The San Marino City Council and Recreation Commission held a joint meeting last Friday to discuss developing local programs and events for the community as well as a plan for assessing the recreational needs of the community.
The Recreation Commission, which had been on hiatus for years before being reformed last year, ultimately requested guidance from the Council and sought clarity on what resources can be considered as the panel works to identify programs and events that benefit more community members. The San Marino Community Center and Lacy Park are two of the biggest resources the city has identified, but the panel wants to know what the city plans to do with the site formerly known as Stoneman School and whether other current sites are being underutilized.
“Trying to find a program and events, that’s easy — just coming up with the ideas — but what’s the infrastructure? Where do we go?” Commissioner Chair Edward Yen asked the Council. “Without understanding what facilities we have available, whether they’re real estate assets or even staff resources, how many resources do we need? It’s a little bit more difficult to identify an actual plan or idea without understanding what those resources are.”
Yen also suggested the idea of surveying residents or hiring a consultant to help develop a strategic, three-year roadmap.
Commissioner Stanley Wu echoed Yen and said that San Marino needs to reassess the needs of the community to better understand how to move forward with programs and events that reflect its residents.
“I think we’re in a different world than we were in before,” Wu said. “Everyone can acknowledge that after COVID, our community is in a different place and looks different than it did before. … Recreational services play an even more important role in tying our community together and bringing in new members.
“I think there is a need for us to reimagine what kind of facilities we can offer to the community, what other services we may need. Right now, the plan doesn’t assess that because we don’t have a current idea of how our community has changed.”
The City Council agreed that the community’s needs have changed, and the Stoneman property is an issue that must be addressed. However, Council members objected to the idea of a survey or hiring a consultant and recommended that commissioners look at the reception and attendance of current events to help determine how to move forward.
Councilwoman Gretchen Shepherd Romey said that “surveys often lead to ineffectual results,” and added that she doesn’t believe Lacy Park is underutilized, noting that residents living near the area have complained about the lack of street parking.
“We’re really using that place a lot more than we even did pre-COVID, and I know I personally have been getting a lot of concerns and complaints,” Shepherd Romey said.
The Recreation Commission and City Council concurred that the San Marino Unified School District should be included in the conversation about facilities and programming events for the cities.
“It’s really important for us as a city to communicate with the school district and see if we can get any synergies on space as well because we’re in the same geography,” Councilman Tony Chou said. “It doesn’t make sense that we’re not able to at least approach these conversations.”
In his closing statement, Yen said he and his fellow commissioners recognize that residents are skewing younger and older at the same time and that the programming they create moving forward must “bridge everyone,” a notion that Vice Mayor Steven Huang agreed with.
“Sometimes I wonder if maybe we hear too much about our future and we forget our past,” Huang said. “We should have more programs for the seniors so that way they know that we still care about them.”
First published in the Oct.12 issue of the San Marino Tribune
