Unidad Park
A neighborhood park in the city's park inventory.
The timeline
- November 17, 2022A light pole falls at Harty, and the board names a course "The Big Enchilada"
Staff reported that a 30-year-old light pole delaminated and fell during a softball tournament at Harty Ballfields, missing an umpire and closing the facility pending testing of the remaining 17 poles. The board voted to recommend "The Big Enchilada" as the name of the city's new disc golf course and cancelled its December meeting. Staff outlined a proposed tree ordinance and the roughly $7 million Parks received from the 2022 GO Bond.
- September 15, 2022New pool, new prices, and the end of Frenger — the board sets rates for a 50-meter pool that will not pay for itself
The board approved fees and operating hours for the Natatorium, the city's new 50-meter pool opening early January 2023, and accepted staff's recommendation to close Frenger pool when it does. Staff presented El Paso's numbers as the benchmark: $70,000 in revenue against operations over a million. The naming of a new disc golf course was tabled to October.
- August 16, 2022The board kills the Veterans Park renaming on purpose — tabled indefinitely so no precedent attaches
The Veterans Advisory Board's vice-chair asked for one more delay, then said the group is not so much seeking a name change as a change in the park's usage. The board tabled the item indefinitely, with a member stating on the record that a vote would set a precedent against any future renaming. Staff separately disclosed that the Assistant City Manager had stopped permitting Veterans Memorial Park as of August 12.
- July 21, 2022Veterans want a designation, not a playground — and the director tables the name change to go ask them why
The board tabled the renaming of Veterans Memorial Park to August after the Parks & Recreation director said she had not been part of the earlier conversations and wanted to put questions to the Veterans Advisory Board first. The Veterans Advisory Board's vice-chair told the board the group wants a special-use designation rather than a name change. Three of seven seats were filled.
- May 26, 2022"Next week he will file a discrimination thing with the City"
A former board member told the board that disabled veterans cannot use the Apodaca pickleball courts because there is no restroom and an 8.1% grade, that he would file a discrimination complaint the following week, and that the city wastes roughly a third of its GO Bond money by issuing RFPs instead of bidding work. The board then approved a $8,000 crosswalk-art project whose preparations had already begun and whose press release had already gone out.
- November 19, 2020A resident asks where $2.2 million went, and the board gets the whole budget — an $18 million department with closed facilities
Meeting by Zoom with all Parks & Recreation facilities closed under the Public Health Order, the board heard a resident question the accounting on the Nevada Cool Corridor and got the Public Works director's answer on the record. Staff then walked the board through the entire FY21 budget — $11 million in general fund, a little over $18 million in total. The board approved two youth-painted murals and cancelled its own December meeting.