the the care kits that you did this year.

I don't know if I don't remember that from last year, but um that's such a great idea, such a simple way to spread joy and show that you care.

So fantastic work, everyone.

Yeah, I'll echo all of that.

Um I I do have a question about the Arbor Day tree planting at Hidden Canyon.

Do is there a protection around the trees?

And is there a follow-up that like you know they make sure they're getting taken care of?

I know there have been some trees planted up higher, and they tried to protect them, but they didn't they didn't all thrive, that sort of thing.

Is there a is there a program beyond the planting?

I know our parks workers do a great job maintaining everything.

I think um I'm working with one of the parks maintenance workers on this project, and he wanted to kind of create kind of like a grove area right when you enter Hidden Canyon, because there's kind of like sporadic trees throughout in front of the parking lot, so wanted to create more of like a cohesive grove type situation.

That'd be awesome.

Yeah.

And we'll definitely be putting up some protective fencing when the trees are young.

I'm not sure what size they're gonna be, but um, when they're small, we like to give them some care.

And there's there's irrigation nearby, so we'll be able to keep them watered.

Yeah, you gotta protect them against all those deer that always want to come in.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah, I I love this.

This is one of my favorite days, if not my favorite day, because you guys all do such fantastic work to support the community.

It's really fun, the incredible variety of things you do and the level of impact you have.

So thank you all very much.

Really appreciate it.

Yeah, this this meeting is always a much needed reminder for us that you know the essential work that you guys play in executing these events, we hear about them and know about them from like a higher level and participate in some of them.

And then members of the community don't actually get to see sort of behind the curtain and the role that you all play in actually making them happen.

So again, that's one of the things that I look forward to today.

Uh, and thank you for all of the uh effort and service.

Um this is actually amazing.

I didn't know you guys did so much, and this was like it was really good to see like all the things you guys did, and really excited to see what you guys have in store.

Yeah, I agree.

It's really cool that you guys take the time out of your day to actually come and do the things and then not just do them, but actually find like you actually have fun with it.

So I think it's really nice that you guys are building community like that.

So thank you.

Wonderful presentation.

Uh, thank you.

You make me very proud to live in Belmont.

Um I am obviously very cool and I know what a silent disco is.

But if there are people listening who don't know what a silent disco is, could you briefly explain it?

Yeah, so pretty much you have like these big, they kind of look like beats headphones on, and you can kind of uh switch through usually like a few different playlists.

Um, and everyone is like dancing, but no one knows what song you're dancing to.

So if you look at it, you're just watching people like dance, but you don't know what song they're listening to.

So yeah.

Is the playlist modern songs or so we're creating a teen focused one that is like hot hits for teens, and then I know they are creating like an adult one as well.

Um I don't have any input on that one, but it's just a polite way of saying the knot is cool.

I'm gonna listen to the teen one and not know what it is.

Um to youth advisory uh committee update.

Oh, yeah, sorry.

Can I just throw in one other thing?

I I heard all the individual, you know, we did this many kits for this and this many kits for that.

Do you know what the total is off the top of your head?

The total number of kits.

It's probably like over 500.

Okay.

Yeah.

That is an incredible number.

And each kit touches a life.

And or maybe even a family.

So I just I'm I'm super proud.

Okay.

What you and and the Voice Group have done.

Yeah, is there we like really focused on kit making?

Because it is hard to like go to some of the organizations because we have such a large group now, so we kind of do a lot of things now in-house at our meetings instead.

So it's still great.

Yeah.

Okay.

Now certificates.

He knows.

No, he is a following.

I'm gonna move around here and what?

Declan.

Sophia.

Gabby.

It's uh just perfect.

Ridon.

Nate.

Maddie.

Enzo.

I didn't tell you some words and savoring the boy can wear one.

Kellen.

Avery.

Jude.

Anante.

Anoushka.

Audrey.

Kunal.

Marissa.

Katie.

And I do, we did um get a special plaque for Miss Maya Price, who's been in voices for all four years.

So thank you for your service.

Yeah, if you guys want to come down or stand up.

You want us to come down there?

These kids are tall.

Yeah, it's all right.

We're in the street.

Okay, still be able to see it.

Are you in it?

I would be yet.

Okay, we're here.

Oh my gosh, but tomorrow.

Oh.

Beautiful.

If you're not just having fun.

If you're not allowed to access that one other season asking, we're supposed to be on the note of my own.

I can move things around and teach.

Don't touch anything.

Good evening, commissioners.

My name is Patrick Schmitz.

I'm a recreation coordinator with the Youth and Teen Division.

I'm also the advisor for the Youth Advisory Committee.

And we have an amazing group of teens part of this committee, and they are going to come up and talk about all their great projects they did uh last year and this year.

Hi, my name is JC Ho.

I'm the president of YAC, and I go to Carlmont High School.

So as a recap, we have 21 members and eight alternates.

We hold meetings twice a month on Thursday evenings at the Hideout Club.

Our mission is our youth, our action, and our community.

We held a police forum with the Belmont PD to discuss issues facing youth in Belmont.

Ideas were shared on how youth can keep their community safe and figuring out ways that the police can help support teens.

We shared snacks and got to know some of the local officers.

Hi, I'm Rika.

I'm an eighth grader at Ralston, and we had an event called Roots and Roots, where we planted five coastal live oaks at Hallmark Park with 11 people from our community.

And after we planted the trees, we took a hike to overlook the view.

Hi, I'm Michelle, a junior at Carmont High School.

So last year for the Spelling Bee Committee, there was we had we hosted a spelling bee um competition for our children in K to three.

Um so we had 43 students from grades K to three participated.

Um and then we sold tickets and offered concessions to raise money for the youth scholarship.

And in total, we raised eight hundred and sixty-five dollars.

Hi, I'm Adia.

I'm a junior at Carlmont High School.

Last year, Yak led a candlemaking workshop at the Teen Wellness Retreat at Barrett Community Center.

We had 30 teens participate in relaxing candlemaking, and the teens took their projects home to enjoy the suns.

Hi, I'm Sarita.

I'm a junior at Carmont High School.

Um Belmont Yak partnered with youth climate ambassadors in offering a native plant workshop at the Belmont Community Garden.

We had people of all ages come together to learn about the importance of native plants and plant in our community garden.

Hi, I'm Gracie.

I'm a sophomore at Carmont, and I was lucky enough to be one of the judges for the youth event lemonade day.

We had 15 groups of young entrepreneurs learn how to start a business and raise money and manage money.

And each average profit was eighty-five dollars.

Yeah.

Uh hi, I'm Advin, and I'm a freshman at Carlmont High School.

And in October, Yak hosted the high school and college fair, and we had 14 local high schools and eight colleges attend the fair.

And we also had over 250 people attend the event.

Hi, I'm Ita Perez.

I'm a junior at Carlmont High School, and I'm the historian of YAC.

Um in December, the YAC Social took place in Burlingame.

Belmont joined eight other local cities yaks to share ideas and network.

Belmont Yak presented on events we have previously held and our goals for 2026.

Hi, I'm Audrey.

I'm a freshman at Design Tech.

And from December six December 8th to January 16th, we hosted the Breakfast Club Food Drive in partnership with Samaritan House.

We had three three bin locations at the Belmont Library, Barrett Community Center, and the Twins Pine Senior Center.

Overall, we had 350 uh food donation food donations.

Hi, I'm Alison, and I'm a junior at Notre Dame Belmont High School.

So Yaks Intergenerational Committee hosted two senior-oriented events this year.

The first of which was the senior tech workshop, where 16 seniors were hosted, and YAC members were able to teach them essential tips about using their devices and the crafting and company workshop where seniors joined Yak for rock painting and flower pipe cleaner projects.

Hi, my name is Vanya Paula.

I'm a senior at Carmel High School and the vice president of Yak.

So just this past Saturday, we offered a mental health workshop where we made stress balls and Safespace gave a presentation about how teens can be more actively involved in mental health discussions within their community and did a few rounds of just dance.

So our upcoming project event and events, we have our teen wellness strategy session on March 28th, and we have our next youth spelling bee on April 25th.

Thank you.

Any questions or comments?

Questions and comments.

We'll start down here with Commissioner Lee.

Um at the risk of just repeating what I said the last time, it's again like an impressive reminder and a needed reminder for all of us about the work that you guys are all doing behind the scenes to make these um really impactful events happen.

So thank you for the time and energy.

It's you know, it doesn't go unnoticed.

I know sometimes you're working on this stuff and you don't get to get the appreciation or see the reflection of all your hard work.

And so thank you again for taking the time and effort.

I think it's great what you've done.

I also think it's great about how you're being a role model for other people about helping a community and and that you can go so much, you know.

You if you want to, you know, if you want to walk far, walk together.

Um so thank you.

You guys did so much good work here.

One that stood out to me was the Breakfast Club food drive.

I really like that.

350 donations is pretty amazing.

I uh I I really appreciate that.

The very nice work.

I'll just reiterate everything they said.

Fantastic work, it's so inspiring.

And I love this the variety of work that you do.

It's just it was like a little bit of everything is really you're touching the community in lots of different ways, and that's great.

Yeah, kudos to every single one of you.

Um I got to attend the native plant workshop with some of you, and that was really fun, and I really enjoyed that.

Um and then this week um I heard from our senior center how much they are really loving the intergenerational workshop that you guys have.

So I would say keep that up.

Thank you.

I just want to say I'm again more very incredibly proud, but also these are skills that you guys are gonna take into with you in the future.

And when you're my age, you're gonna be able to build your community, activate your community, speak up for your community, create programs for your community, and these are skills that are gonna do that.

So I hope you keep them with you, and I'm very proud of what you guys are doing.

Youth Commissioners.

Um these events are pretty cool, and the spelling bee reminded me of like what the spelling be I did at my school, and it was really fun.

So I see how that impacts them the kids.

So yeah, that's what I really liked.

Yeah, thank you again for taking the time out of your day to come and help our community and create things for other people.

That's really nice.

Thank you.

One more comment.

Uh, I think it's uh it was uh helpful reminder also that we were great to see that we had representation from I think all of the high schools in our like uh nearby community.

So hopefully you guys uh keep that up as a as part of your mission and recruiting participation from everybody, not just you know being overrepresented by one particular school.

Yeah, really wonderful.

And not just the work you do, but coming here and speaking in public is really really great, fabulous.

Um, most of these things come back this year, most of these events and activities.

Will Lemonade Day be back?

Uh so a lot of our activities are year-round.

Um kind of my philosophy with the group is whatever they're passionate about that year, I try to just uh I'm gonna steal something from uh safe space.

I like to be the wind beneath their wings uh for the things they like to do.

So a lot of the same events and projects take place, but then there's also some new ones for what they're enthusiastic about.

Nice.

Um I actually heard there was a Belmont resident that went to every lemonade stand.

Yes, I think I there was a uh a woman I saw who saw it in the newsletter, and she was like holding up Google Maps and going, Am I going in the right direction?

So I'm wondering if it's the same person.

It was a it was a really fun it was a beautiful day to enjoy some lemonade.

Yeah.

Great, thank you.

Yeah.

Certificates.

Okay, I I can't not say anything here.

You know me.

Um again, you guys are incredible.

Think about the total number of lives that you've touched in what you do and what you have accomplished.

And what I love is that you know, the spelling bee is kind of our our tiniest um, you know, community members, and it is a gas to go watch that spelling bee.

So if you can go, I highly recommend it.

It is it's a nail biter, and it's it's just like the movies and on TV.

It's super, super fun.

Um and then helping the seniors.

I that I I think the photos from that are uh really touched me the most.

And that's something that I've been passionate about my whole life is just kind of making this intergenerational connections, and I am so proud that you guys do that, and you didn't just do it once, you keep doing it, and it matters.

And and Commissioner Cunha confirmed that, you know, hearing that feedback.

It's always good to kind of get get the feedback and see that it really is making a difference, and it is.

And earlier today I had some issues with my phone, and I thought, hmm, maybe I'll be attending those sometime soon.

So thank you.

As I call your name, please come up and receive your certificate, and then remember to uh stay in the gathering area for the photo.

I'm gonna be honest, voices was okay at this.

We're not gonna be good.

We're gonna be great with this one.

I did give it a text.

Odvin.

Yeah.

Alison.

Amalia.

Audrey.

Benett.

Finn.

Gracie.

Its nice.

Jamie.

Kellen.

Lauren.

Marissa.

Michelle.

Ragov.

Oh, that's the right answer.

Rika.

Sarah.

Sarita.

Shlok.

Shoshana.

Vanya.

Will.

And last but certainly not least, uh, not only a certificate, but a plaque for uh appreciation of their work as president, JC.

All right.

I was like, do you have the same thing?

You guys can stand.

You guys think it's been like not really gonna be an interesting.

Story spot on the wall fits.

Yeah.

All right.

It was fun.

It was fun.

I don't have like a garden at home.

I live in an apartment, so I was like, oh, I get some like play in the garden, you know.

I'm doing the Instagrams right now.

Okay.

Where's that at?

It's doing that.

Okay.

There's one other map.

Oh, cool.

So I wouldn't do skills.

And then you call the use of my own.

Uh huh.

Oh, yeah.

Okay, thank you.

Now on to our uh youth and teen programs annual update.

My name is Michael Moran.

I did the top now.

And we're gonna go out with yellow moment ago.

Hello again.

I'm gonna kind of recap all of our special events kind of the last year.

So, first off, um, we had our second annual teen wellness retreat.

Um, this was actually our first time hosting it in Belmont at Bear Community Center.

Um, this is a collaboration with the city of San Carlos, and it's a one-day retreat for teens grades six through twelve to do stress and refresh their mental health.

Um, the retreat includes breakfast, lunch, boba, workshops, keynote speaker, lunchtime, resource fair, therapy dogs, raffle prizes, all for free.

Um, we did receive a $5,000 grant last year from Sequoia Healthcare District to help fund this um event.

And we did also last year add um a new edition of a parent guardian workshop, and this was offered by One Life Counseling on navigating the journey of your adolescents, growth and exploration.

And we had 26 parent guardians in attendance, and we had 157 total signups for teens.

Next in April, we had our adaptive egg venture hunt.

Um, so this is uh open to individuals who would enjoy more of a sensory-friendly environment compared to our really large-scale egg hunt that happens the following day.

Um, this included 2,000 eggs hidden in Twin Pines Meadow.

We had bunny photos and a variety of sensory toys and equipment.

We had 40 registered participants attend.

And then this is our big traditional egg hunt.

We had 18,000 eggs hidden throughout Twin Pines Park, and around 2,000 youth and families in attendance.

Um we did have a new addition of a photo booth this year, as you can see one of the photos.

Um, and we had smile stories, pediatric dentistry help sponsor the event, and 10 of our contractors for the summer held table booths there.

And then Camp SOAR recap.

Um, so we had 825 total sign-ups.

Um this summer we did help hold camp at the Barrett Community Center just due to the Creek Restoration Project.

Um we did have our Hawks Kiddos, our younger uh K through seconds were split into two different rooms, but still had tons of fun.

Um we did offer our inclusion camp again for kids with disabilities for five weeks.

Um we had 17 returning staff members and 13 new staff, and out of those staff, 20 of the staff were Belmont residents, with seven being passed um counselors and training.

Oh, and then also just looking forward to Camp Sorfer 2026.

We are moving back to Twin Pines Park Yay.

Um registration opened on January 12th, and we're currently at almost 900 signups, so it's gonna be a busy summer.

Um we have extended our camp hours from 8 a.m.

to 5 p.m.

to 8 a.m.

to 5 30 p.m.

And we did actually remove extended care just because there is not a need for it.

Um so we expanded our camp hours instead.

Um we did change our name from inclusion camp to adaptive camp.

So do you see that?

It's now adaptive camp.

And we did increase um our total spots for kids per week from five to six spots.

Um our rec leader recruitment also opened on January 5th and closed on February 17th, and we received 55 applications, which is a record high.

Um, and we have 23 returning staff members, which is a lot.

Um, and some new field trip locations.

We have classic bowling center, urban air, and lost world adventures.

And then our boo bash trunk retreat, um, boobash has kind of transformed into a uh collaboration with City Hall employees.

Um, and it does include our annual trunk retreat along with the haunted house and the manor building and food trucks.

Um we had 31 vehicles, which was a mixture of community participants, contractors, and city vehicles.

We had around 2,000 youth and families in attendance.

And you can see the first place trunk there.

And then our winter wonderland workshop.

Um, this is offered for youth ages five through twelve.

Um, it's a day full of homemade ornaments, DIY crafts, letters to Santa, face paint, gingerbread house, and cookie decorating.

We had 35 youth in attendance.

And then um our sensory Santa at the firehouse and toy drive, which is offered right before our traditional event.

Um, this is again for open to um those who need a sensory-friendly environment.

Um we had 34 youth in attendance, which was pretty much a doubled from the first year that we offered it in 2024.

And we did um also provide therapy dogs and we had our sensory zone tent there as well.

Um and for our traditional uh Santa the firehouse, we had over 2,000 attendees walk through Firehouse 14.

Um several families did come in person and actually pick up toys at the event.

And then our upcoming events, um, we have our third annual Belmont and St.

Carlos Teen Wellness Retreat this month on Saturday, March 28th.

It will be hosted in St.

Carlos this year at the San Carlos Adult and Community Center.

And then we have our two egg hunts.

Um adaptive is going to be held on Friday, April 3rd, and our traditional on Saturday, April 4th, and we are hiding 20,000 eggs this year.

And then also wanted to highlight our after school program for middle school youth called the Hideout.

Um this year we have 105 youth enrolled.

Majority of our students are Ralston students, but we do have a couple from Charles Armstrong and North Star Academy.

Um 51% of our kiddos are sixth graders, 27% seventh graders, and 21% eighth graders.

Um this program is open Tuesday, Thursdays, and Fridays from 3 to 5 p.m.

and Wednesdays from 1 30 to 5 p.m.

We have two rooms.

We have a main hideout room where we have video games and different um activities, and then we have a secondary room called the Hideout Hub where we it's kind of a study space as well as an acre space.

Um we do also offer daily snack, and we offer um two um kind of enrichment activities per week, and we also have like a no tech Thursday where we we do not have any tech offered, and they just get to do board games and fun stuff like that.

Um Wednesday is definitely our most popular day with the minimum days.

Um we typically average around 50 youth, and the rest of the days we average around 20 youth.

We do also have um three part-time staff members per day, and majority of these staff members come from our camp SOAR program.

And then last but not least, uh, I want to highlight our Ready Set Spike volleyball program.

Um, this is a free beginner program run by volunteers from Carmont High School volleyball team for youth ages nine to 13.

This is um kind of gonna be moving forward our version of mobile recreation.

It's gonna kind of going forward focus on free sports specific programs rather than us in the past kind of bringing equipment to Belmont neighborhoods.

So it's kind of transitioning.

Um this program will be offered again um at the end of this month, but um for last March, it was held at uh Barrett Community Center from January through June, and it sold out with 40 total participants.

So it was very popular, um, and it's already sold out for this upcoming program offered in March.

That's everything.

Thank you.

Hello again, commissioners.

So these are some of the programs and events that I help coordinate throughout the year.

Uh the first one we're gonna highlight is our movies in the park.

So this takes place uh during the summertime.

We host three movie in the park events.

Uh the first of which took place in Twin Pines Park, where we had about 60 participants and we enjoyed Inside Out 2.

The second was at Alexander Park, where we had 125 participants and enjoyed watching Mulan.

And the last event was at Barrett, uh, where we had 160 uh attendees where we enjoyed a classic movie of Shrek.

Um before each movie, we also have games and activities out for people to enjoy while the sun is still up.

Uh we are grateful for our sponsors of Godfather's Burger Lounge and Xfinity for uh sponsoring the whole entire event and Capo Mediterranean Restaurant for sponsoring our raffle that we have as well.

We also partnered with Footsteps to provide concessions at the Barrett event, and Belmont 4 H provided concessions for uh the Twin Pines and Alexander event.

Over the summer, we also hosted three community hikes.

Uh we had them at Water Dog Lake, Hidden Canyon, and also the Crystal Springs Cross Country course.

For over the three events, we had 24 community members sign up and participate and participants during the hike.

We had a scavenger hunt where they were looking for things that they could see on the trail.

And if they found all of them, or if they just tried their best, uh they could win some Belmont swag.

We also have our counselor and training program or our CIT program.

This past summer we had 75 youth apply for the program, and we accepted 51 uh who participated and volunteered during the camp last summer.

That equaled 2,944 and a half hours volunteered in the eight-week program.

We offer an AM and PM uh half day sessions for CITs and also an all day for older volunteers.

Uh the application is currently open.

It closes March Sunday, March 22nd.

And so far, we have 30 youth who have applied.

And then during the school year, I also coordinate and help finding contractors for our Belmont Redwood Shores School District after school class.

We have classes offered at Cypriani Elementary School and Central Elementary School.

And the class options are a wide variety from STEM, comics, public speaking, coding, and soccer are offered in the program.

And then for our upcoming events, uh in April, we've been having the community vote for which movies they'd like to see for movies in the park.

So follow our department's record uh Instagram page, and on the stories, we have uh kind of close to March Madness where we have bracket style, and people get to vote for which movies they would like to see over the summer.

Um, and then we also have our community hikes will be happening again this summer on May 14th at the Crystal Springs cross-country course, and then June 24th at Hidden Canyon.

Thank you.

Okay, before I advance my slides, um technically I give an update all the partners, the contractors, and then I passed kind of a commission of the summer recap a few months ago.

I kind of highlighted all our special events how we had.

Thank you.

What would we do without Doug?

Um, so I'll start again in case you couldn't hear me, but typically I go over contractors, summer highlights, um, our partners, all our events that they didn't mention.

Um, but when I was here at the last commission meeting for the summer recap, I just mentioned like our uh progress of special events, how we increased it from like 13 to like 40.

I got a lot of ahs and oohs, and I loved it.

And knowing that um this is probably my last time here with our fearless leader, um, I want to do something a little bit different.

Um, before I start though, too.

I don't know if you guys heard Patrick mention we did a scavenger hunt in the community hikes, and that has to we checked every item from every commission the last three years that you guys asked us to do or wanted to see.

I usually kind of list that too, but I didn't list it today.

But um, I will take that feedback for next year, but I we do appreciate your guys' um input and ideas, and we do try to incorporate them into the community.

So now for my different kind of update.

Okay, so I wanted to celebrate the growth we built together, and this is gonna be a brief look at the at our journey at the UCT division um from 2018 to 2026.

So obviously we have lots of events.

If you heard Santa, Halloween, Campsor, reading stories, community hikes.

We didn't talk about pickleball, but let's park in wreck without pickleball.

Um we also have our egg hunt, and I had to bring in a pandemic photo too.

So when we read stories, this is our Halloween story time, and we did it virtually.

Um just wanted to highlight a few of those as I continue.

So our growth.

Let's start with the hideout.

We had 48 when we opened it in 2017.

Now we have 105 kiddos signed up, so 120% increase in hideout participant in the last uh few years.

Um, our YAC membership.

Bridget actually asked me when you guys were taking their taking their photo.

It was a lot more yak now.

And as you can see, yeah, the 123% increase.

So in 2018, uh we had 13 and now we're at 29 members, and they also had two events, and now we have 10 events for the YAC.

Voices did grow as well from 19 to 24 members and have six to 13 events.

Camp SOR, our camper specifically.

We started at 682 and now we're at 825, but I couldn't count 2026, so it's not completed.

So as you heard from Danielle, we're getting closer to 900, which would be our capacity for our building, anyways.

I did throw in photos the next after this slide.

Um, our contractor summer camps in 2018.

We only offered 145.

Now we offer 199 from 2025, which is a good increase.

Our public swim lessons that we oversee as the youth and teen division.

Um we had 443 swim lesson kiddos, and now we are at 550.

Our summer seasonal staff, including Camp Sore and Aquatics was from 37 to 46.

And the one that got the ahs and news last time was the special events going from 13 to 46 events.

To kind of put that as a visual for you guys, here is the egg hunt from 2018.

This is in the meadow.

Um, so it was about 250 total participants for the egg hunt.

This was last year.

As you can see, there's multiple.

I try to get the same angles of the same areas.

But as you can see, those double rows, triple rows, compared if I go back again.

A lot of people have elbow space, a lot of room, and lots of eggs.

Some more growth.

Our egg hunt participant has received a 700% increase in our hidden eggs, as um you heard.

We went from 4,000 in 2018, and I did combine the traditional egg hunt and adaptive egg hunt from last year, so 18 plus two, so that's where we're at 20.

For this upcoming year, we're doing two and 20, so 22 next year, or this uh next month.

Um our sweetheart dance did not have a good jump, but I had to show everything, and that was 144 to 149, but that jump was mostly because of the superstar dance.

I did include those numbers, and so that was like our uh adaptive or um dance for anybody, so having those registrations included in the dance made that number.

Our Santa participants uh um walked through the house.

We counted by families um in 2018, so I wanted to keep that number the same.

Um so we had 379 families, and now we're at 700 families, and that's about 2,000 folks that walked through the doors.

Um, our movies in the park, we only had one movie in Twin Pines and one location, that's it.

Now we have three movies per year and at multiple locations.

And our boo bash participants or trunk retreat, um, we had 350 or so um or average uh participants, and we're at 2,000.

I have a comparison for that too.

When we launched it in 2022, it was at Barrett Community Center.

That day we quickly found out we saw we maxed out every parking spot around that community, uh, probably upset a few neighbors, and so we that's why we moved it to Twin Pines.

So going from 350 at Barrett to Twin Pines.

Um it's a double photo because we have it's so big, we have a front and a back, but as you can see, there's just one snapshot of that event.

I decided to only include the 11 events that stayed or still with us today.

So, of course, we did other events the last eight years, like um Halloween home decorating contest or story time or virtual dances, but none of those things are happening currently, but these are the third 11 that stayed with us today.

So I'm not gonna read them all here, but just a couple to highlight is adaptive campsore, the contract classes, the after school sites, um, our adaptive egg hunt and our sensory Santa and Wilderness Retreats.

And I can't not have a presentation without mentioning our partners because it's such a big partner at Barrett Community Center.

Um, so as you can see here, Stepping Stone has uh grown by 32%.

Foot child care at Barrett Community Center specifically did go down a little bit, but that's mostly because um they're just so sold out in logistics when transporting children.

There's a lot more uh younger ones now, and then Heartbeat Dance has grown about 45%.

And I decided to mention the partners too, because in the last eight years we did kind of flip a few rooms to give the partner some more room, so a couple more classrooms for Stepping Stone.

That's why you saw that increase, and Heartbeat also got uh two additional classrooms as well, or dance studios.

Okay, no more recap.

A new feature.

We just launched it a couple of weeks ago.

It's our waitlist automation.

Here's just an example.

I signed myself up so you can see how it looks, but um now our wait list um is automated.

Why that's coming in handy for us when Campsore sold out within two days, maybe less, I can't recall.

We had over a hundred people on the wait list within the first few days.

Um so we launched the wait list automation right before um president's weekend, um, and since then we've had over about a hundred transactions of people either saying yes, and they can sign up there, they don't have to call us anymore, we don't have to grab their information or their child care information, or they can say remove me and it automatically goes to the next person.

Um, it's great because people can do it at their time.

We do give them the same time window as we used to do in person, but just want to show that because we just launched it.

Right now it's only active for campsor and aquatics as we're trying it out as well.

That's all I have for today, but of course we love comments and questions.

Thank you.

Um are there any public comments or questions?

Yep.

Okay.

Um Commissioner Fisabata.

I love these events.

So I'm really happy to see all the events that Belmont is growing into, but also seeing that you're listening to community and adding more events like the adaptive ones.

Thank you.

That's all.

No.

Holy moly.

No, you guys do a fabulous job.

I had one question for the mobile recreation.

It sounds like it's like a hit.

Is there like an intention to expand to other sports, or are we sticking with volleyball for now?

Yeah, we just pivoted.

We're gonna wait until we get a recreation ban to bring mobile rec a little bit more out to the communities.

Just transporting it team deemed to be very difficult for our current uh vehicle situation and whatnot.

Um so we started volleyball last year, and we would even think of mobile recreation with that.

Um but now since we kind of saw the need, yes, we would like to start more like soccer, basketball, Patrick's working on three on three.

Um so we're slowly gonna add it as we go.

Awesome.

Um yeah, like you said, I I've been to many of the events as well, and they do get packed, especially the ones here at Twin Pines, and I think that really just like shows how we need a new facility because we are growing, our community's growing, or people are just realizing how awesome Belmont is in our recreation, because I think that's also the case.

But either way, um it just shows the community, and I think this would be so great.

You probably have the intention to present this at City Council, but everybody else should see this as well, and I think that'll help drive um the need for our new community center.

So thanks so much.

Thank you.

So is uh pickleball gonna be one of the sports that you do with mobile rec or are we afraid to take that out into the into the wild?

Well, fun fact, Bridget and I did teach, sorry, Director Shear, and I did teach pickleball for the community in 20, right before the pandemic, and I watched like two YouTube videos, and that was it.

Um that was before like pickleball was like that big hit.

Patrick currently has a group um that is um working with us to to do paid pickleball, and our tennis and uh racket instructors also offer classes, but you never know.

Yeah, be a good introduction.

So thank you for all the data.

I always I always know you're gonna bring data and I love data.

I love seeing all the numbers.

I had actually had data written down that was like, oh, Michael's bringing the data.

Awesome.

Um for camp source being at 825 last year, was that because it was at Barrett or um because you said nine 900, which we're approaching, is kind of the cap here, but um was 825, was that the limit there, or did just it shrink.

We probably could have put a few more at Barrett, but us going to Barrett since the first time since the pandemic and being a little bit more like unrestricted, we didn't know, we didn't gauge it very but we had more signs, people did you know cancel, but I would say we're at 98%.

I might give you some data.

Uh but around you know, we're almost sold out.

Um, and that's because we did fill the rooms and the bathroom specifically.

Um try doing water play at Barrett compared to Twin Pine.

It's really hard to change the uh kiddos.

So we had to make some uh uh different changes for that.

Okay.

And you said the the new wait list thing.

How long is the when they get the notification?

You sits the same time frame that you do with a phone call, but how long is that from when you get waitlisted and you have to reply?

Yeah, and I had data for you too, and I didn't even plan that.

But um, so in our previous, we would email and phone call and give families or a participant 48 hours.

So we have the ability to do by hour or day.

We can say whatever number we want.

When we first launched it, we did five days just to get people used to it because it can look like spam.

So what we did, we emailed all the participants ahead of time, gave them those sample photos, told them what the subject line would be, told them like what the emails coming from, and now when you go on a wait list, you actually get that notification that shows this is what the email is gonna look like.

This is the email for the future enrollments.

Um we've seen about 20% of folks not responding, so they have been rejected.

But talking to our admin assistant, Miss Anne Marie Garcia here, um, it's about the same percentage of people that didn't respond to us from phone and email.

Great, because yeah, it's great to have a new system that's automated like that, but still gives them the same window of opportunity to reply.

Um for the adaptive camp, did you say it went from five to six participants per week?

Was that it will be going well that's fantastic?

Yeah, because there's always so much demand for that.

It's nice to make a little more space in that.

Um, and then just all of your numbers for how much everything has increased is so impressive.

And what's even more impressive is I know there hasn't been some 200, 300% increase in staff to go with that, right?

You know, so you're doing with just this very small staff, you just keep doing more and more, and it's so impressive.

So thank you all for everything you do.

Thank you.

Yeah, camps are such a gem.

Uh, you know, when my my daughter did it, we really appreciated it.

And uh seeing how you guys rolled with the punches, uh, having to go to Barrett and deal with the Creek Restoration uh reroute.

That would that was uh that was really great.

I'd love to see that you're getting uh almost up to capacity already.

That's just that's also fantastic.

And I think what really stood out to me is the returning staff members and the big numbers for volunteers.

You know, I think that has a lot to do with the quality of the program as well, right?

Uh it's it's it's really great.

So thank you.

Thank you.

I say it's also the advisors.

These two advisors do a great job with the groups and they really are with the youth and they care.

Yeah, actually, you're talking about the the returning staff.

It'd be interesting how many of the campers are returning as well.

Because I bet you it's a pretty high percentage.

I'll work on that.

But yes, honestly, we do have a lot of people.

I finally found a number that you don't have.

Yeah, I call our volunteer and like uh training programs like swimmer aid, counseling training, the Yak Voices are feeder programs.

I try to get them at three, that's when we start at our in our division and keep them until we can employ them.

That's my goal.

And so I know that sounds kind of funny, but it has worked out, and it we get great employees that way because they're passionate and they're nice and they learned, and we just can't teach those things.

Um they have a lot of hands-on experience, even just being campers.

So we love when they come to us, and for aquatics, we also have a high return rate this year.

Um we have nine returning, which is a lot at a staff of like 16.

So I didn't mention in my update, but I will right now.

One thing I was curious, we're seeing all this growth.

The question is how do we accommodate it?

Because if we extrapolate that, we're just gonna end up, I don't I don't know what's gonna happen at the egg hunt.

Like I love the egg hunt, and I but sixteen thousand?

What is it?

Where does this go, right?

Um that's one of the things I'm I'm thinking about, especially is uh the population of Belmont grows, right?

Um and the reward for good work is more work.

Um but it's and it's great to see the level we go to the egg hunt, the number of people that come from different cities and kind of the the extended and then how do we but is there a way we can accommodate that?

That's one thing that's running through my mind.

So if I could just comment on that really quick.

This past egg con was the first time we did like a survey for the community and uh former commissioner Craig Michael's help, Commissioner Um uh Ariana, sorry, um, I apologize.

Um I saw the first name um helped as well, and we did the surveys of the community like where'd you come from?

You know, is this your first time?

We had some technical difficult difficulties with the Wi-Fi going in and out because all the people were using it.

But um when we did get the data collected from the people that were able to be uploaded, majority actually were Belmont residents or neighboring, like right next to us.

So we were also impressed with that too.

Yeah, it's great work.

I I love I love all the programs.

I try to come to as many as I can and encourage my friends to so keep it up.

Uh Commissioner Emkin mentioned or pointed out the uh increase in events and participation and not the necessarily corresponding increase in staff.

Uh and for me, this is always uh very like again, a much needed reflection, a reminder of the culture that has been fostered in the with the full-time staff in the department from the leadership on down to the student volunteers that are engaged in these programs.

Um it's just a reminder, you guys you don't just you know rinse and repeat the same programs.

We dial in the ones that we want to keep, but you're constantly trying to improve and engage in different segments of the community that we haven't connected to and engage with you know getting getting the feedback and thinking about how we can improve and get better.

Uh and you try new things, they might not work, so we don't bring them back next year, but then there's always something that list was 11 long, right?

And it probably wasn't 11 long in 2018, right?

Uh and so I think that's a an impressive reflection of the against the culture and the work that you guys are trying to do and the atmosphere that you fostered among your uh staff and the team and collaboration there.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Um the growth from 2018 was pretty um insane.

And these events, like I know many of them.

My a lot of my friends went to the hideout, actually recognize some people in the pictures.

It's pretty cool.

Um I was wondering, um, how do you like get ideas for new events?

Like, do you get recommendations from the um community?

Um, all the above, yes.

Like during the pandemic, we had this makeup events like puppet shows and whatnot.

Um, we do get feedback from the community.

Sometimes they ask like, can you do this?

Or we go to a lot of conferences to see like um what's going on to the new trends, the upcoming things.

Like we heard about pickleball before pickleball is pickleball.

Um and so we could prepare for it, uh not knowing it's gonna be that big.

Um, or um, we also uh every month the youth and teen teams go to uh meetings in San Mateo, San Francisco, and Santa Clara County.

We all meet um as a team.

Um, you know, each like one person per city agency, and also with the contractors, we have a separate group for that.

So we really do network as um a government agency with our other partners and neighbors and the trainees and conferences really help as well.

Yeah, the work you guys have done is like insane.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think it's great how there's a little something for everybody, like me and my family.

We love going on hikes, so the community hikes are really great idea.

I did have a little question comment about the movies in the park.

So it looks like the demographic is for younger people.

You said inside out two.

Um I love finding things to do on like warm summer nights.

I was wondering if you're gonna expand to like movies for older audiences, like for teens or for in like one area.

Are you looking to do that, or you're just keeping it for a younger group?

Um the voting of the movies is open to everybody, no matter what age, and we just pick the top winners, and we do try to mix it.

Uh speaking of past events, um, I noticed that when I started here as well.

So it's great that you noticed that.

So in 2019, I did throw back Thursday movie nights for adults.

Uh, you do like Ferris Bureau of the Day Off and a few other ones I can't think of at the moment.

And they got like five to six people.

I I do remember those one family that was like the first day, or they just got married.

Remember that yeah.

Um and so there was some great moments, but we're happy to try it again.

We did look uh in the past several months to getting like a new system that could do movies a little bit more like Redwood City, where you can do it like when the sun's still out and still see everything and not have to wait to sunset.

But unfortunately, the ticket price on that was a six-digit number, and it wasn't that in our budget.

So but we are thinking of the same thing.

Can we we we tend to offer movies in the summertime because of the the sunsetting time?

Um when we offer a movie like in August, we're typically here to about midnight.

Um and then as it gets later, like October, we leave about 9, 10 p.m.

It just so the later the sun sets, the later, you know, we'll be here at like 2 a.m.

if we did like a July movie, for example.

So that's why we started looking at alternative ways to show the movies.

Um maybe one day we'll get that cool movie screen, but we will get a giggle because we're not gonna get it, but maybe one day.

We're gonna get a community center first, I think.

Okay.

Well, the uh question about the movies.

So but for the movie options that are given to the public to vote on, that's decided by staff, right?

Um so there's licensing requirements.

So we use a website, um, it's called Swank.

Uh schools use it, public and rec.

So that way we pay for the license to um do the movie, and they have like a whole park and recreation category.

They do lock some movies away, like it's something like a network another movie's coming out, like a number two, they'll lock the number one away.

Um so Patrick here, if you want to talk about it too, Patrick, you're welcome to come on up.

But um, he gets he tries to get a variety, but we do have to cater to the the rating of the movie, so that's typically why.

And in general, we notice animation.

Is that what you call them?

The movie?

Come on, Patrick, come on down.

Go do a better job.

Well, just to speak to your point about having more things for teens.

I know that's something that a lot of the youth advisory committee has been talking about with creating third spaces where youth can come and kind of gather.

So during our mental health event, uh, we did put on, like they just literally wanted to craft and watch a movie, and that's what we did, and it was something that they wanted to watch.

Um so I think we right, we want to have more opportunities like that for the community because I think it is a need.

Um but I know with the licensing through Swank, um, a lot of it is like the family movies, so we try our best to try to pick some of the older ones that maybe younger millennials or millennials uh like Shrek and Mulan were voted highly, um, and then trying to get some of those newer releases as well, just uh to get more people out there.

But I hear what you're saying, they have been telling me a lot, so we're trying to find more ways to partner that way with the teens to have things they like to watch too.

If I can add on to that really quick, I think part of getting larger participation is I know it sounds cringy, but it's having an event that's cool.

So I think usually when it's like sorry, that'd be like it needs to be cool.

But um having movies that are more for a teen audience, or you're having things that maybe shift away from animation.

I think it'll um on top of like if we can with all the licensing stuff.

But if we have it come off as like a cool event, then I think participation comes with that.

So that if it's possible, that might be a fun idea.

But like for right now, then it's great that we have them in the first place.

It's really fun.

Awesome.

What uh one more question before you go.

Would it you mentioned like the like sort of like the the mixed spaces are having different, you know, like audiences participate in different parts of it.

Would could you do that for a movie night at like the one that Barrett, for example, where would I just asking if this would make sense that you with licensing and everything else where you had like the family, you know, targeted younger audience movie, the big one, and then like had a classroom with like for the youth and like for teenagers to watch something else.

So those families that have younger and older kids that they might be able to do that.

We did play a movie in the MUR at Barrett one time when it rained on October movie night.

But anyway, that's just a I don't know if that's part like if logistically that would make sense.

But I mean I know a lot of the like the hideout hub um has a big old TV that we could definitely stream uh different movies on there.

So I I like that idea.

I think that's something, yeah, I can definitely look into that for for the summer.

I I know that this is your job, but the three of you just exude joy when you're talking about these things, and you just you seem so happy and it just seems so positive.

I I stopped by Parks and Rec HQ the other day, and you all seem to be having a lot of fun.

I was very envious about your work environment.

Um so thank you.

Thank you for everything you do.

Uh how many miles are on your truck right now, would you say on the work truck?

Oh only about 35,000.

And from 1995 or 96.

Okay.

So we're gonna get a new one soon, maybe?

That's up to Director Shear and the team.

Okay.

So we're working on that.

We got a partial grant from uh the county of San Mateo to help us uh with that.

We also got a community benefit um funding from one of our new cannabis businesses in town.

So um they provided some funding, and then we still have a bit of a gap, and the city manager is working on that.

City manager and police department might have some access to some funds that that uh we just need to kind of craft the narrative a little bit to turn outdoor mobile recreation into wellness into education.

It's an easy story to tell.

Um and so we're hoping to get that done.

So maybe we can get you at 98 or 99.

Anything would be better than what we have right now.

So yeah, we are working on it.

Uh was there no three-on-three basketball tournament or basketball?

Was that that happened this year or no?

Yes, and it's coming up again, but Patrick's area.

Sorry, Patrick, you can stay seated, it's okay.

But that that did happen and it's happening again.

Um we're with weather, like I I try to pair it with March Madness, and usually that's when it's a little colder, and it also pairs with basketball season that the kids are in.

So um I'm trying to find out the right way to get the timing to get the most kids to be able to come.

That makes sense.

Yeah.

Um do other cities on the peninsula, do San Carlos Burlingame similar cities offer boobash or egg hunts?

They have their versions, like um San Carlos does the goblin walk.

Um I will say we're still the only department in San Mateo County that does adaptive like we do.

You know, no one's doing adaptive camp or adapted events like we're doing.

So we're still because of Danielle Giuliati and she is our adaptive person.

Um, you know, we're way ahead of everybody else on that.

The does the turnout is incredible.

I 2,000 seems like a low number for boo bash, it seemed like every citizen bell moment was incredible.

They are estimated numbers, but we do have quickers and we try our best to click everybody in the zones, and we double check, and um so we try our best.

Uh yeah, very popular, I think.

Huge thanks to you all.

Um thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, and thank you for the uh pictures of Bridget from 2018 to 2026.

That was lovely to see.

Thank you.

Yeah.

My tribute.

Those montages going.

Yeah.

Um I'll just I think I say it every year, but um with these guys, this is a dream team of youth and teens.

I just step back and step out of the way, and if there are obstacles that I can move, I move them because the ideas and the execution and the creativity all comes from them.

I mean, the adaptive is that was kind of Danielle's brainchild.

And that was an easy that's it, that's just an example of all the kinds of things.

It's easy to find lots of reasons why not to do something like that.

But if you so you have to kind of power through that and um with and and be you know, persevere through those obstacles and and have the belief that you can overcome those obstacles, whether it's the weather or training your staff, or what are all the risks?

Those are all reasons we could just sit at our desks every day and and you know plan nice safe programs.

But these guys go above and beyond, think outside the box, and and always kind of are always looking for a new opportunity.

And to do that with this tiny little staff is incredible.

So they are awesome.

If I may, my last time with Director Shear here.

Director Shearer allows us to do all this, but she comes to everything, and I've had a lot of directors in my time, and I don't know any director that would go to all our events and all our programs, and very supportive in that way, knowing our staff.

Um it's a very rare thing to have, and I acknowledge that, but we're very blessed to have uh director Shear with us the last eight years.

That's why I kind of want to mention it.

But thank you for allowing us to do all the things we wanted to do.

You're welcome.

All right, thank you.

Okay, now on to the Happy Hydrant Centennial Art Project update.

Oh yeah.

So a little bit of poor planning on my part.

Um having the deadline for the applications be after we sent out our agenda.

Thank you guys.

Um after we sent out our agenda packets.

So we did get a couple more submissions right at the deadline, which was on Monday.

So those you'll see at the next meeting.

But we're basically just gonna have kind of a rolling uh process right now.

And and so we've eliminated deadlines for anybody in the community.

If you see a hydrant or hear about the program and want to submit something, go ahead and do it, and we'll do our best to address it at the um at the next upcoming um commission meeting.

So for this time around in time for this agenda packet, we did get two submissions.

Um, but one of them, and it took me a while to figure this out as well, so uh my apologies.

Um it did have a logo, and we specifically in our application list that we cannot um we cannot permit any logos.

That's just kind of part of the city's policy on naming things and signage and stuff like that.

So um I am gonna get back to that group and see if there's some other solution that we can find for them, but it cannot be part of our hydrant program in its original submission.

So that means there's one submission to consider, and that is this rainbow um coloring of a hydrant.

Um and we did uh present that to our uh virtual um uh review committee.

And um just to share some of the feedback.

Some folks loved it and promoted that it should um and and it gave it the thumbs up to go forward.

There is some feedback from some of the committee that um that it is not a historical um piece of art, and um if you recall the hydrants that were painted in 1976, um were all done with some kind of historical uniform from military type uniform, and uh and so this time around we didn't put any of that kind of constraint on things.

Um I'll just be um open about my view.

Belmont is a different place than it was in 1976, and um we do uh pride ourselves in being a city of the arts, and I think the arts can take on many shapes and colors and themes, and um if the hydrants that are out there today are any testament, the new hydrants that have been recently painted are a testament to um lots of color and joy and vibrancy.

So while I understand that it's a different theme and a different look and a different feel from the 1976 um hydrants, um it is something that um that I would say enough of the of the review committee gave the approval for us to come and and recommend that uh design to the commission.

Um we did get we include the utility box one.

Oh no, the utility box one came out.

Oh, utility box submission also came after the packet went out, so we will discuss that one at the next meeting.

So but again, we do encourage folks.

We do have some other hydrants left to uh to paint.

Um the other thing that I'll just share with everyone, it is that the restrictions for how you can paint the hydrant and the sort of the mix of colors and things like that make it actually very difficult to um to do a detailed design.

Um so uh I I don't know if there were that many constraints back in 1976.

So again, we're working with a sort of a smaller set of options and um and that's why some of these designs look and feel a little different too, maybe.

So anyway, with that, we're looking for uh an approval of this design.

So that um I'm still waiting on uh midpen to give us the official blessing, but given that this is the similar look and feel to the things they've approved in the past.

I don't foresee any objection from them, but I don't have that formally yet.

Um but I think it's appropriate um if the commission is prepared to make a motion and approve that, then we can just move this forward.

Do you want to do questions?

Are we gonna show it, Director Shu?

Oh.

Just so that the rest of the commission is a good idea.

Oh, you didn't oh whoopsie.

Can you throw it up at all?

Or just make sure about that.

I didn't see it.

I don't maybe I should have seen it before, but it's beautiful.

It was in your it was in your app.

It was in the process.

I didn't know if everybody's the audience.

Sorry, but you're right.

The new commissioners.

And there was also a map.

Yeah, there you go.

Nice, there it is.

And there was also a lovely map that showed which hydrants have been painted and which ones were still uh available, which was helpful too for those.

So there you go.

No, I I um I would love to motion to approve this design.

I'll click on that.

Commissioner Vasavada.

Yes.

Commissioner Cunha?

Yes.

Commissioner Emkin?

Yes.

Commissioner Hill?

Yes.

Commissioner Lightford.

Yes.

Commissioner Lee?

Yes.

Chair Whitmore?

Yes.

Motion passes seven and no.

And I can make one comment about the hydrants.

Just you had mentioned to me the other day that the paint is expensive, but some people have been donating it back to Parks and Rec.

So if someone does want to do a hydrant, maybe to check with you about colors that might be available that they don't have to post.

Yes, please check with us first before you go to uh buy any paint.

My wife did one and people were stopping her on the street saying how much they liked it and love that people were doing it, and it was almost entirely positive feedback on it.

It is such a joy when I get the pictures of the completed hydrants.

Um it just absolutely makes my day.

So and we'll be doing uh we'll be doing some kind of little slideshow and a recognition of those um throughout the year.

I was gonna say I'm glad uh support the expansion of the potential options for design choices by the community.

I think that you know that really opens up to that creativity and allows people to you know present something that we wouldn't have thought of before.

And I think it's uh that's a fantastic addition.

Great.

Okay.

So any other comments or questions?

Anything else on hydrants?

No.

Okay, then let's move on to the liaison park and committee assignments.

So and uh Ms.

Garcia is gonna help us with that.

Bye guys.

So um so every year we review these uh these assignments.

We've highlighted uh the ones that are um officially vacant because of uh commissioners and youth commissioners um no longer being on the dais.

But that doesn't mean that others aren't up for discussion or if somebody wants to switch anything out or anything like that.

So um so maybe we'll just go through each one and um let us know if you're okay with them as they are, or if you're willing to give something up.

So uh with city council, um commissioners Cunha and Lieford.

You are liaison to City Council.

I'd love to keep it.

Could you stay with that?

Okay.

Um Belmont Register School District.

Commissioners Emkin and Whitmore.

Good to go.

All right.

Yep.

Planning Commission, Commissioner Michaels and oh Commissioner Michaels, so that's vacant, and Commissioner Lee.

This one, um, I will say that for the next year.

Should the um should the ballot measure about the community center um pass, there may be some additional interaction with the planning commission that we have had before.

Some of that may be um may be done with joint commissions, but there might be some other additional work.

So while that one has sort of been a low um low work level so far, that is something that could increase in the coming year.

I'm happy to stay.

Okay, you're happy to stay.

Anyone else?

You're I'm happy to volunteer.

All right, wonderful.

Thank you.

We don't need to worry about any work with the community foundation fund with BCF and the You do not need to by worrying about it, meaning that we that we are involved with it or anything.

If there's a commissioner who's involved with it and also a liaison with the planning commission, the development community foundation, you're welcome to work with them.

Okay to any extent.

Thanks.

Uh okay.

Um senior advisory committee liaison.

So Commissioner Cunha's on there.

That is something where we can have um we can have a second one if somebody's interested.

I I'd be interested in being the second one on that.

Great.

Um they just started the um what they call it, senior connections.

Yes, we had it in the town hall this week, and it was a lot of fun.

And I have some notes, so hopefully at the end I'll be able to.

Oh, wonderful.

Great.

Okay, thanks.

Such a great program.

Um, Sequoia High School District.

Commissioners Emkin and Hill.

Yep.

Still good.

It's fine.

It hasn't been anything.

There hasn't been anything.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

You can keep my name there.

I'm happy to do something or something.

Um let's just kind of knock on wood that there hasn't been anything that requires um any kind of urgent attention.

Uh okay, voices program.

So we've got our uh youth commissioners there.

And um, oh, we lost our folks.

Um so I think that would require from uh youth commissioners.

Hopefully you're both interested and available to do anything like that.

Um to attend meetings on occasion if you're not already um members of these groups.

Not at all.

Is that something you would be able to do?

Okay, great.

And um youth advisory committee, there typically we have one youth commissioner and um and one uh adult commissioner.

Again, there's no obligation to go to these meetings, they do meet twice a month.

Um there's no obligation to go, just sort of an occasional check-in.

And um, and if on occasion you can attend an event and then give feedback to the uh to the commission on uh what kinds of activities you're doing.

That would be great.

No anyone there.

Uh I'd be happy to.

It's out of there if it's not if it's an adult.

Great.

Um, Alexander Park.

Oh, can you highlight Perez on there?

Uh or remove Perez.

There you go.

So typically, so for the park assignments, um, it's just we we just ask that um think about the parks that maybe are convenient for you on your daily um commutes or drives or travels.

Um we'd love to just kind of have your eyes on these parks on occasion and let us know if something doesn't look right or feel right.

It it just helps us kind of stay in touch with these parks.

So for Alexander Park, we have Commissioners Cunha and Lee.

Yep.

Great.

And again, we can add to any uh use that Barrett Community Center.

I've got a couple of uh openings there.

I can add on to that one.

You wanna okay?

Me too.

I'm there frequently.

Okay.

So Hill and Whitmore.

Okay, great.

Bellamida.

You're gonna be uh going to the Central Field.

Yeah, good.

You're good with that, okay.

Cipriani.

If anyone has a dog and likes to go to the dog park or lives near Cipriani.

Yeah, I live really close to the Oh, wonderful.

Okay, great.

Yeah, we just had a water leak there uh the other day.

So that's kind of and and kind of heard about it after hours.

So that's the kind of thing.

Super helpful, just uh again be some other eyes and eyes and ears on those places.

Uh College View.

You good with that one, Commissioner Emkin?

Uh yes, fine.

Okay, great.

Uh Davy Glenn.

Yep.

Yep.

All good.

Foxfield, Lyford and Lee.

Yeah.

Our plateau sky folks, Hallmark Park.

Sounds good.

Okay.

Hastings tot lot.

Got a got an opening there.

It's a small place.

I don't know that we need to, so if nobody else wants to add that one on.

You removed the orange temporary fencing front there.

We did.

It looks nicer.

Thank you for noticing that.

Yeah, that was that was a little more permanent than temporary.

So we've been there for a while, yeah.

And it's probably the best view of any part.

Well, uh fighting words, but yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we we are looking into um we know some more work needs to be done there.

Um, but we made it a little more visually appealing.

So thank you for noticing that.

Uh okay, McDougall Park.

I'm happy to take that.

Oh, okay, great.

Great.

Yeah, you're uh you're right there.

So that would be handy dandy.

Um especially with the changes happening at Charles Ramshan's school starting this year.

I think that would actually be really good to make sure um everything is everything is working as we think it will and hope it will.

So that's great, thank you.

Uh Nesbitt Field.

We got Lee and Lightford on there.

Good.

All right.

O'Donnell Park?

Good.

And um Ralston.

Sprinkler system at Nesbit.

I'm sorry?

The sprinkler system at NUSP, but is that all happy now?

Well, um, I'll talk to you about offline.

We all don't want to do real.

It actually um it's looking pretty good right now.

Uh I've heard I have not been out there myself, knock on wood.

Um, but that is on the school district's uh list of projects.

So even if it's not perfect now, it will become uh much better.

Okay, just give me flashback.

Yeah, okay.

Okay, great.

Uh Ralph Some Field.

Is this the field that we'll see?

Oh yeah, yes.

Perfect.

Okay, great.

Yeah, you're there.

Excellent.

If somebody else wants that, I'd be happy to drop off.

I don't find myself over there all that often.

I only go there for this.

So that's so great.

All right.

Well, you were you are excused.

Thank you.

Ralston Ranch.

Oh, yeah.

I go there all time.

Everything good with there?

Okay.

San Juan Canyon.

Well, yeah.

Yes.

Um great.

Samaria Park.

Question.

Is that the park kind of at the top of the hill towards San Mateo?

Any ideas?

Samaria?

Yeah.

Yeah, it's kind of a little triangle.

A couple of roads come together.

Take that one.

You want to take that one?

Great.

Super.

Okay, great.

We will add you to that.

There's no uh meeting.

I also live really close to it, too.

Great.

All right.

Well, I do okay.

Super.

Um sports complex and bike bridge.

Lee in Lightford.

My home away from home.

Great.

Uh Twin Finds Park.

I can do that as well.

Okay, wonderful.

Yeah, that's gonna be uh it's gonna be good this year as we continue to sort of get the feel of our new space and the changes that have been made.

So that's great.

Uh Wakefield Park.

Happy to keep it.

It's generous calling it a park.

I'm sorry, it's generous to call it a park.

But yeah, I can I can totally keep it.

It's got a great view though, right?

Water dog and hidden canyon.

Yeah, that's nothing.

There's 280 acres.

No, yeah.

Great.

Um I think we might have enough there if we uh even without Commissioner Michaels.

So I think we're good to go unless anybody else wants to be added to that list.

Patricia Wharton Park.

Yep.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

And then our public art committee um is kind of on on pause right now, and then we've got our Oaknel committee.

So um Oaknol or Commissioners help us uh recommend the consultant, and we are gonna be having a community meeting there.

Are you interested in that one?

Yeah.

Wonderful.

Okay, great.

Could I be on that one if I live near there?

Or do I have to not?

Um, I think you're far enough away.

So if you'd like to be there as well.

I I walk there frequently.

That'd be a good idea.

I think a farm enough away.

That would be great, actually.

Where we will be doing some outreach very soon.

So I think um good commissioner presence there will be great.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Is that it?

That's for this.

Super thank you for always making that so easy.

Okay, on to department updates.

Okay.

Some of this was touched on already, but I'll still go through all of it.

Um, so our senior center, they do I want to say like four field trips per season.

Um, their most recent one, they went to Glowfari at the Oakland Zoo.

Um, super popular.

These trips always sell out really quick.

So when our summer ones come out, if you're interested, I would say sign up right away.

Uh we had our lunar new year celebration earlier in February.

The place was packed.

We had a huge list of different performances.

Um we had a lot of new people reach out this year to perform and do some stuff for us as well.

So it was very um a very entertaining afternoon.

Uh BCLC has been doing a bunch of uh fun stuff recently.

They um wrote and delivered uh Valentine's to their friends and families.

Um they had a dentist come by and kind of teach them um, you know, how to brush their teeth and stuff like that, keep their mouth healthy, and they've also been doing a bunch of different little science experiments and always enjoying their playground and everything like that.

Uh at the end of January, we had our volunteer celebration lunch.

Um, these are all of our volunteers that help out of the senior center.

They do the front desk, they help with different activities with the lunch program.

Um it's just a day to celebrate them and everything that they do with us.

We have a you probably saw it when you walked in here down in the lobby of a city hall.

We have a model of Belmont Boys School, school for boys, um, in part of our centennial.

This resident, um, he made this.

He also makes a bunch of other ones.

So if you're near City Hall, stop by and take a look at that.

We last week we had uh the award ceremony for our MLK Poetry and Essay contest.

We had 18, 20 kids there, uh, finalists, and then we had two winners from each age group.

Um it was super inspiring to hear um all their poems and essays, and they were all very passionate about what they wrote.

We touched on this a little bit, but we are still looking for volunteers for our aquatics program and our camp store program.

So that's a swimmer's aids and uh counsel and training.

The applications will close on March 22nd.

You can find that all on our website, just fill out the form there, and then we will reach out about um interviews, and then some of our upcoming stuff we have going on.

We have the preschool and child care fair.

I think this is the second year we've done that.

Um it's in partnership with Footsteps, um, and they bring in a bunch of vendors and stuff.

It's on March 14th at the Senior Center.

Then we had the Teen Wellness Retreat on March 28th, and then the um egg hunt, the adaptive one is on April 3rd, and then the traditional one is the following day on April 4th.

Our wedding fair in the park will return this year on uh Sunday, April 12th.

We are still looking for vendors for that.

And it can be anything related to weddings, anything like that.

So food, travel, you know, party stuff like that.

So and then this event is free and open to anyone to stop by.

And then we also have our second annual youth spelling bee on April 25th at Barrett.

We do ask the participant, sign up for that, and it's by age category.

And then we are doing some trail maintenance with TrailCenter.org on March 21st.

You do have to sign up for that through our website, but it is our express registration.

So we just need your name and email address, and then you are all set and good to go with that.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Um that was great.

I just want to sort of double down on a couple things there.

First of all, with the trail project, um, we do have um uh there are total of 30 spots to do this uh project day.

We will have two park staff on site the whole time to assist these are park staff that have um some trail building experience as well.

But really, we are going to be relying on Trail Center um to provide the training and the tools for this um trail rehab work.

So it's uh you can't just kind of show up for a little bit and and uh do it.

You gotta show up at the beginning, get your training, get your safety training, use the right tools, and then plan to be there for the day.

Um we've been hoping to work with Trail Center since 2020.

I think we had our first meeting right before the pandemic or something like that, and then um we uh um they got busy with other commitments, but Trail Center actually does work with all the other parks in the area, open space, um, um county parks, etc.

They know what they're doing, and uh we're very excited to have them come.

They're bringing some of their own volunteers as well, uh, but it's a great opportunity for the community, the Belmont community to kind of learn from others and um and make sure that we're all kind of working to the same trail building standards, and we're gonna be working on a section of Rambler Trail that is pretty close to the road.

So you don't need to do a three-mile hike to get to the work site.

We picked something that was accessible that we can easily get the tools to.

So we're actually super excited and hope this is the first of many of these kinds of projects.

Um so that's happening.

I want to also say that the Martin Luther King event um was incredible.

I mean, some of the the voices of our children and um how they how they think and how they dream and how they wish for a better world and are inspired by Dr.

King's words was just it's such a it's such a highlight to be part of that.

So um really great, uh really great event.

Um other thing, uh activity guide is coming out soon, and we've got lots of great information in there about uh about upcoming events.

Speaking of upcoming events, there is a Belmont Community Foundation event.

Is it this Friday?

That's not Belmont Community Foundation.

Oh, okay.

It's not Belmont Community Foundation.

No, there's a mahjong.

Is that when is that?

The end of the month.

The end of March.

Yeah.

Okay.

Stay tuned.

There's a there's a learn to play mahjong event that the Belmont Community Foundation is hosting.

And then stay tuned.

I think in May, they're gonna be doing uh line dancing at Barrett.

So Belmont Community Foundation is really looking for some creative ways to bring different populations to Barrett.

Um, try something new, meet some uh make some new friends, and uh experience Barrett.

Um, so that's great.

Speaking of uh meeting new people and gathering for fun things.

The um I don't know if you saw on the social media started today or yesterday, the celebrating Emery doesn't know where is she going with this?

She said um uh for Belmont Centennial, a new feature that we've added is the hundred gatherings.

So um we want there to be we hope there are many more, but our goal is to have a hundred gatherings.

Um those can be just a backyard barbecue with your friends, or um, you know, maybe welcome new neighbors or people from the community to some kind of a gathering, and um if you let us know about it in advance, we'll give you a bag of centennial swag, some little napkins and cups with the centennial logo, send us a photo afterwards, and um, and we'll just count it towards our hundred gatherings.

It's kind of a nice way to talk about the belonging, the goal of belonging that um that I know that has been very important to the commission.

Um in addition for the centennial, um, and we should maybe in our monthly highlights add just a page about centennial updates and just kind of just have that on all right, excellent.

Um our swag shop is open, so it's an online store where you can buy all sorts of things and and get the centennio on it.

On that, we also will be once we get it delivered.

We will be selling some specific merch in our office as well, and um at special events.

Um they're different than what's on the online store.

It's just a shirt with the big logo on the back, and then there's a hat that will be selling as well.

So, like I said, the you'll be able to purchase those in our office, and we'll also be at tabling at different events throughout the year.

Yeah, those shirts are super cool, so get them while they last.

And then the other um thing about uh the centennial was I had an opportunity last week or the week before to interview some more of Belmont's longtime residents, a woman named Emily who is over a hundred, she is a hundred years old.

That's pretty cool.

I've never spoken to a to uh um a hundred-year-old lady before, so that was really great, and then some other uh longtime residents of Belmont.

Um just hearing about Belmont's history and how we came to be the great community that we are.

So uh with help of the Belmont Library, we put those together and um and we'll be uploading those podcasts again very soon.

So uh they'll there we have some available on YouTube, but they're gonna be more available as well.

Spotify.

Spotify.

Sorry, see, I'm going to that go to that yeah.

Um but uh but anyway, super fun, and the links to all that are available on our Centennial webpage.

So that's it.

Uh Commissioner, questions or comments.

Quick question, although I think we need to let you go home and go to bed soon.

Um do you have any update on I don't know what we're calling that space.

We talked about kind of having a community space that was outside of the Parks and Rec office with us, maybe a swing and just that area for people to kind of come together.

Yes.

Um the chatty bench, all that yes.

Any updates on that?

Yes, there is an update on that.

Oh, right, the Belmont belongs.

Yes, thank you.

Yes, there is an update on that.

We actually have the um we have the benches, and I believe the game table is ordered and ready.

And um we did just get a very generous donation from Belmont Road, or or I guess uh um an indication of a donation, not a formal donation just yet, um, for some additional funding that we need to make that space happen.

Um, so it is it is going to happen.

It's not quite on the timeline that we had hoped, but um, but it is happening.

So yeah.

Excellent, great, glad to hear it.

I have some, so just thanks for all those updates, and Marine Director Sure.

Um, about the senior center, like you gave some great updates.

I had the opportunity to join them for the town hall this week that you mentioned senior connection.

And um thanks to Corey and Patrick for kind of leading that, and it was so fun and overwhelming feedback that they love the senior center and all the programs and all the work that Corey does, and I mean it's just it it kind of is um it's just continues to be that sentiment of your team of just like you know, you guys do these amazing things with not many people.

Um but yeah, everybody had everybody was so happy to be there.

Um we talked about the new community center, we talked about happy hydrants.

They were they there it seemed like there might be like a conversation about like a senior center happy hydrant that they want to work on, which could be a fun thing.

Um and then we had some like good discussions about communication and about how folks in the senior center are communicated with, but more how can they share information with each other because that was kind of a gap in um they realize that they learn about all these cool things going on within their community and they want a way um to share it with their friends, but they might not see them every day at the senior center.

Um so I think Corey's gonna work on just brainstorming some ideas for that.

Um they talked about the month of December and how it was extra hard on them.

Um, and I know we host even today.

We saw all these events that we host during the month of December.

So um maybe leaning into adding an extra for our senior folks just because they really express that it can be tough for them during that time.

Um they wanted to learn about volunteer opportunities, which is a discussion that we've been having, I think, in our last couple meetings on how we can publicize and show people that there are things that they can do to engage in the community.

Um and then they talked about their facilities, their bathroom.

And that was something that I didn't know about.

And I then I got a tour of their facilities.

Yeah.

And then lastly, I just want to shout out this Twin Pines newsletter and how well done.

And it's paper at the senior center, but then also it's online for people to access.

And there's so much that the community can do and engage with.

And I would love to have this at the table because people that come to City Council or Parks and Rec Commission meetings, they should be able to grab one of these because I feel like not enough people have these.

So yeah, it was a great experience, and I'm happy that you're gonna potentially join me.

They're quarterly meetings that the senior center has.

I plan to go to all of them, especially if they're that great.

So I thought I was very sad to miss that meeting.

I I really wanted to go, but I had something else I had to do, but I love visiting the senior center.

And actually, to piggyback off that a little bit, when when they were going through um all the events, I was thinking we have events for most holidays.

But I didn't we don't really have anything Thanksgiving-ish.

I didn't know for the senior center.

Do we do anything around the holidays for them for Thanksgiving and early Christmas?

Because it is a it is a rough time, and sometimes there's lots of little small family events, but not big public events around those.

So go ahead.

They do have uh Thanksgiving, they have their lunch normally, but then they do a Thanksgiving one where it's like Thanksgiving specific food, and then do crafts and stuff like that, and then they also have a holiday one closer to the end of December where it's more like holiday themed and everything like that.

So we bring in a band, I think, or band they're just kind of a holiday.

They do like a big band and everything, make it like a whole party.

Yeah.

So we do some things.

The the challenge is that the senior center does close for two weeks over Christmas and maybe even an additional week because we were intending to do the restroom renovation um over this December.

And so that's why we and we have to block those things off well in advance.

So we know that's difficult.

The other thing that all that happens almost every December is that we redo the floors in the multi-use room.

So we have to close it off completely.

Um have to close the building completely.

But it's it's an interesting thought to see what maybe there's some other sort of interim space that we can create.

We won't be able to serve food and that sort of thing, but um, create some gatherings.

We have sand at the firehouse and things like that, tends to be very child focused, but I don't know if there's anything that we can expand to have more events geared towards hot cocoa in the lodge or something like that.

Yeah, something like there you go.

Yeah.

Okay, great.

Right.

Thanks.

I have one.

Um I started playing pickleball at the end of last year.

I'd never played.

I missed the whole wave of that.

I always mentioned earlier that's a doctor.

And I just want to give a little feedback.

There is we have so few facilities for pickleball because we use one, you know, we we painted one set of lines over one tennis court, and so there's not you know, most places will turn up sideways and have two for per tennis court.

And I gotta say, if you're trying to get a weekend spot, it's like buying tickets at a concert.

You I I've literally in seconds they're all gone.

And uh, and then there's a lot that's blocked off for lessons and for um less lessons, and there's another thing that blocks.

Oh, there's an open play.

And I've gone and kind of spot checked, and during the open play, I think it's just there people aren't really using it because you know, I don't know what got you, but to get four people to all coordinate your schedules and go there, people want to put it on a calendar and book it and that sort of thing.

Okay.

Uh so I just wanted to throw that out there.

I'm happy to give feedback uh uh another time too.

But because I couldn't get a court here, I went and played at Foster City um last weekend.

And it's unbelievable the community they've got going there.

All they did was put courts and lights and their dedicated pickleball courts.

It's the energy there, they've got a club, they've got it's it's really a going concern.

And I would just encourage us to, you know, lean on that a little bit because if you go up there the again, two courts uh up at Hallmark, two courts down at Alexander, and they're always busy when you can reserve them, and then the open play not as much.

You know, and so anyway, I would encourage us to think about how to maybe modernize uh that a little bit.

Well, thank that's helpful feedback that the open we were hoping with the open play that there might be people that come and you know if you if you get enough if you get a critical mass, then you can have a fun little rotator.

But I don't see that here.

And I don't know if because they're a little more remote or harder to get to or what, but uh typically I I have and I'm only spot checking.

I mean, obviously they're all right.

Yeah, no, but that's that's helpful.

And a surprising number of no shows.

I've gone whenever it was hard to get something and I got a court, and then the court next to us was open, like somebody just didn't come.

And it's like so you know anyway.

There's there's there's definitely some things we could do to probably improve that for people.

So we we have some options.

We can, you know, we can maybe tighten up the open play hours or just sort of pilot taking them away for a little while.

Um the other thing we can do to diminish the no shows is to charge for the courts.

Yeah.

And then foster city we did pay for the courts in foster city.

It was it was a little expensive.

I think it was $8 an hour, I think, which isn't you know, isn't terrible, but you know, especially if you have four people and you can do it.

Two bucks a person.

That's no big deal.

But uh but yeah, that probably would help.

People wouldn't just like wouldn't just sit on them and not let them go if they're gonna be able to do that.

Exactly.

There was a little money involved, probably.

So I and I hear you.

Um and I know that sometimes uh the pickleballers don't like the one court per tennis court because then you have to walk a longer distance to get the ball.

That sounds like a small thing.

Again, I've never played before, but it's interesting.

We actually take 12 balls to play just so that we can't have to gather them to often.

And at Foster City, you play with one and it deleted.

Exactly.

And the net is different, right?

So it changes your game strategy a little bit.

Totally understand.

Um but I'll take uh we take what we can get.

Just being able to go and schedule one is you know, yeah, yeah.

I will again stand firm on especially at Alexander, um, to not put more pickleball courts on those courts because there are homes directly behind those courts.

And um knock on wood, we have not gotten noise complaints there because we do not have a mass um massive number of balls being hit at the same time.

So um and there's no additional parking.

Um at the Hallmark is nice and isolated, it's pretty far.

Hallmark is a Hallmark is a little more isolated.

Um so maybe that's something to consider in the future, but not at Alexander.

Yeah, because in the room of two tennis courts, you can put six pickleball courts.

So that's right.

That's right.

And just another reason to drive home the new community center for more pickleball courts, modernizing our facilities.

There you go.

And there are a couple of courts there in the right off of Ralston that are just you know Notre Dame.

So those are Notre Dame, they were damaged in the 23 storms, and um and the new owner is not um it's not high on their list to make any repairs there.

So um so we've kind of got that request on pause.

But um, I know what you're gonna ask.

Um but uh thank you for the segue to the new community center, right?

Um if we had a gym, we could have indoor pickleball um all morning long.

And I don't know if you've ever been to San Mateo High School on a Saturday morning.

They have probably nine games going on at any one time.

At the senior center, which is great.

We have we have two courts at the senior center on Monday just on Mondays, but yeah, no, we could we could absolutely activate a new and uh a nicer space.

So the other challenge um that we have at Hallmark, while we don't have necessarily the proximity to the homeowners, although six courts of pickleball might be a little much for the people that live right there.

We don't have a restroom at Hallmark right now.

And and I do know that I have gotten that request from the from the folks that do play pickleball there.

It's again, it's not something that's on our radar right now.

Um but those are those are some of the the reasons that it's always good to kind of revisit them.

The only time I've noticed it bad is whenever there is a cross-country uh event going on, which is crazy there when that's happening anyway, parking-wise.

And then if you're also like if I'm happy to be there, it's like, oh you know, I've actually walked all the way up that hill to get to the courts on some of those days.

That's a bigger thing.

But I'd say generally it's it's pretty low-key over there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, that's just to kind of tell the story of how we got where we got today, but I appreciate your comments.

And you're gonna ask about Correct Field.

Is that what you're gonna ask about?

Yeah.

Okay.

So um we are in discussions with the new owners there, and um hope to be able to bring something to council in the next couple weeks about some access to Correct Field.

Do we talk to them about the basketball gym that's up there?

Uh at Notre Dame.

We have not yet.

I was just we mentioned pickleball and gyms and our dunno with that.

Yeah, they I don't know that they have uh figured all that out yet.

So they're still working through those things.

Yeah.

But Parks and Rec is very much like involved in those conversations.

Yes.

Uh um certainly about the the soccer field and the facilities.

Yeah, they're still figuring out a lot about what they're gonna be doing with that space going forward.

So there might be a hesitation to committing to something.

Once they give it, it's really hard to take that back.

And so I think that's gonna be more of a slow and steady um process.

Well, if you need a subcommittee for that, you know there's probably a few of us that are passionate about those spaces.

Yeah, great.

Yeah.

Great.

Um BCLC updated their digital platform, Brightly, Bright Wheel.

Okay.

And it's a huge upgrade.

Oh wonderful.

Great.

So it's great.

Thank you.

Great.

And how cute were those kids going to mail those Valentine's cards?

Is that the cutest thing?

Great.

Anything else?

Okay.

Meeting adjourned.

All right.