By John Cyrus Smith, SM.a.r.t Guest columnist
Someone smarter than a parks commissioner like me once said that if you want something done, just throw down the challenge, and good things will happen. True or not, that’s what I did a few weeks ago at City Hall when I challenged the Council to finally get the long-delayed Memorial Park and Airport Park Expansions underway. This Year.
And good things started happening. The Council unanimously approved the new Parks and Recreation Vision Plan. They also okayed a design change that saves millions on Phase One at Memorial. That’s important because it puts us closer than ever to starting construction, and there’s a simple way to get more money for both the Memorial and Airport Park expansions.
Let me break it down for you…
–The city strategy has always been to add new baseball fields at Memorial, and put new soccer/football fields at an expanded Airport Park.
–Council approved the Airport Park Expansion Plan in 2017.
–Council approved the Memorial Park Expansion in 2019. Both plans exist only on paper.
–The 2019 Memorial cost estimate was $30 million for Phases 1 & 2. We were going to pay for it with $20 Million from the 2016 SMC Bond Measure, plus $5 Million each from the city and SMMUSD.
–Staff says costs have SOARED several times since then, which is why staff and parks commissioners recommended the change at Memorial. We’re just a few million short now.
But let’s think bigger…
–Currently, there’s about $18 million of the SMC Bond money left for Memorial. City staff has applied for several grants, which could net us a couple more. Meantime, the school district has yet to contribute any money toward Memorial, let alone the $5 million pledged back in 2019.
–SMMUSD can and should do better. If the school district would match the $20 million SMC is contributing, we could put $10 million towards Memorial and dedicate the other $10 million to get the Airport Park Expansion started.
I’m not trying to pick on anybody, but the District did pretty much dismiss the above idea when I first pitched it to them two years ago in the months before voters passed a record-breaking $485 million school bond. Also, keep in mind it was the city that paid for the soccer fields at Historic Belmar Park, directly across the street from SaMoHi.
Shouldn’t the district return the favor and help the city pay for new fields everyone can enjoy?
My point is this: Council just approved a new Parks and Recreation Vision Plan. We have good Memorial and Airport Park Expansion plans. But they are just plans. They don’t mean a thing until shovels hit the dirt. We plan, plan, plan, then wait, wait, wait. We keep pushing park projects further and farther down the road as costs keep rising. Why do parks here take twice as long, and twice the effort, and cost twice as much? Because all of us: Council members, the District, SMC, residents, and others, don’t work well enough together.
It’s time we did, and make good things happen, for our parks, our city, and our future.
John Cyrus Smith, Santa Monica Recreation and Parks Commissioner John.Smith@santamonica.gov
Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow
Dan Jansenson, Architect, (former Building & Fire-Life Safety Commissioner); Robert H. Taylor, Architect AIA; Mario Fonda-Bonardi, Architect AIA (former Planning Commissioner); Sam Tolkin, Architect, (former Planning Commissioner); Michael Jolly ARE-CRE; Jack Hillbrand AIA, Landmarks Commission Architect; Phil Brock (SM Mayor, ret.); MattHoefler, Architect NCARB; Heather Thomason, community organizer, Charles Andrews Columnist.
