San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
IDEAS GIVEN FOR STIMULUS FUNDING
National City residents submit host of suggestions
National City recently sought help from residents on how the city should spend $3 million in federal stimulus funding. There was no shortage of ideas.
The community wants a dog park and lighting for Kimball Park, a new pool splash pad at Las Palmas Park and urgent repairs for streets and alleys, among other suggestions, according to survey results the city released last week.
In March, the city launched an interactive budgeting survey dubbed “Together We Plan National City” that allowed the public to select their favorite ideas from 14 community projects, each ranging from $250,000 to $1.5 million.
Most of the projects consisted of repairs or upgrades to local parks and other recreational areas, such as the Las Palmas Pool, and other citywide initiatives. Some examples included a new multi-use field or fitness plaza, grants for small businesses and nonprofits, free internet at all parks, a new car for the city’s homeless outreach team and improvements to local cultural assets such as Stein Farm or Granger Music Hall. The most expensive suggestion was a contribution of $1.5 million to the city’s general fund, which supports services such as police and fire.
The city received more than 800 survey responses and identified the following as the community’s top three favorites:
• A dog park at Kimball Park, which would be accompanied by lighting around the playground and ballfield. The project is estimated to cost $250,000, according to the city.
• A splash pad and children’s area at Las Palmas Park to replace an aging pool slide with a water playground and other shower features. This could cost around $750,000.
• Repair city streets and alleys for an estimated cost of $1 million.
The $1.5 million contribution to the city’s general fund received the fewest votes, according to the survey.
There were also more than 100 responses from residents who had their own ideas that were not on the list. Some of the most popular included restrooms at Paradise Creek Educational Park, lighting at different parts of Kimball Park other than at the playground and ballfield, preserving historic sites and fixing potholes and roadways.
“The Paradise Educational Park needs a bathroom. Even if it’s a portapotty. Just something — all the other parks have restrooms and this is a really necessary requirement and should have been included when the latest park development was originally designed,” read a comment from one of the survey users.
City Council members will ultimately vote on how to allocate the $3 million and it could look a little different than what the public ranked from most to least favorable.
Last week, city staff said council members should consider funding the community’s top two favorites and the following:
• New homeless services equipment, such as a truck, for $500,000. This ranked No. 4 on the survey;
• A dog park at Las Palmas Park for $200,000, which ranked No. 5;
• A yoga and fitness lawn at Las Palmas Park for $250,000. This ranked No. 12;
• Improvements to cultural assets such as Granger Music Hall and others for $500,000. This ranked No. 13;
• Bathrooms at Paradise Creek Educational Park for $500,000, which was a suggestion made by the public.
The council agreed on a majority of the items, but disagreed on the yoga and fitness lawn, which would be a sectioned-off location as part of a separate project to build a wellness center at Las Palmas Park.
Councilmember Jose Rodriguez said rather than spending money on a fenced area, the $250,000 could go toward grants for businesses that are struggling because of the pandemic. Those businesses could tap into other state or county grant programs, said Councilmember Ron Morrison, adding that “here we can make a one-time, actual improvement within our city.”
There was also a suggestion by Councilmember Mona Rios to replace the fitness lawn with free internet at parks. City Manager Brad Raulston said the city is confident it could find other funding sources to pay for that program.
At a future meeting, the City Council will approve the final list of projects to fund. The city has until December 2024 to tell the federal government how it will spend the stimulus funding.