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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCORRESPONDENCE - 75AMitre -Ramirez, Norma From: Huizar, Maria Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2015 2:07 PM To: Mitre -Ramirez, Norma Cc: Trujillo, Rose Ann; Gerardo, Abigail; Angie Andrelus (aandrelus@cityoforange.org); Orozco, Norma Subject: FW: Riverview N.A., Riverview Park, Trial Budget, Please enter correspondence into the record. Thank you. From: Magallon, Becky Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2015 1:57 PM To: Huizar, Maria Cc: Cavazos, David Subject: FW: Riverview N.A., Riverview Park, Trial Budget, Maria, I'm forwarding correspondence that the Mayor received regarding an item on tonight's agenda. Thanks. Becky Magallon ( Secretary to the City Manager City Manager's Office bmaeallon@santa-ana.ora 714.647.5200 120 Civic Center Plaza I Santa Ana, CA 92701 From: Darrell White[ Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2015 1:26 PM To: Pulido, Miguel Cc: Magallon, Becky; Riverview na Subject: Re: Riverview N.A., Riverview Park, Trial Budget, Mayor Pulido, I write to provide a quick update on this matter. Unfortunately, I am swamped at work after returning from vacation, so I may not be able to come to the City Council meeting tonight. Last week I spoke with Mr. Cavazos and Mr. Monet in a short conference call. In a nutshell, they explained that the tentative budget is set and no money has been allocated specifically to Riverview Park. They confirmed my belief that if the City Council wants to allocate funds within the tentative Budget, they can do so but cutting funding from other areas. I understand that is always difficult to do, but hope the Council will at least consider that at this point. Regarding the anticipated surplus, Cavazos and Monet both indicated that they are hopeful there will be the $10-12 million dollar surplus and that the City Council will appropriate the $4+ million to deferred maintenance. Mr. Mouet assured me that there will be an opportunity for additional community feedback before Parks and Rees recommendations on how to spend any additional funds is presented to the Council. I'm realistic and understand that funding may not come to Riverview Park until the fall. However, I sincerely hope 1 ��AL that someone on the Council will instruct the City Manager and Parks and Rees to allocate the $1 mil+ needed in deferred maintenance at Riverview to be specifically addressed. From speaking with Cavazos and Mouet, I did not get the sense that Riverview is on their radar as a priority. There was a lot of talk about balancing the needs of all 40+ parks, etc., which I understand. However, they really did not address any of the specific points I've raised about why Riverview is important to the entire community (i.e. SA Pony baseball and high usage by the community). Furthermore, when I raised a specific safety example (the basketball court), Mouet told me that he had to balance many safety priorities, most of which were in bad shape. I again came away from the call with little confidence that the issues in Riverview will be addressed now or in the future. Today, I sent e-mails to both Councilwoman Amezcua and Martinez with a similar update. I wish I had more time before the tentative budget meeting tonight, but unfortunately, my vacation was ill-timed for this purpose. Ifl cannot make it tonight to ask, I would really appreciate you and the Council instructing the City Manager and Parks and Rees to provide some concrete allocation.for the $1 mil in deferred maintenance funding by either finding room in the existing tentative budget or in the anticipated surplus funds in the fall. I fear that without specific instruction on this point, more time will pass, and we will be in the exact same position in the fall. That scenario would be both frustrating and disappointing. Thank you so much for your support and I hope to see you tonight, Best, Darrell White On The, Jun 2, 2015 at 1:07 PM, Darrell White < wrote: Hi Becky, I hope you are having a nice week. Does Mayor Pulido have a few minutes this afternoon to discuss this matter? I'm back from vacation now and haven't had a chance to setup a call with him until now. Thanks, Darrell On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:06 PM, Darrell White < wrote: Thank you Mayor Pulido! We sincerely appreciate your support. I will be out of town next week on vacation, but will ask Becky to set up a conference call for us next week. Best wishes for a very happy Memorial Day weekend, Darrell On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 12:03 PM, Pulido, Miguel <MPulidogsanta-ana.org> wrote: Darrell, I am happy to advocate for your request and will ask staff to provide me an update ASAP. Please contact my office after the weekend to schedule a meeting to discuss. You can contact Becky at 714-647-6900. Cityhall is closed today and Monday. Sent from my iPad On May 22, 2015, at 11:04 AM, Darrell White < wrote: Dear Hon. Mayor Pulido, I am a Santa Ana resident and I live in the Riverview neighborhood near Floral Park. Over the last few months, as Riverview Park Chair for the Riverview Neighborhood Association, I have worked directly with City Staff on deferred maintenance concerns shared by hundreds of my neighbors concerning Riverview Park. This Park is not only important to us, but to the entire City because of it is the base of operations and games for Santa Ana Pony Baseball. Since meeting with Councilwoman Amezcua, Gerardo Mouet, Mike Ortiz, and other City Staff in March, have spent months working to see funding allocated to the sorely needed deferred maintenance at our Park. In light of the imminent tentative budget meeting on June 2, 2015, 1 wanted to e-mail you with exactly what Riverview N.A. is asking for at Riverview Park: $1,006,200 in deferred maintenance, as calculated and recommended by Ron Ono in his attached Unfunded Deferred Maintenance CIP, to be included in the budget. Further comments on the Trial Budget are below. At this point, I've run out of time working with Staff on this. Unfortunately, I haven't seen Mr. Ono's recommendations for Riverview Park put in the Trial Budget. We need your help as our elected official to get this done. Cover Letter with City Manager's Recommendations for $4.6 Million in Deferred Capital Maintenance to City Parks: In his cover letter to the City Council dated March 17, 2015, City Manager Cavazos recommends "setting aside approximately $4.6 million in deferred capital maintenance... [to] address deferred maintenance needs in City parks and facilities..." An excerpt from that letter is attached for your reference. We ask that the City Council adopt this recommendation and specifically, allocate funding to Riverview Park in the Budget. City of Santa Ana Trial Budget: We've reviewed the City of Santa Ana Trial Budget. Riverview Park is in dire need of deferred maintenance. Despite general references to funding for Park related issues, (e.g. $620k in landscape maintenance at City Parks listed on page 20 of the City Manager's power point budget presentation as an additional funding priority that is "not included in trial budget") nothing in any of the publicly available materials expressly allocates funding for deferred maintenance at Riverview Park. This is very disappointing, especially in light of the months that we have worked with Staff to raise awareness of the safety issues and overall deferred maintenance need at Riverview Park. 3 In the Capital Improvement Program portion of the Trial Budget Summary, funding line items for "Recreation Improvements" and "Park Facilities" total $3 million and $2 million respectively. However, again, Riverview Park is not listed there at all: no money for playground equipment, baseball field light remediation, basketball court remediation, etc. An excerpt from the Trial Budget Summary is attached for your review. (See p. 23.) Deferred Capital Maintenance Recommendations by Ron Ono at Parks and Recs of $1,006,200: When Ron Ono presented his recommendations for Riverview Park at our neighborhood meeting on May 5, he explained that our Park is heavily used and needs approximately $1 million in deferred maintenance. I attached a copy of his recommendations. (I apologize for my handwritten notes but Mr. One failed to provide me a digital copy despite my request for one.) We've met with Parks and Recreations, they've inspected the Park, and they have a first-hand understanding of the many safety issues present solely due to the deferred maintenance (e.g. poor lighting, cracked basketball court, etc.). At this time, for Riverview N.A., the hundreds of kids that play in the Santa Ana Pony Baseball at our Park, and the thousands of Santa Ana residents that use Riverview Park, please allocate the full $1 million for deferred capital maintenance in this year's budget. We ask that you, as a Mayor, direct the City Manager's office to include the money so sorely needed to Riverview Park. When I appeared at the City Council meeting on Tuesday (5/19), 1 requested to make a public comment. Unfortunately, after lodging my request to provide public comment with the City Clerk on the form she specified, when the working session re budget concluded four hours later, I was not afforded public comment. That was disappointing. However, I remain hopeful that based on your request to Gerardo Mouet for an estimate of the needed deferred maintenance at our parks - specifically playground equipment - you understand the need for this deferred maintenance to be completed this year. I understand you cannot accomplish this task alone. I am sending this request to every member of the City Council today, and hope they will support this effort. Should you have any questions or wish to discuss, please feel free to call me at 760 712-2553. Very Truly Yours, Darrell P. White Riverview Neighborhood Association; Riverview Park Chair cc: Elsie Robles, Riverview Neighborhood Association, President Gerardo Mouet, Parks and Recreations, Executive Director Michael Ortiz, City Manager's Office, Assistant Engineer II Darrell P. White t - 760.712.2553 e - DarrellWhitel(a,gLnail.com <CIP.PDF> <Unfunded Def Maint - 7 yr.PDF> <City Mgr Cover Letter.PDF> Darrell P. White t - 760.712.2553 e - DarrellWhitel Qmail.com Darrell P. White t - 760.712.2553 e - DarrellWbitelna,umail.com Darrell P. White t - 760.712.2553 e - DarrellWhiteI@g1nail.com 9 Mitre -Ramirez, Norma From: Darrell White <darrellwhitel@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2015 2:36 PM To: eComment Subject: Public Comment for City Council Meeting 6/2/15, Agenda Item 75-A, Tentative Budget Dear Honorable Mr. Mayor and Members of the City Council, My name is Darrell White and I live in the Riverview neighborhood of Northern Santa Ana. I am an active participant in the Riverview Neighborhood Association and am the Chair of the Riverview Park Committee. I make this public comment on behalf of hundreds of my neighbors. Over the last few months, I have spent a significant amount of time to obtain deferred maintenance in Riverview Park. These repairs are both necessary and long overdue. I've met with Gerardo Mouet at Parks and Recreations, spoken with our City Manager (David Cavazos), and other staff. A few weeks ago I e-mailed you all a letter outlining these efforts as well as the requested deferred maintenance which totals in excess of one million dollars. This figure is based upon the 7 -year CIP Report prepared by Ron Ono at Parks and Recreations. My neighbors and I sincerely appreciate the responses and support received from Mayor Pulido, Councilwoman Amezcua, and Councilwoman Martinez. At this time, for Riverview N.A., the hundreds of kids that play in the Santa Ana Pony Baseball at Riverview Park, and the thousands of Santa Ana residents that use Riverview Park, we ask that you direct the City Manager and Park and Recreations to allocate the full amount (i.e. one million dollars) for deferred maintenance in the Tentative Budget. If that proves impossible, then we ask that you direct staff to allocate funds specifically to Riverview Park from any anticipated budget surplus. Very Truly Yours, Darrell P. White Riverview Neighborhood Association; Riverview Park Committee, Chair