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Home My WebLink About2011-01-12MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON PARKS, RECREATION, EDUCATION AND YOUTH January 12, 2011 CALL TO ORDER The special meeting convened at 4:33 p.m. in the City Hall, Room 831, 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, California. ATTENDANCE Council members Present Michele Martinez (Chair); Vincent Sarmiento, Councilmember(s) Sal Tinajero Absent: Staff Present: Gerardo Mouet, Executive Director; Joe Straka, Interim City Attorney; Ron Ono, Administrative Services Manager; Jenny Rios, Community Services Manager; Jeannie Jurado, Community Services Supervisor; Jose Perez, Community Services Supervisor. Public Present Mayra Mejia, Latino Health Access Ana Carricchi, Latino Health Access Leonel Perez, United Latin Adult Soccer Pedro Magallon, Clubes Unidos Adult Soccer League Hugo Hernandez, Clubes Unidos Adult Soccer League Alfredo Gomez, Azteca Adult Soccer League Angel Orea, Hispanoamerica Adult Soccer League Rick Neidermayer, American Youth Soccer Organization Israel Salazar, Continental Adult Soccer League Alex Vega, El Tri Futbol Club Mauricio Cardenas, El Tri Futbol Club Ricardo Sandoval, Santa Ana Adult Soccer League Carlos Benitez, Deportivo Guererrenses Jose Meza, Veteranos Adult Soccer League Jesus Rodriguez, Boy Scouts Youth Soccer League Jorge Rodriguez, Santa Ana Development Program • APPROVAL OF MINUTES • Minutes of February 25, 2010 accepted as presented. PREY Special Meeting - MINUTES 1 January 12, 2011 • HEALTHY CITY PRIORITIES • Councilmember Martinez acknowledged and recognized Leonel Perez and Edgar Vasquez for their soccer event emphasizing healthy living. • Councilmember Martinez presented draft of the City of Santa Ana, Healthy Eating Active Living Resolution. • Pedro Magallon commented healthy food and drinks be sold by leagues in snack bars on parks. • Rick Neidermayer commented the Santa Ana Unified School District is also supporting and encouraging healthy snacks be sold in concessions. EL TRI FUTBOL CLUB • Councilmember Sarmiento commented El Tri Futbol is also aligned with the City's healthy living philosophy. • Mauricio Cardenas presented the overview and philosophy of El Tri Futbol Club. He indicated the kids should understand the importance of healthy eating and exercise through sports. He is proposing to promote the Santa Ana Program through a 30 minute weekly Spanish television program on Channel 52. • Councilmember Sarmiento requested the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Agency promote and support the El Tri Futbol Club. Gerardo Mouet indicated he will work with Mauricio and the City Manager on the next step to implement the program. • Pedro Magallon and Rick Neidermayer requested more information on the program and requested El Tri Futbol to present the program to other leagues for input. Councilmember Sarmiento indicated introduction of the program is conceptual and comments provided by the leagues will be considered and should be used as a model for all leagues. • RECOMMENDATION: El Tri Futbol and leagues to continue working with Parks, Recreation and Community Services Agency to promote healthy living. • LATINO HEALTH ACCESS (HEAC) • Mayra Mejia indicated all leagues should collaborate and work together to promote healthy living. Poor eating habits lead to poor health and financial responsibilities of increase medical bills. Mayra Mejia indicated there are not enough fields and school fields should be accessible to the community. Only a few fields are accessible. Councilmember Sarmiento indicated the need for open space will be a challenge for the next few years. The City will continue to seek open space through joint use agreements and is open to continue the discussion on how to resolve this problem PREY Special Meeting - MINUTES 2 January 12, 2011 • NEW ADULT SOCCER ORGANIZATIONS REQUESTING TO ENTER CITY PERMIT SCHEDULE Jenny Rios provided a summary from the last PREY meeting concerning the request from new soccer organizations to enter the city permit schedule to utilize fields. Four new leagues are requesting to enter the time block for fields. The new leagues are able to utilize the Special Event Request process to play league finals at the SA Stadium and DYSC when the need arises as long as the league being displaced in not on a regular basis. Councilmember Sarmiento indicated this is a difficult challenge to accommodate the new leagues since there are no new fields being added in the city. The four new leagues have a viable reason for fields, but unless we take away from the existing leagues, we have no field to offer. o Need to look at extending hours on existing fields by adding permanent or portable lighting on non-lit fields and possibly using the Surcharge Fund to do this. o Requested information on the surcharge fund and the cost to install portable lighting on DYSC field #1 or Centennial Field #5 and #6. Ricardo Sandoval indicated if the surcharge funds are used it should be replaced by the new leagues. Councilmember Sarmiento requested staff conduct a cost benefit of different options: o Installation of permanent lighting o City or Leagues to provide portable lighting o Installation of synthetic turf o Addition of another field on Centennial fields #5 & #6. Edger Vasquez acknowledged the city for allowing leagues to use fields on holidays and indicated he will provide information on a new type of synthetic turf that is available. Councilmember Sarmiento also invited the new leagues to provide solutions to this problem and indicated there is no new information on the status of the SA Winds. • STREET SOCCER EVENTS • Alex Vega indicated Street Soccer is a non-traditional soccer sport conducted on pavement. This sport is supported by the Santa Ana Soccer and Business Association and Chivas USA B Team. • Edger Vasquez indicated this use is an alternative due to the lack of fields and is economically accessible to the community. • Councilmember Sarmiento indicated street soccer is very successful in New York and other cities with limited park space where street soccer tournaments are held on downtown street pavement. We are talking with Chivas USA and PREY Special Meeting - MINUTES 3 January 12, 2011 if they come to the city we could have them play an exhibition game on the street. Councilmember Martinez commended Councilmember Sarmiento and Edgar Vasquez for thinking outside of the box to provide soccer programs where there is a lack of open space. Alex Vega supports the program and Mauricio Cardenas has approached Downtown Inc, on the use of Shopping Centers. Pedro Magallon indicated Los Angeles has a similar Street Soccer Program and staff should look into it. • COMMENTS • PUBLIC COMMENTS: o Rick Neidermayer indicated: ¦ The 8,000 youth soccer players are playing on other leagues and the rosters submitted to PRCSA reflects duplicate numbers. ¦ New leagues requesting fields should merge into existing leagues and not create new leagues. ¦ Programs cannot grow without more fields. ¦ The problem with the new cancellation and restroom fees that city council approved, does not give leagues enough time to cancel their reservations before getting hit with a penalty. ¦ PREY Council Committee should meet more often than one time per year. ¦ A park ranger that was recently let go by the city, played Santa Claus for an AYSO family and gave the family $300. o Alex Vega indicated the Santa Ana Business Association is asking the leagues to be part of the association. o Edger Vasquez indicated everyone has to work together, change will not happen overnight. • STAFF COMMENTS: o Gerardo Mouet indicated: ¦ The Earth and Health Fest will be held on April 16th at Centennial Park and distributed flyers to everyone. ¦ The City was awarded a $4.4 million the Prop 84 grant for Willard Intermediate School Joint-Use Project. Improvements will include synthetic turf, all weather track, sports lighting, tot lot and restrooms. ¦ The Santiago Park mural project event will be held on January 15, 2011. ¦ The Parks, Recreation and Community Services Agency will be will be involved in managing the Fiestas Patrias Event. o Joe Straka indicated Healthy Living begins at home. PREY Special Meeting - MINUTES 4 January 12, 2011 • COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS: o Councilmember Sarmiento thanked everyone for attending the meeting and for sharing ideas to help resolve an issue of common interest. o Councilmember Martinez thanked staff for the great job they do under the current situation. She also indicated she would like PREY to meet more often on at least a quarterly basis. ADJOURNED: 6:15 p.m. Gerardo Mouet Executive Director, PRCSA PREY Special Meeting - MINUTES 5 January 12, 2011