get started. We'll officially call this meeting to order. Uh we'll go on to item
two, consent items. Uh consent items will be
» Yes. >> Oh, sorry. Go ahead. I'll let you read.
» Are you jumping? >> Yes, I am.
» I will call you. Thank you. Consent items will be provided to the
board in writing and are not intended for formal presentation obviously unless
a board member requests or has questions. So any questions on items 2
A, B, or C? Yes, Mr. Chairman. This is Rick Neymar.
I would I just have a quick question on item 2B. And I don't know whether you
want to, you know, pull it separately and have a motion on the other items or
just once my question's answered, I think I'll be fine to move on the whole
thing. >> Let's go ahead.
» Okay. So my question is um just for the staff to explain a little bit about the
what is the process for determining when they submitted
um they had two submittals for the operations and I was just uh looking to
hear a little more about what the criteria are and and what why they
selected the proposal that they did.
Thank you, Chair Moya, board member Neymar for your questions. I'm happy to
provide additional information. Uh, as you noted, there were two respondents to
this RFP. There are um, the evaluation is out of a
thousand possible points. Um, and there are five areas that have multiple uh,
criteria that the evaluation committee reviewed and those are method of
approach, qualifications and experience, financial capacity. there was an
interview and then 501c3 status. Uh the two uh proposals were initially rated.
Um the unsuccessful proposer had seven areas that were marked as unacceptable
in relation to the scope of work. The proposer the other proposer had two
areas that were listed as unacceptable to the scope of work. And so the team
did a BAFO, best and final offer process to help uh clarify the response for the
bidder that only had two areas that were listed as unacceptable. And so that
consisted of a handful of questions again to help with that clarification.
Following the Baffo process, the RFP evaluation panel met again to re-review
the submitt. At that moment um the scores were changed uh and adjusted to
um show that they met or exceeded all areas that were required by the scope of
work and that led to a total score of 775 in comparison to the other vendor uh
proposing uh at a 131 uh score.
» Thank you. Uh that's very helpful. Um, and if some of that information could be
put in future reports in these kinds of situations, it would be helpful to just
understand a little more about the process. Um, and with that, Mr.
Chairman, unless anybody else has questions, I would move approval of the
consent agenda. >> Thank you, Rick. Just one quick second.
I I do have one uh public comment. Um, Jeremy Packer, you have uh two minutes.
My comment was similar to Mr. Neymar's. I was just curious why the information
regarding the process and the contract and the amounts were not included in the
in the packet. And I would like to suggest that they should be moving
forward for the public to know and for the apparently the the board to know as
well. Thank you. Uh if there aren't any other
questions, um we'll go ahead and go with your um
cons. What is that thing called?
» Motion. Thank you. >> Motion from Rick to accept items 2 A, B,
and C. Uh do we have a second? >> Second.
» Thank you. Any other questions? All those in favor, please say I.
» I. >> I. Any oppose?
» I. >> Thank you. Passes. So item uh three item
three uh information and discussion items uh will appear and will be
presented verbally to the parks board and are for discussion only. No action
will take place on these items at this meeting. So the first item 3A the only
item is urban farm project 32nd Avenue in Mcdow.
» Good evening Mr. Chair, members of the parks board. We're excited to provide an
update on the urban farm and community food project. Uh this project is a
collaboration including Councilwoman Laura Pastor, the office of
environmental programs, the parks department, and unlimited potential.
Just as a reminder, the parks department acquired an 11 acre parcel uh located
near 32nd Avenue in Mcdow in the West Valley. The parcel has sat vacant for
over 20 years at this point. Uh the parcel is a former Brownsfield site that
was uh remediated by the Office of Environmental Programs over the past
couple years. The parcel was identified by
Councilwoman Laura Pastor's office as a potential urban farm that could provide
food in our community. In January of this year, uh the parks board gave
approval for the city to begin outreach efforts to receive community feedback on
the project. In February of this year, an internal city began working on and
implementing a community engagement plan. Tonight I'm joined at the table uh
by with Mattie Mercer, food systems program manager from the office of
environmental programs who will provide an update on the recently completed
community engagements. With that, I'll turn it over to Maddie.
» Right. Thank you, Marty. Thank you, chair, and members of the board. We're
excited to be here tonight to share some updates on the community engagement
process. So after the parks board gave the approval to move forward in January,
we had five community events at different city and community locations
near the site. Starting in March of 2026 and going through June, we had workshops
in the evenings and in the morning so that we could reach different audiences.
And we worked closely with Unlimited Potential, a community-based
organization to do outreach and get residents involved in the areas
surrounding the site in a two-mile radius. We also did a survey so that we
could reach people online and get additional feedback on the project.
Through our workshops, we reached over 130 attendees and through the survey, we
reached an additional 138 respondents. So through our community engagement
events this spring, we reached over 268 members of the public to get feedback on
this project. And we did that through two different activities at our
workshops. And I'm going to go through some of the feedback from the public and
how we solicited it. So for the first three workshops, we had the same content
where we asked members of the public what kind of components should be at
this urban farm site because the food system and urban farms are really broad.
It could be a lot of different elements included there. So we wanted to get
feedback on what specific components should take place at this farm project.
And so for the first activity that we did at the first three workshops, we
used what we were calling a bingo card to get feedback on the different
elements that could be included at the site broken up into four different
categories that were related to different ways that people interact with
food. And I'll go through them and then go through the top voted categories to
give you some more context on what residents would like to see happen at
this parcel. So the four categories that we had were growing food. So we had
eight different or 10 different solutions related to growing food in
different ways as well as different uh programs and initiatives that could help
food production at the site. We also had a category related to learning and
education, different classes and training opportunities that could take
place there. The third category was related to
helping people connect with each other and their neighbors, different spaces
where people meetings or hold those education events.
And the last category was related to accessing food at the site. So these are
all different strategies for people to directly get access to produce and other
food items in their neighborhoods at this location. And so for this activity,
we had people select their favorite idea in each of these rows or if they had
another idea, they could add their own so that we could get some highle
feedback on the high level elements that people wanted to see at the site. and
then we got additional feedback on the logistics and specifics of implementing
them. So I'm going to go through each category, share some of the findings,
and then I'll talk about what we did after that. So here are the top voted
elements across each of those four categories on the bingo card in growing
food, gathering, learning, and accessing food. You can see and I'll go through
each of these and share a little bit more about what they mean. But overall,
the community was very excited about the project. There was a very positive
response in both the workshops and and through the survey. And overall, there
was a priority in having space available for people to learn how to grow food,
how to garden at the site so that they had better access to healthy affordable
food and have education around cooking and nutrition as well once it's been
grown. So in the first category related to
growing food, the top voted solution was community gardens. So that could be
shared space where people are growing food together with their neighbors or
independ independent plots where people are renting them and growing food on
their own. The second top rated solution in this category was food forest. So
that's another strategy for growing food where you incorporate not just
vegetables and other plants at the ground level but you go vertical and you
incorporate trees and shrubs so that you have this forest like canopy effect and
can grow more food in a smaller area. The third voted highest voted solution
was a community plant nursery that could go grow vegetable sfs or tree sfs to be
used in the community garden or at homes. And then the fourth highest voted
solution in this category was a pollinator garden. So plants that
provide food and habitat for birds, bees, and other beneficial insects.
In the gathering category, the top voted idea was to have a community event
space. For most residents, this meant an open space that was outside where people
could come to have events. They could hold things like farmers markets or
classes that could be flexible and meet the community's needs in different ways.
And the second highest voted solution was a community kitchen. So a commercial
kitchen space that could be used for classes for people to learn about how to
cook and nutrition as well as for growers at the site to wash and prep
their produce so it could be ready for market.
In the learning category, the one the solution that received the most votes
was gardening classes followed by health, cooking, and nutrition classes.
So again, this was a high priority for residents across the workshops and
through the survey. And then in the fourth category, accessing food, there's
the most interest in having a farmers market at the site to sell food that was
grown by residents and farmers at that location. And then a farm bag program,
which is like a subscription program where you can sign up to get food on a
bi-weekly or monthly basis that could be picked up and distributed at the site.
So then the second activity that we did at the fourth and fifth workshop built
upon these top voted solutions and we had residents design a site map of what
the project could look like using these top voted ideas in each of those four
categories. So you can see here some of the site maps that were created by
community. There was a lot of excitement and people had a lot of fun. they didn't
want to leave the workshop because they're having such a good time signing
these site plans and coming up with names for the project. So, this was a
great way to reaffirm that these elements were of interest to the
community and that they fit into the site and hear more ideas about some of
the other things like shade and other elements that would make this project a
success. And with that, I'll hand it back over to Marty to talk about next
steps. >> Okay. Thank you, Maddie, and thank you
for your leadership on the community engagement of this project. Everybody's
excited. Um, like Maddie said, next steps include uh completing a rendering
so we can include that in a request for proposal that we'll be working with the
finance department on. This is a going to be a lease agreement that's similar
to farm leases that we have. Uh the city is also working with the Salt River
project uh team to provide water infrastructure to the site. Uh it will
be flood irrigated. uh the final step will be to work with the successful
proposer uh to finalize the site design and then ultimately construction of the
site. So uh that concludes our presentation and we'll be happy to
answer any questions. >> Great. Thank you very much. Um any
questions from my fellow board members?
» I have a quick question. Um Marty, do we have other projects similar to this in
our system? >> Mr. Mr. Chair and members of the parks
board not in our system. This this is going to be a kind, no pun intended, a
groundbreaking thing for for the parks department and we're excited about it'll
be an opportunity to pro provide food to that area
» and I know you provided a rough timeline any uh dates associated with those.
» Uh Mr. Chair, members of the parks board, this is just a rough timeline,
but we are uh working to release the RFP by the end of next month. The RP will
most likely be on the streets for two months. Um, and then hopefully we'll
have a successful proposer, contract negotiations, and then design and
construction. >> Thank you. It sounds like a great
project. Best of luck. Thank you.
» Now we'll move on to uh item four. uh items uh are for discussion, possible
action. Uh items are for information, discussion, and possible action as I
said. So, we'll start off with item 4 A, requests the acceptance of the abandoned
alley acreage to Hilaria Rodriguez Park. >> Thank you so much, Chair Moya.
» Hilaria Rodriguez Park uh is located at 2801 East Adams and at 0.83 83 acres is
classified as a pocket park within our system. In recent years, neighborhood
alleyway and the park itself have experienced an increase in illegal
activity. Parks and Recreation in collaboration with our partners in the
Office of Homeless Solutions, the Phoenix Police Department, and the
Neighborhood Services Department have made significant efforts to address
these challenges and improve the area. Uh I would like to recognize uh Lisa
Huggins who is either in the audience or will be here shortly um for all of her
wonderful work. Uh she is here. Thank you, Lisa. Um, also, um, I would go I'd
like to go ahead and turn the pro presentation over. This item is a next
step in that process. So, with that, I'll ask our deputy parks and recreation
director, Joe Diaz, uh, to proceed with the presentation.
» Thank you, Randy. Lord, chair Moya, members of the board, thank you for this
opportunity to be with you this evening. As uh Brandy had mentioned, this is the
next step in the process for Hilaria Rodriguez Park, which is the alley
abandonment and the land sale of the property that will be associated with
that abandonment. To give you [clears throat] a little bit
of uh orientation of where the park is located is located on the southeast
corner of 28th Street in Adams. It is designated as a pocket park. it, as as
Brandy mentioned, it's 83 acres in size, but it also has a large playground with
integral shade. It's got a large uh ramada area and picnic area, a lot of
turf in the park that's used by the community, and some really great um
pistachies to provide some shades of the to the community as well.
So, Brandy mentioned teamwork and the team that's been working on this. And
so, I wanted to highlight that real quickly. So, the parks and recreation
department leadership as well as the south division maintenance and
recreation team and then our ranger team has been working with police um
neighborhood services, the office of homeless solutions and most importantly
the sky harbor neighborhood association. We've been working diligently for a
couple years now to improve some of the issues that we have seen in the
community. Um we had to close the park for a period of time as you're well
aware. Um, and this was to mitigate some of that negative activity that we were
seeing in the neighborhood that was trickling into the park as well. We
reopened the park on October 30th, 2025. And since then, we've seen some very
positive movement in the park. We're seeing kids back playing on the
playground. We have families that come out and utilize the turf in the area and
and utilize the space for picnicking. And this is really a testament to the
team and the effort that the team has has has put in to to make this a
success. So the next step, the alley abandonment.
So now we we are working again with neighborhood services and we have a new
team team member planning and development and we'll be working on an
alley abandonment uh process. So the yellow line that you see that is the
south border of Haria Rodriguez Park. In addition, there is a six foot high chain
length fence that runs along that area. The alleyway is 20 feet wide and 250 ft
long. And so once the alley abandonment takes place, the parks and recreation
department will receive the space that's um above the the yellow or the red dash
line. It's approximately 2,500 square ft. has very little recreational value,
but we have had some conversations with the BIS business owners to the south
that have interest not only in acquiring their portion of the alley, but also the
portion that is designated for the parks and recreation department. Um they their
plan is to utilize this for additional storage as well as install a 6 foot high
or higher block wall along the south south edge of the park to provide some
additional safety to the park.
So the land sale the parks board policy 3.9 uh outlines the requirements for
sale of park property because of the unique nature of this space um and the
efforts that the community has put in and the city has put in. We are asking
this evening to deviate from that policy and work with the property owner to the
south of the park uh on a direct sale. So, next steps would be complete the
abandonment process with city council action, obtain an appraisal from um for
the property. So, we'd work with our real estate um in our finance um
department and then request city council action for the deposition of this
property. The parks and recreation department is
seeking approval for the abandoned alley property south of Lar Rios Park not to
follow board policy 3.9 and that parks moves forward with a direct land sale
with Rolling Eagle Investments LLC and I can answer any questions that you may
have at this time. >> Great. Thank you. Any questions?
» Rick, go right ahead. Um, thanks Joe for a very good presentation. It's very
helpful to see the details. Um just a two two questions. One is um do you know
what the property owner's intent is for the use of the property once we abandon
uh and then sell it back? >> Um board chair Moya, members of the
parks board and board member Neymar. Yes. The intent is to use it for
additional storage and um install the the block fence for security.
» Got it. And my other really isn't a question. It's more of a comment.
Obviously, you considered whether or not it could be used to enhance the park,
but given the odd shape of it, I think your assessment is is a good one. And
and I'm supportive of selling it once we receive it. And it uh and I'll also just
say that obviously the normal disposition process doesn't work. you
don't want some separate property owner to own that other than the property
owner to the south. And of course, you're going to get appraised value for
it. So, uh it'll appraise weird because it's not a very developable property,
but whatever you get, you get. And and that makes total sense to me. Thank you.
Thank you, uh Jessica.
We can't hear you. Now, can you hear me?
» Now we can. Thank you. >> Oh, thank you so much. Sorry about that.
Thank you, Chairman Moya. Um, just one quick question. Um, is it that is the
property owner to the south the only property owner that was amongst those
property owners um that have access to that piece of property that's interested
in acquiring it? Or was there any other property owners
not outside of like an RFP or what Rick talked about that wouldn't be feasible
to have an independent or someone come in and buy that strip, but just curious
if if they were the only one that expressed interest or if there was any
other
» board chair, board chair Moya, members of the par board and board owner Finos.
No, we have not had any other um interest in this property. We've been
working directly with the property owner to the south.
» Thank you. >> Are there any other questions?
» If not, let me make the very specific motion.
uh is to uh for the board to approve to accept is it 0.13 acres of the abandoned
alleyway south of Hill area Rodriguez Park as part of the overall park acreage
and to deviate from the procedures and parks board policy 3.9 public
notification of sale or disposition of park land and proceed with the sale of
the.13 acres of abandoned in property. Do I
have a motion? >> So moved.
» Second. >> I second that.
» Um, any other questions? All those in favor say I. I.
» I. >> Any oppose?
Thank you.
» All right. We [clears throat] go on to item 4B,
request for approval of the new name for the park and community center at 35th
Avenue and baseline. Mr. Chair, members of the parks board,
uh on March the 25th of this year, the city council requested the city rename
the Caesar Chavez Holiday and directed city staff to begin the process to
rename all city facilities that bear the Chavez name. sites impacted uh in the
parks department include uh the park plaza that the arts and culture
department has their own process. Uh so they're handling that uh the community
center uh and the park or the responsibility of the parks department.
With that, I will turn the presentation over to assistant director Brandy
Barrett who will uh talk us through the process.
» Thank you so much, Marty. Chair Moya, members of the board, at the March board
meeting, you directed staff to begin the formal renaming process for the park and
community center to gather input. In May, the department launched a public
survey in both English and Spanish. The survey featured six potential names
thoughtfully selected based on the area's history and community culture.
Lavine, Agila, Olstein Heritage, Arizona Sunset, Desert Oasis, and farm workers.
Residents also have the option to submit their own name suggestions for
consideration. In addition to posting signage with a QR code linking directly
to the survey around the park and in the community center, the city issued a
press release and a Phoenix newsroom article on the survey. More than 14,000
center participants were emailed directly with a link to the survey and
the city's various social media accounts also promoted the survey. Finally, our
communications team provided the mayor and council with toolkits to promote the
survey on their social media accounts as well. And the results are in.
Here we go. Uh, the survey ran from May 15th to June 24th, 2026 and received a
total of 1,843 responses. The top name by number of
responses from the total respondent pool was Aguila Park and Community Center
with 565 votes. In second place with 472 votes is Lavine Park and Community
Center. Farmworkers Park Community Center received the third highest number
of votes with 235. Arizona Sunset Park and Community Center
received 190 votes and Desert Oasis Park and Holene Heritage received 144 and 55
votes respectively. Notably, 182 writein votes were received
with the largest number of writein votes going for Alward Park at 28 votes and
the second highest number of writein votes for Jesse Owens at 23.
The park is classified as a regional park with a five mile service radius.
Typically, the department utilizes the service area to gather community input
during public engagement processes. And we've reviewed the survey results for
this service area as well. You can see the zip codes associated with the
service area. to the right of the map. Of the total 1,843 responses, 74% or
1,365 responses came from zip codes that are
within the park service radius. The top two names were consistent with the full
survey results. The name that received the highest number of votes both overall
565 votes and within the service area 445 votes was Aguila Park and Aguila
Community Center. Lavine received 406 votes from within the service area.
Arizona Sunset and Farm Workers came in next with 142 and 133 votes
respectively.
This chart compares the survey results for each of the names for all boats,
which is in the maroon, and the service area results, which is showed by the
gray bar. Again, you can see the top two names remained the same across both
populations. For awareness, a citizen position was
submitted to the mayor and council regarding the renaming of the park and
community center. and response to that petition is scheduled for the July 1st
city council formal meeting. With that, staff to respectfully request
the board approve the name Aguila Park and Aguila Community Center for the
Regional Park located at 35th Avenue and Baseline Road.
» Great. Thank you very much. Before I open up questions to the board, I will
go ahead and have two community members speak. Uh first, Jerry, go right ahead.
You have two minutes.
Good evening, Jerry Van Gas. Uh, March 26th, I was up here with Jesse Owens,
four gold medals from the Olympics in 1936.
At that time, I asked that he be considered, his name be considered
to rename the park. Uh subsequently we went out to the state track meet and had
two giant posters uh signed by practically every track
coach in the state. You you disregarded everything except
your lame survey. And you know once I heard you Tony say this doesn't have to
be named after an individual. It can be named after other things. Well, that's
exactly what you did. You concocted four, five, six. You know, nobody takes
credit for it. Uh, it was supposed to be out in April. It came out in May after
all the schools are closed. We can take them to the schools to their track teams
to sign. Uh, you know, it's pretty gutless. Pretty gutless. Uh, but that's
not the worst. 13 years ago, your cohort sitting right there, Mr. Neymar
with city officials concocted a plan to take $19 million from the voter
initiative, parks and preserve initiative fund
to pay off golf debt. Uh their newly
uh implanted city de deputy director over parts
uh was helping us. He was slid out of position, never came back, committed
suicide, and
you passed that bill. We sued, we prevailed, and because of Inger Ericson,
the money was repaid. So, uh, that's also gutless.
Thank you. Uh, Jeremy, you have two minutes.
popularity of a name uh for a park shouldn't necessarily be what we're
shooting for. Um just because the golf course is already named that most people
in Phoenix don't realize that Jesse Owens who is a not a just a national
hero, he's a world hero. He won four gold medals um in Germany in front of
Hitler. Uh he lived here for the last 10 years of his life and according to his
wife were the best years of his life. Uh Jerry is the custodian of his gold
medals. Uh he laid in state but nothing in the city other than the medical city
center that he helped found and raised $1.8 million for
nothing carries his name in the city. So this is an opportunity as we approach
the 200 250th anniversary of the country to make Phoenix a part of that. Phoenix
is not a old city. So we don't have a lot of history. Uh it's hard to imagine
having someone associated with the city uh that could mean more than Jesse
Owens. And we've got an opportunity to celebrate that along with So the USA
Today just had an article out and they'll be releasing on the 4th of July
uh the greatest athlete of all time. and they said if not the greatest, Jesse
Owens is certainly the most important and we could be associated with that or
we can go with a generic name that's already on the golf course next door.
Um, or if we want to inspire the kids that go to the park and the other people
that go around to know history that they probably don't and how important it was,
uh, we could do something special here and name it Jesse Owens Park. you guys
have the ability to to make that decision tonight.
Thank you. Uh board members, any questions,
» right? Couple of questions. One, I guess I'm wondering why the Jesse Owens name
wasn't at part of the survey, what the process was for that. Question number
one, and question number two is what would the lift look like? And is it
possible to redo the survey with the name included?
» Mr. Chair and members of the parks board and uh board member Thomas. Um to answer
that first question, um as the director, I asked our team to come up with names
that were reflective of that area. So they came up with the six names. I did
ask for a write in as well. So hopefully that answers the first question. Um,
your your question about a lift, kind of a difficult one since we have a
uh citizens petition out there for the mayor and council to entertain that
petition on July 1st. Whatever their direction is, uh, the parks department
will will take at that time.
» Any other questions? So, I have one more. Yeah, go right
ahead. So the so on July 1st the petition for
July 1 you said >> that's correct.
» Okay. So can that be extended or is that something that's set in stone? Like
could we actually take another look at this and rethink this and make sure that
we are doing our due diligence as far as including this
chair. terms of the parks board. Uh got to be a little careful about this
because you know the mayor and council will have their their say about the the
petition on the first. Um the parks board could could have another you know
thought on on the name and direct staff.
» Thank you. Rick, did you have a question?
» I think I think you answered my question. the the only I I do know that
the parks board is charged with making the decision. Um and so I would imagine
the mayor and council acted. They wouldn't act to do something that
doesn't recognize the charter authority, the parks board to make these kinds of
decisions. Um however um you know I am interested in in you know the the
question about could we do it you know could we do
something different um and take a little more time with it.
I and I I'm not I don't know that it
necessarily relates in my mind to a petition to the council. It's just a
question of if we did do what was suggested,
what you know, how long would that take?
» Chairman Moyer and um members of the parks board, I'm going to ask our
attorney uh Dustin to help us with some of the legal stuff.
Uh, Chairman [clears throat] Wea, board member Neymar, members of the board. Um,
with respect to what what happens here with the citizens petition that is part
of the the charter uh and it it does require the city council to act on an
appropriate one within 15 days. And so that um July 1st meeting is the
opportunity that the council has to act on that. Um with respect to um where the
authority is to you know for naming um that has generally uh rested with the
parks board historically um the
if the city council whatever direction whatever action the city council decided
to take on that citizens petition uh we would have to address that and um
when we come to it and figure out exactly what Um uh what we would do with
that, it depends. I I have uh presented as uh you know as potential ways to
address um the citizens petition and the fact that it will not be addressed by
city council until July 1st. Uh the board could um take action and make it
effective uh after that date and depending on what city council does um
the board can um table this item for uh future action uh if necessary. um the
board could make it explicitly dependent on um what the city council decides.
It's it's really up to the board.
» Thank you. A couple quick comments. Um like everything else this uh board has
done in the past, we've always asked for citizen input and I think we got exactly
that. We got citizen input. It's not probably what we want to hear, but
that's what we got. did and we got overwhelming response from those in that
[laughter] zip code who live and work in that area.
So to me, yes, we could revisit this again and again and again until we get
whoever we want, but to me that's what happened. And I wish I had enough power
to make these suggestions and make these determinations for the entire city, but
I don't. That's why I went through the process.
And again, the city, the people who live in that area overwhelmingly approved
this. So, we could vote to give the community what we want, what they want,
what we've always done on this board, and make that stipulation. If the if
city council after July 1 chooses to change that, then that would be their
decision at that point. So that would be my recommendation.
» Go ahead, J. If I could, if we could make a consideration for Yes, the city
or not the city, the citizens did, you know, vote on this. I'm not sure how
much weight was actually placed on the ability for the Jesse Owens name to have
equal footing. >> And in that case, bring up other names
that weren't included. You know, we could be here all year
throwing in names until one came to the top.
» We could, but the one did come to the top. And the one that came to the top
was the Jesse Owens name. >> Well, no, you only got 20. 23, was it of
the 565? >> I'm saying in addition to and so I was
just wondering if we could just create the space at least to see if you know we
can reconsider this. And if rest of the board is not feeling that way, I'll
acquies. But I just feel like it's pretty solid what they're talking about
as far as his significance and history, his ties to the city,
» right? >> Having been born and raised in South
Phoenix, there is a Jesse Owens Parkway. There is a Jesse Owens Hospital. So
there are things named after Jesse Owens. As a Phoenix native, I know that
» Moya, can I ask a question? >> Go right.
My question is um just for clarification um that the Jesse Owens that got 23
votes, those were writeins um and the six that were um actually um
put forth as options um Jesse Owens was not one of them.
» Is that correct? Chairman Moyer, members of the parks
board, and uh board member Barnwell, that that is that is correct. There was
six uh names that were on the survey and then an opportunity for writeins, and
that's uh where Mr. Jesse Owens received 23 votes.
» So, for clarification, um
why wasn't that included in one of the six?
Uh uh Chairman Moyan, members of the parks board and board member Barn
Barnwell. That was a decision that I made as the parks and recreation
director. I tked the team to come up with six names that uh were
representative of that area. >> Okay.
I I would then um I would like to see that we put Betsy Owens as one of the
six um and redo it just just just for um um
for my comfort um and uh and making sure that that it was given u uh adequate um
visibility.
So, uh, my suggestion for a motion is that we, uh, table this until after the,
uh, July 1, um, city council meeting and, uh, maybe
that will provide us with a clearer direction as to what um, we're to do.
And um even though we don't meet in July and August, some of the work could
possibly be done at that time. So um that would be my motion as a suggestion
is to table it until after the July 1 uh city council meeting and then revisit it
at that time. >> Mr. Chair, understood. Thank you.
» Do we need to vote on it or are we good on that?
I um the only the only question I have I mean the council really doesn't have the
authority to deal with this but I think it would be
» I think it would be a good idea to see what the council's uh response to the
petition is and then come back and and that way it'll clarify that part of this
discussion is once they've had that opportunity to do that.
» Yeah. and we can revisit it again after the
summer break. That great we
and then just one other well I'll wait to comment when we have the motion I
guess. Well, no, I can I guess I shouldn't. I feel like there were some
other names thrown out to us in the very first or second meeting that we had and
I just want to make sure that if there were other if we do go back out, we make
sure that come back and just look at those. Um and and the other thing that I
think is really important, why are we here today?
um the park was named after somebody and some information came out that was very
very negative about that that person. So whatever individual names we put on uh I
want to make sure that we know as much as we can about any of those names um
before and I think the board should provide you that guidance of of what to
put on if we go back out. So, um I don't anticipate anything negative out there
about Jesse Owens or any of the other names that were suggested, but I I just
want to make sure. Um and uh so yeah, so uh maybe some of that can be done
during the break as well. So it's not like we're not going to have formal
meetings, but we obviously can have these discussions at that time.
» Understood. Thank you, Chair. Can can I get some clarity on what the city
council is going to do on the first what is what are we asking them to do?
» Uh board member Barnwell. Um just to uh address that what the uh city council is
considering is is simply action on a citizen's petition. There's
not um a specific well there there is a staff recommendation
um that is going to city council although um some of that may change as a
result of um this meeting. Um and essentially the the petition or the yeah
the citizen petition will be presented to uh the city council um with all of
the suggestions that are there and then the city council can act on any of them.
they can reject them, deny them, come to some other action that's on the same
topic, you know, is within the same um uh general idea. And so the the council
would simply take some action [clears throat] and what we what they
would do um is up to the city council.
So am I clear that the parks board is actually responsible?
» The uh that that actually is probably
something that should be addressed. Um
I can prepare um some documents that that goes over some
of those issues and send it to the board before the next meeting. Um some of that
um would like to be distributed as as attorney work product um and so would
have to be distributed outside of this meeting. Um but the the short answer is
um that there are there are questions with respect to who ultimately has
authority uh to name a park within the city.
» Okay,
» Jessica, your hands up. >> Yes. Um just to uh I think um echo um
fellow board member uh Rick Neymar's comments was not to say that no position
at right now with regard to um any of the of the six names or the process that
has already occurred but if um after next week's city council meeting or if
we um are to uh decide to make an endeavor ever to um reservey or include
any individuals. I would strongly recommend and again I'm with uh member
Neymar not to say that anything um negative or disparaging would come out
about Jesse Owens, but for any individual that may be may be under
consideration that that individual be uh be be significantly vetted. Um, so
we don't find ourselves, you can't always prevent everything, but I would
not want to find ourselves in the position that that we need to be in with
regard to renaming or taking a park name away to the best of our ability and
control as a board.
» Correct. >> Thank you, Jessica. I'm thinking um and
this is really just a question just to understand process being fairly new. So
more of a hypothetical question. So if we would have voted on this and it did
not pass right, what would the process have been then in determining what the
name would have been if this name would not have passed the board vote tonight?
» Mr. Chair, members of the parks board and board member Thomas, um then we
would have gone back out for another survey. Now, again, the caveat with the
council being involved on Wednesday, again, like Justin mentioned, that's a
decision that they're going to make. So, it's it's I know he says it's a
hypothetical question, but it's kind of hard to answer because I'm not sure
what's going to happen on Wednesday.
» Great. So, thank you. We will table this and revisit this after the July 1
meeting. Thank you. >> Do you need a motion to do that or or
can we just not make any motions and we'll deal with
it when it comes back. >> Well, and um anyone is is free to make a
motion, but uh to the decision to not make a motion is simply just basically
the absence of one that results in tableabling it. So,
» sounds good. Great. Thank you. Thank you everyone.
That's probably been the liveliest discussion in my 10 12 years on this. I
love it. So, uh, number five, call to public. We
welcome citizen input. However, items brought to the board's attention cannot
be discussed unless they are listed as an agenda item. Actions taken as a
result of public comment comments will be limited to requesting staff to study
the matter or rescheduling the matter for further consideration andor decision
on a later date. Uh, we do have uh two speakers. We have uh Jeremy Ther
Jeremy
Chairman. Um, I think your one of your ideas was actually a good one, which is
that any name that anyone wants to suggest
should probably be the first process is to gather the names that are going to be
part of the survey. That would be a good first start. Um, and to say that uh the
city is you follow the city's or the citizens
direction is I have a hard time to believe that that would be the case if
uh some names were chosen. So I think there are times when you definitely go
against the citizens will and sometimes it's for the best, sometimes it's for
the worst. Um, good goat which Jerry is the president and I am a member uh
submitted the citizen petition. So
I agree that with Mr. Neymar that the city that the council does not have the
Yeah, they can't that they don't have the ability to rename it that it is sub
parks board. So, uh, I would suggest, and I'm not sure, I haven't talked to
the car about it, but if you wanted to, we'd be probably willing to withdraw our
citizen petition, um, if you were to put follow a good survey process again and
go that route. So, thank you. Thank you, Jerry.
And I'm sorry, I I forgot Christina Taylor, but if you're will be next.
Thank you.
I know I was getting a little passionate there at the end, but but for good
reason. Uh the person that was the deputy city manager at that time over
parks, his name was Jerome Miller, and I didn't know him very long, but uh uh we
became good friends. Uh basically, I mean, this is bizarre, unbelievable to
me at the time. He was mentored while he was at ASU. to his black
student uh black union president back in the mid70s. His mentor was Jesse Owen
and he could not talk. I mean uh that was his his idol
and uh you know to be uh forced out he he loved his job running neighborhood
services. Then he became deputy director over parks
uh and you know was kind of leveraged out. Who knows why or how uh but that it
destroyed him. Totally destroyed him. So uh know for 13 years I've been uh kind
of saying I'm doing this for Jerome. So I don't know if any of you knew that
that Jesse was his mentor, but uh to me that's pretty special. So, uh, you know,
we want to, uh, we want to do right by everybody. Thank you.
Thank you, Christina.
And Christina, you'll have two minutes. Thank you.
» Good afternoon, chair and board members. Uh, first thing that I'd like to start
with is uh discussing how one of my friends came to speak here today. And
because of your guys's lack of accessibility components to where
there's not a number to call to have someone uh pick a person up from the uh
free parking lot over to here, you guys need to make things more accessible. Uh
because that's not acceptable or Okay. Uh but uh the other things I'd like to
discuss is that I appreciate the work with the parks and recreation department
does for our community and I'd like to offer several ideas that I believe can
improve our parks while creating new funding opportunities. First, I
encourage the city to continue improving ADA accessibility. For example, portions
of Desert West Parks Lake lack sidewalks that would make the park more acceptable
accessible for individuals with disabilities, seniors, and families.
Second, I asked the city to continue evaluating maintenance needs at Caesar
Chavez Park, including the flagpull flag, park infrastructure, and
opportunities to straighten part partnerships and a written procedural
process with nonprofit organizations that can assist with environmental
stewardship, volunteer projects, and wildlife programs. Finally, I'd like the
board to consider creating a community athletic field sponsorship program that
would allow local businesses to be able to sponsor athletic fields through
annual recognition banners with the names of the donors with the revenue
helping fund improvements such as protective
safety netting at baseball and softball fields. separate changing rooms for male
and female officials, referees and umpires, accessibility improvements, and
other parks and recreation priorities. Thank you for the opportunity to speak.
» Thank you very much. Perfect timing you have.
So item six is the board chair's report and I have nothing to report other we
will not have official uh board meetings for July and August uh during those two
months and regular meetings will resume in September.
Did you have your Did you fill in a card or comment?
Could you state your name, please? And you have two minutes. Jamie, go
right ahead.
Everybody good? Can we hear her?
Oh yeah. Thank you. You're right, J.
Okay. So, I'm here to talk about Chavez Park or
whatever you name it and about the bachulism problem there. We had a mass
mortality rate of ducks and geese at that park uh this month and last month
we had quite a few die off here and there and and I understand that this
happens uh you'll see a couple but this was mass. This was like 35 or 40 ducks
and they're laying all over the park dead. They were there for days. And when
I asked one of the employees at the park if they were going to pick them up, he
said, "That's not my job." So, first of all, that's not a good
thing to say to the public. And then the public walks around and sees all these
dead ducks laying everywhere. And botulism, the worst part of it is when
the flies lay eggs in it. And then the animals and the other ducks come up and
eat eat the maggots and then it just worse. When's the last time Chavez Lake
was ever dredged? And when are they going to fix the air
raators at the park? There's like five air
raators in that water. None of them work. They haven't been working for
probably I'm going to say years. I go there every day. And I I just think
there needs to be more education also with the park maintenance and the
supervisors with the park rangers because I'm one of the people that was
trespassed at Desert West over endangering the wildlife
while these ducks are dying at Chavez left and right and the city's doing
nothing about it. They they didn't seem to think it was a priority to pick up
those dead carcasses. Three days they laid there and I called Arizona Game and
Fish and that's how we got them picked up.
So, I think that the employees over there need to be more educated. It's the
only park we're having a mass mortality rate at. And I know that you guys no
longer have to report your water testing to the ADQ.
So, now we don't even know when the last time the water was tested or what's
going on that can't test for botulism. >> Thank you.
Uh, board members, any comments or questions or any discussion you'd like
to have?
» No, we're all set. Great. Thank you. Uh, director's briefing,
» Mr. Chair, members of the parks board, um, just Brandy and I this evening, so
I'll have assistant director Brandy Barrett start us off.
» Thank you, Marty. Well, if you're signed up for our extreme heat warning
notifications, you know that we are currently in an extreme heat warning.
Thank you. >> Uh that has been issued by the National
Weather Service. And we wanted just to take this opportunity to remind the
public that these extreme heat warning days trigger trail restrictions from
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm at Camelback Mountain Peak three uh trails at South
Mountain Park as well as um access to the national trail from Puma Canyon. All
trails do remain open outside of those restriction hours. Uh to support hiker
safety and improve operational efficiency, the department has
implemented several upgrades across key trail heads. Electronic gates are
installed at Pyestto Peak, South Mountain Park gate house, and Puma
Canyon. These gates allow us to automate closures rather than ma opening those
gates manually. Uh digital message boards at Pyesttoa and Echo Canyon trail
heads are providing real-time closure alerts and year- round safety messaging.
In addition, 24-hour a day, seven days a week cameras have been installed at
Pyestto Peak, South Mountain Park Gate House, and South Mountain Activity
Center, uh, sorry, South Mountain Activity Complex to enhance remote
monitoring and overhaul trail head oversight. And again, we just urge folks
to take a hike, do it right, and follow safety tips, including watching the
weather, dressing appropriately, ensuring you have more than sufficient
water, carrying a mobile phone, not hiking alone, and being honest with
yourself about your abilities or any conditions you may have, um, and just,
uh, taking responsibility with that. Thank you.
» Thank you, Brandy. Uh last week, uh Mayor Kate Ggo stopped by our Washington
Activity Center, uh during our Phoenix Place summer camper visit, highlighted
the great work happening in our programs and the positive experiences our campers
are having this season. The mayor shared a note about her visit on social media,
saying there there was lots of patriotism on display as campers colored
flags and talked about what they love most about our country. She called it a
wonderful way to celebrate 250 years of America.
All right, speaking of celebration, uh starting Saturday will be uh the kickoff
of our Fourth of July events. After Dark in the Park is going to be another drone
show at Deer Valley Park on June the 27th uh from 6 PM to 900 pm, followed up
by Light Up the Sky at American Family Fields of Phoenix on July the 2nd from
6:30 to 9:30 p.m. And then our Crown Jewel, the Fabulous Fourth at Steel
Indian School Park on July 4th from 6 PM to 10 p.m. which usually uh gets about
100,000 folks. So, okay, I'm going to reach back here and
look, but um uh this certainly a bittersweet meeting for our team. I'm
going to try to keep it together here, but tonight is the last parks board
meeting for our management services deputy director, Teresa Fall, who'll be
retiring next month. I got permission from her to do this uh tonight because I
know she doesn't like this types of types of things or fanfare, and she told
me to keep it short. So, I certainly will do that. Uh for the last four plus
years uh Teresa has served as a management services deputy director
where she was responsible for our budget procurement IT accounting and our admin
staff. Before that she served as our management assistant too and our
director's office where she was responsible for virtually everything
under the sun. Right. Okay. Uh during her career she also spent time in the
human resources and planning departments. Uh, in my almost 25 year
career at the city of Phoenix, I've never been around an employee like
Teresa who does it all. I love all my employees, but I just want to point that
out. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with you since I joined the parks
department. You're an amazing employee and a better person. Congratulations on
your retirement.
» It's it's been a pleasure working with you all this year, Teresa.
Congratulations. >> That concludes our update. Thank you.
» Great. Uh thank you uh Marty and thank you again to the entire uh city park
staff for getting us all ready. The presentations again were amazing uh
today and thank you to my fellow board members. Enjoy your summer break
although Marty might reach out to us for one reason or another and we will see
you all in September. Thank you. Meetings adjourned.