El Centro breaks ground on McGee Park
New multi-sport court coming to east side of El Centro
EL CENTRO – City of El Centro broke ground on Wednesday, March 15, to improve McGee Park after the city received
$1.2 million in investments to improve the McGee Park sports field.
The ground breaking event was held in the afternoon of the Ides of March for the installation of a new multi-sports court at McGee Park, located at the intersection of E. Brighton Avenue and S. Fairfield Drive, down the street from El Centro’s Adult Center and across from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church’s Cristo Rey Chapel.
The newly included field lighting will improve the look of the area and local’s ability of use in playing sports, El Centro City Manager, Cedric Ceseña, said.
Funding for the McGee Park improvements include $800,000 in Measure P funds, along with $438,000 of Community Development Block
Grant funds, Ceseña said, before going into what the new sports field will look like.
“The new multi-sport court will be built out of concrete and be painted for basketball,” Ceseña said. “It’s going to also be available for volleyball, and pickleball which has recently become pretty popular.”
“This improvement project will include the installation of energy efficient LED lights, and the existing wood poles in the field behind us that are used for lighting will be replaced with the muscle led metal light poles that will be remote controlled by the staff here at the community center,” the city manager said. “Overhead wiring and service for the electrical power poles is going to be placed underground, removing all the overhead wiring around the park.”
Finally, the city of El Centro will be replacing the existing asphalt and basketball court within the sports field, along with new fencing, which is going to be erected around the park walkways, which will also be added around the perimeter of the court.
“It’s very it’s a proud moment for us as a city to be kicking off this project, and we certainly want to make sure that we don’t forget to thank, obviously, our citizens,” Ceseña said. “Make sure that you remember that we have a community services team that has worked really hard on getting this project to move forward.”
City of El Centro
Mayor, Martha Cardenas-Singh, also celebrated this new improvement project by sharing the history of McGee Park’s namesake: Dubois McGee.
Dubois McGee was the first Black mayor of El Centro, serving as mayor in 1966. After becoming mayor, McGee advocated for the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels to utilize Naval
Air Facility El Centro for their winter training. McGree eventually passed away in 1972, Cardenas-Singh said.
“Mr. McGee was dedicated, and today is a day that is dedicated Mr. McGee,” the mayor said. “Mr. McGee was influential in the creation of this park, to make sure that there was equity and access to all neighborhoods,” she said.