[Roll call]
Committee Chair: Whoever is from administration
that would like to come and talk on the update of the park,
you are hereby asked to come up and please present,
thank you so much.
Speaker: Gerald services performed an investigation,
and what we found is two storm drains
that were stopped up and also a damaged drain pipe.
What we did to remediate the issue is we cleaned out
those storm drains, wash the lines,
we also repaired the damaged storm drain.
Went by the day after it had rained,
there was no pooling, so we will continue
to monitor the area to make sure there are no more issues.
Committee Chair: Thank you for that, do we have any questions?
The next item on our agenda is an update
on the Bellevue Center.
Speaker: I would like to introduce first
from Memphis we have chief operating officer who
is here with us, and also deputy director from the Memphis Parks.
Speaker: Bellevue Tennis Center is undergoing renovations
and repairs right now, these are indoors in the tennis hut
and also around the tennis hut which
will result in resurfacing the parking lot,
putting an observation deck in, and so far
I was there twice last week.
They had demolished the bathrooms in preparation
to reconfigure for the college, they
have also pulled the carpet up in the office area
to resurface the flooring and make it all match.
They have also removed anything that
would prevent them from getting a smooth coat of paint on their.
We removed all of our things from the building,
we have a pod outside and we will just keep it there until we
can move everything back in .
We have had summer camp for the last nine weeks that wrapped up
on July 31st on Friday, we have moved the children to North
Tennis Center which has plenty of room to house all of the kids
from Bellevue and on average we've had 50 to 60 kids there
a day for the last nine weeks.
They are having a great time, we plan on reopening the tennis
center at Bellevue in January once the repairs and renovations
are complete but we are also starting new programing
for our Bellevue participants, including a men's cardio league,
a women's league, we have teams that
play at a Bellevue transferring there for the time being.
Permanent contracts transferred for the time being
and we are putting together some more things for children
for the spring to host a grand opening at Bellevue
and then have them play and show what
they've learned over the course of the summer and the fall.
Committee Chair: Can you tell me where those other places are?
Speaker: Ridgeway road, we also have courts at Frazier,
rice community center.
We do not have programs in Frasier
because that Tennis hut is closed.
We hope to have repairs and renovations start
on those in the fall, we've Been selected to apply for a grant
so that the city doesn't have to bear the cost.
Councilwoman Sutton: I want to applaud
for what I say was amazing for the children, tennis
players, non tennis players, everybody just
came across all over Arkansas, everybody was here
and it was just amazing to actually see it manifest,
come to pass, and all the hard work that you all did.
Tennis Memphis parks, all the work done collectively together
to make this happen and I'm excited to see
it evolve through the years.
Our children had an opportunity to see pro tennis players hit
with them, and some of us seasoned people also had
the same opportunity , so it was just something that was needed.
It gave everybody a different perspective on our future,
how it should look and what it should look like moving forward
.
And then we manifest the vision.
I'm just looking forward to more tournaments
coming at left which because it's a beautiful facility.
A lot of money and time was put into that facility
for things like this on this spectrum to happen.
Secondly, I'm excited about Bellevue
and what is going on with the brick and mortar part,
the renovation that is happening.
I'm glad to hear about the lockers and the bathrooms,
the paint.
We had a meeting, we sat there and got the colors coordinated
correctly to make sure they have the colors in there and that was
so important to the director .
I'm so glad that was able to happen, and to actually
see Bellevue such an amazing tennis center evolve,
and what is going to evolve in along with Jesse Turner and all
the other extension that we have.
This is a long time coming because Bellevue serves downtown
and it was a very active community tennis center,
just to see it was very unique with their programing
because of where it sits in the middle of the heart of South
Memphis where our babies can come in and experience tennis .
What I want to ask is the CIP dollars come
are we looking good with the CIP dollars moving forward?
I want to know have you met with the architect .
We wanted to make sure the dollars were
implemented and set aside for such a facility, so thank you.
What does it look like on their part?
Speaker: We will be bringing the resolution to council
for approval But the future of what sports look
like in the park, we will be looking to enhance it even more
not only this fiscal year, but in the coming Councilwoman
Sutton: Shout out to John Boden and Bunny, good to see You.
Tennis Memphis is evolving into something
that I thought I would never see for the many years I've
been playing tennis and I hope we
can continue playing this partnership
with the city of Memphis and make
sure we set an example for our future and our children,
this is a legacy for them, and we
will be able to pass the torch on to them,
so thank you chairman.
Vice Chairman: What about the inside
of the courts, the netting and the resurfacing?
Speaker: That's what we will have the stakeholder meetings
about .
you and the councilwoman will be invited to those meetings.
Speaker: What's happening now is mostly related
to the welcome area, the entry color schemes and locker room
as well, but I will send that over to you again.
The allocated funding is 3.1 million, thank you Councilwoman.
Before we wrap up, we are winding down some projects.
I did have a video I just wanted to show on some construction
projects, if we could.
Committee Chair: I think we have time, please, go ahead.
[Video plays]
Speaker: These are all very active projects
that we have going on, the Accelerate Memphis dollars.
This is Frazier Park, right outside of Ed Rice.
Speaker: Some of these videos we've taken over the past few
weeks, there has been more progress since then and we have
a condensed timeline that shows the final product .
Speaker: The pavilion is back there in the back
looking all illustrious.
Speaker: There's been 16 parking spots added to Glenview as part
of this project , and that is a Glenview Park pavilion.
Here we have Pine View Hill Park,
this is one of the larger playgrounds
that's Being constructed.
Also, the landscaping improvements as well as
parking improvements adjacent to the golf course, which
has really seen a renaissance.
We had a record number of rounds at Pine Hill
this last year so thank you to Councilman Ford
for his leadership on that particular project,
and a record July.
Gooch Park Pavilion, this park means a lot to many of us
for a number of reasons, certainly we
want to acknowledge the work of the late Joanne
Street of Hollywood University, better known as Hub.
This is a pavilion project we work with the community
on, as you can see accessibility improvements
and here we have Westwood Pool.
Essentially a couple weeks ago, we have since
continued the cleaning, we've got inspections set for today,
so we are hoping to hit substantial completion
and we will be working alongside Councilman
Ford for the grand opening celebration,
but certainly Westwood residents and community,
all the stakeholders are really excited
about this particular project for a lot of reasons.
The Park pavilion is being constructed in South Memphis
area on Elsie Road adjacent to the existing playground,
we are really excited about this project
as well which is going to provide
more opportunities for gathering and play in South Memphis.
It's for all of us!
That brings us to a close.
I just wanted to share that with you all so
we could give real time updates.
Committee Chair: That looks great, thank you for that .
Well done, and thank you for pushing tennis.
We are adjourned.