03 - Email Regarding Item 03 2009-12-21

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<jvalenzuela@access.kl2.ca.us>, "rvergara@coccc.org" <rvergara@coccc.org>, "cathie.olsky@sausd.us" <cathie.olsky@sausd.us>, "norma@oclabor.org" <norma@oclabor.org>, "abasurto@humanoptions.org" <abasurto@humanoptions.org>, "amoreno@chioc.org" <amoreno@chioc.org>, "mminon@choc.org" <mminon@choc.org>, "lmiller@choc.org" <lmiller@choc.org>, "'Brendle, Anna"' <Anna.Brendle@cfcoc.ocgov.com>, "msilva@momsorangecounty.org" <msilva@momsorangecounty.org>, "nflores@thinktogether.org" <nflores@thinktogether.org>, "jperez@tallersanjose.org" <jperez@tallersanjose.org>, "'Jones, David"' <DJones@santa-ana.org>, "'Jones, Jennifer"' <Jennifer@ochumanrelations.org>, "'Beatriz Solis"' <BSolis@Calendow.org> Date: Thursday, December 10, 2009, 2:09 PM Dear Ms. Nelson: I have been busy researching the idea of developing the 1.4 acre McFadden & Orange property owned by the City as a park. I have made this task a priority of mine, since you informed me that Council is scheduled to approve on December 21 the building of homes on this property. What I have discovered from my conversations with many community members both from my neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods is that they are all in favor of converting this land into a park. Also as suggested by Council Member Sarmiento, I communicated with The California Endowment about this opportunity and am happy to report that they are very supportive of the idea and have informed me that there are funding opportunities and they are willing to help. Because of this, I respectfully request the Mayor and Council to not approve the development of this land for housing but instead help us develop this property to a much needed park. My family and I will be out of the country on December 21 but a delegation of the community members plans to attend the Council meeting to support the idea of this property be developed as a park for the benefit of all the community. More open areas for the community to exercise and be fit are a key component on making sure that we build a healthy community. It is a well known fact that Santa Ana has an extreme need for more park space given the population density, the health challenges, and the income levels. The McFadden property, as you know, is right next to a much used bike trail and would make an excellent low cost to build and low cost to maintain exercise park. The City of Bell recently developed a "work out" park and has been a huge success. Below is the link to a Los Angeles Times article about this innovative park. ht ://www.latilnes.eom/news/local/la-mc-workout- ark2-2009dee02 0 7334384.sto I would like to suggest that sometime in January a Santa Ana delegation of City Council Members and residents go visit this park to see this wonderful model. I am most excited to report that The California Endowment has informed me that they are very open to be a funding source to "match" other funding opportunities to help pay for the development of the McFadden property as an exercise park for the community. They informed me that another funding source to help develop this property of the park are grant programs from the state, such as Proposition 84 and the Land and Water Conservation Fund program - 5.38 billion infrastructure bond. $400 million are earmarked for local and state parks and $90 million for sustainable communities. The community is aware that an application has been or will be submitted for Willard Intermediate School . The Orange/McFadden lot will qualify for the second round of applications. The California Endowment is scheduled to begin in 2010. I believe there is enough space on the property to also have a playground for the children and have discovered that the KaBoom! program would be an excellent way to build the playground. Below is a link to the KaBoom! website.