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PARKS AND RECREATION
COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING
December 15, 2020
7pm
Agenda posted according to PAMC Section 2.04.070.
********BY VIRTUAL CONFERENCE ONLY*******
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Pursuant to the provisions of California Governor’s Executive Order N-29-20, issued on March 17, 2020,
to prevent the spread of Covid-19, this meeting will be held by virtual teleconference only, with no
physical location. The meeting will be broadcast on Midpen Media Center at https://midpenmedia.org.
Unless otherwise noted on the site. Members of the public who wish to participate by computer or phone
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calling in or connecting online 15 minutes before the item you wish to speak on.
I. ROLL CALL
II. AGENDA CHANGES, REQUESTS, DELETIONS
III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Members of the public may address the Commission on any subject not on the agenda. A reasonable time
restriction may be imposed at the discretion of the Chair. The Commission reserves the right to limit oral
communications period to 3 minutes.
IV. DEPARTMENT REPORT
V. BUSINESS
1. Approval of the Draft November 24, 2020 Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes – Chair – Action
(5min) ATTACHMENT
2. Approval of Ramos Park Improvement Ordinance – Peter Jensen – Action (60 min) ATTACHMENT
3. Ramos Park Dog Off-Leash Area Pilot Program – Peter Jensen – Discussion (60 min)
ATTACHMENT
4. Parks and Recreation Commission Outreach Best Practices – Chair & Vice Chair – Discussion (20
min)
5. Other Commission Ad Hoc and Liaison Updates – Chair – Discussion (5min) ATTACHMENT
VI. TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR JANUARY 26, 2021
VII. COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
VIII. ADJOURNMENT
PUBLIC LETTERS
4 December 15, 2020
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DRAFT
Draft Minutes 1
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2
3
4
MINUTES 5
PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION 6
REGULAR MEETING 7
November 24, 2020 8
Virtual Conference 9
Palo Alto, California 10
11
Commissioners Present: Chair Jeff Greenfield, Anne Cribbs, Jeff LaMere, David Moss, Jackie 12
Olson, Keith Reckdahl 13
Commissioners Absent: 14
Others Present: Council Member Kou 15
Staff Present: Daren Anderson, Catherine Bourquin, Lam Do 16
I. ROLL CALL 17
II. AGENDA CHANGES, REQUESTS, DELETION 18
III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 19
Mr. Lam Do: First up, we have one speaker, Monica Williams. Ms. Monica Williams: 20
Thank you. Good evening, Commissioners and Chair Greenfield. I am Monica Engel 21
Williams, President of the Palo Alto Pickleball Club. On behalf of our club members, I’d 22
like to give you an update on the pickleball courts that were opened at Mitchell Park just a 23
year ago. Thank you all for the support that you provided. The pickleball courts are 24
massively popular and have become a daily destination and an amazing gathering place for 25
the whole community. We’re proud to have been accepted into the City of Palo Alto Co-26
Sponsorship Program for Nonprofit Organizations. To date, our total membership is 559, 27
and 51 percent are Palo Alto residents. We reach out to teach youth and seniors through 28
the City Recreation Department, the latest being a youth winter class starting in December, 29
and our volunteers have offered team building sessions to City executives and staff. Our 30
membership fees have enabled us to fund the installation of LED lights on the new 31
pickleball courts and to also install a new gate to enable a safer flow of people during the 32
COVID pandemic. We funded these upgrades by donating $10,000 to the Adopt-A-Park 33
program, and since 2019, our club has provided balls, paddles and portable nets for the 34
community to use at a cost of over $9,000. We’re very grateful for the pickleball courts, 35
because they are bringing much joy to so many people, but we do want to report three 36
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problems that would be easy to fix. Current pickleball lines on the multi-purpose courts are 1
very hard to see and are confusing for beginning players or seniors with vision problems. 2
Painting the lines with a brighter color would solve this problem. Two, the current signs 3
on the courts are out of date and are very confusing to players, because they state that one-4
and-a-quarter hours is allowed, when a pickleball game takes only 15 to 20 minutes. The 5
Board would like to offer suggestions for more appropriate signs for the pickleball courts, 6
ones that have been used successfully in other cities. The third problem is that evening 7
pickleball has become extremely popular, especially by young players, but we only have 8
the use of six courts after 3:00 p.m., because tennis players have priority use of the 9
multipurpose courts from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily. We are in the process of collecting 10
data of evening activity, and on average we have about 40 pickleballers wanting to play, 11
but the six courts can only accommodate 24 people. The Board requests that pickleball be 12
given priority for all the courts on at least four nights a week. These three suggestions will 13
help improve pickleball play at Mitchell Park for the whole community. Please come out 14
and play with us soon. Thank you very much for your time. 15
Chair Greenfield: Thank you, Monica. No more speakers, Lam? 16
Mr. Lam Do: That is correct. 17
IV. DEPARTMENT REPORT 18
Mr. Anderson: Good evening, Commissioners. In one of my previous department reports, 19
I had mentioned that Jazmin Leblanc had left the City. She moved on to a different job in 20
Santa Barbara, and I wanted to left you know that we have submitted a request to fill her 21
position. It’s a vacant Senior Analyst position within Community Services, and that goes 22
to a Hiring Freeze Committee to review all positions right now, so I’m not certain it will 23
be approved, but I’ll keep you in the loop as that one moves forward. I mentioned also 24
before, in passing, that the City is in the process of updating our websites. Community 25
Services is working on our pages. We don’t have a date yet for beta testing or a go-live 26
date. It’s taking a little longer than originally anticipated. Probably the first couple months 27
of the new year before we are ready to go live. We are starting to work on our Capital Plan 28
reviews and submittals. I’ll be setting up a meeting with the CIP Ad Hoc to discuss next 29
steps and get Commissioner input in December. A little update on the limited stay-at-home 30
order that the State implemented, from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., and the ways it’s impacted 31
the Parks Department. Rinconada and Mitchell Park tennis courts will close at 9:30 p.m. 32
They normally close at 10:00 p.m. This is to allow enough time for folks to get home, so 33
the lights will shut off early. The same with the field rentals at Stanford Palo Alto Playing 34
Fields and El Camino Park. They will close at 9:30 p.m. and lights will shut off at that time. 35
A JMZ update – John had shared some information I’d like to convey to you. That is, the 36
construction is nearly complete with the punch list items underway. The facility was turned 37
over to the City in August, with the majority of the operations having moved from 38
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Cubberley to the new facility. There are 179 new animals that have been acquired since 1
July, including 27 birds, 2 mammals, 150 fish, with more scheduled through next spring, 2
and all animals undergo veterinary health screenings at the new site and then are 3
conditioned to their home and routine. Interactive exhibits are being installed in Exhibit 4
Hall, and work is expected to be completed in January. Studios have been installed in the 5
science labs in classrooms and are being used for in-school and at-home virtual science 6
lessons. Regarding the opening date, we’re evaluating the appropriate time to open the 7
facility and take into the account COVID-19. We’ll update you as we know more on that 8
one. I’ve got a couple updates on Foothills Park, the name change. On November 2nd, 9
Council had directed staff to pursue changing the name of Foothills Park to Foothills 10
Nature Preserve and to follow the City’s naming policy. The process is to submit the name 11
change to the Palo Alto Historical Association and receive comment and evaluation, which 12
I have done, and 13 of the 18 members have voted, so they should be wrapping up that 13
process soon. They send an evaluation to me, and I will put a staff report together. It will 14
come to the Parks and Recreation Commission for your evaluation, and then you’ll make 15
a recommendation to Council. Regarding Foothills Park and opening to the general public, 16
we understand there may be a referendum effort underway to nullify the City Council 17
approval to open the preserve to the general public, so it is possible that the opening won’t 18
occur on December 17th as originally planned. However, we’re continuing with our efforts 19
to prepare for the opening, to be ready, to make sure it’s successful. During the Council 20
discussion on this topic, staff had mentioned several steps that we would take prior to 21
opening. One of them was to install a real time vehicle counter, which gives the Rangers a 22
little better technique to estimate how many people are in the park at any one time, as 23
opposed to the total count for the day, which is how we have it right now. That would 24
increase waste collection and that we would do improvements to the parking. Those efforts 25
are underway now. For opening day, we mentioned that we would have some support from 26
Community Services Recreation Special Event staff. It looks like we’ll have two hourly 27
naturalists that have a little extra time, and we’ll be using them in the beginning, that first 28
couple days and the first few weekends, as they’re available, to help fill in and give some 29
extra support to the Rangers, and the Community Services Officers from the Police 30
Department would be able to help us, too, to help support the Rangers. Additionally, the 31
City Manager has pulled together a group of partnership groups, including Grassroots 32
Ecology, Friends of Foothills Park, the Environmental Volunteers, a Professor representing 33
Stanford University, and both our Chair and Vice Chair from this Commission, to discuss 34
ways of making the opening of Foothills Park a positive and welcoming experience. Some 35
of the ideas developed so far were suggestions from each group. For example, Grassroots 36
Ecology is willing to help with environmental monitoring. In fact, they have already some 37
of the monitoring with the help of their college interns, which was really great. They’ve 38
monitored the first 200 feet of trails to get baseline information on invasive species that 39
exist, and see if it changes over time with increased visitation. They mentioned that they’ve 40
got college and high school internship programs, where a small group of approximately ten 41
learn about the restoration process, and they are thinking of adding a middle school 42
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program in the near future. This might be an opportunity for some of our newer park 1
visitors to join and get involved and learn about restoration. They’re also planning a virtual 2
naturalist talk on Foothills Park sometime in January, another great way for people to learn 3
more about the natural environment within Foothills Park. It will be offered both in English 4
and Spanish. The Friends of Foothills Park, a long-tenured environmental group that 5
focuses on habitat restoration, are putting together a brochure on their stewardship 6
program, which staff will promote, put in our kiosk and help distribute to make sure people 7
can see it. They’ll be continuing their regular Sunday, 9:00 a.m., meetings at Orchard Glen 8
Picnic Area, where they meet and discuss restoration plans, and they will welcome new 9
visitors to learn and participate and join the Friends if they would like to learn more about 10
their habitat restoration programs. The Environmental Volunteers will provide a mobile 11
interpretive tool, called a Wonder Cart that will help allow people to learn more about the 12
natural environment while being outside and socially distanced. They are going to do a 13
month – or quarterly, yet to be determined – nature program on some interesting feature of 14
Foothills Park, and they will create a site guide, which will be an online tool for people to 15
learn more about the preserve and how to prepare themselves to come and enjoy it. Lastly, 16
they’ve got a graphic designer who’s working with City staff on a welcome banner for the 17
entrance to the preserve. I think one of the bigger outcomes that I really like for our last 18
discussion with this group was looking at the opening of Foothills Park as something spread 19
out over 2021, as opposed to just on December 17th, which is a thoughtful way of looking 20
at it. I should also note that the Ad Hoc and I have met to discuss items that the Council 21
had asked the Commission to work on. That includes the possible entry fee, visitor limit 22
capacity and other management and environmental studies. I need to meet again soon with 23
the Ad Hoc, but we make some good progress in discussing some of those issues, and I 24
think that would be coming to the full Commission sometime soon. A little update on the 25
Magical Bridge Playground. I’m just going to quickly recap the rules of the playground, 26
just so any people from the public hear the consistent message. The playground is open 27
Tuesday through Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., so it is closed Mondays and holidays, and 28
it will be closed this Thursday and Friday, both City holidays. The maximum capacity is 29
55 visitors with a limit to 30 minutes. Everyone two years and older who can wear mask 30
needs to wear one and maintain the six feet social distance between people from other 31
households. This is another important one – we don’t allow food, beverage, toys or 32
cardboard boxes. We still have a lot of folks bringing cardboard boxes, which is a fun way 33
to slide down the synthetic turf and one of the slide areas inside the playground. Just a little 34
bit on the stats so far. We opened on November 17th, and we had 41 people for the day. By 35
Thursday, November 19th, we had 153 people. On Saturday we had 336, and on Sunday 36
413, so increasing in popularity, which is no surprise. We’ll continue to monitor as the 37
word gets out perhaps the visitation increases, but we have other things that may affect 38
visitation. Of course, the weather being one, but I understand Redwood City would be 39
opening their Magical Bridge sometime soon, which may share the load a little bit of people 40
seeking a really inclusive playground like these. I should note that on the weekends, the 41
busier times, we did reach capacity a few times. That is, we had a line of people waiting to 42
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get in, about 10 to 12 people. It didn’t take long. They were cycling through fairly quickly, 1
but it is important to note we reached capacity, and there is the potential of folks having to 2
wait a little bit to get in. We talked a little bit earlier with an Ad Hoc about volunteers. So 3
far we haven’t had volunteers yet, but we’ve got a list of folks who have completed the 4
necessary fingerprinting, and we’ll be scheduling them soon, most likely on weekends, to 5
assist. Even without the volunteers, though, between staff and our contractors, we’ve 6
managed the crowds well, and people self-manage once inside the playground fairly well. 7
That concludes the Department report. 8
Chair Greenfield: Thank you. Any questions from Commissioners regarding the 9
Department report? Okay, then we will move on to the business. Before we start, taking 10
into consideration where we are in the year, just a couple quick comments. It’s been a 11
difficult year for everyone, just to state the obvious, but we have a lot to be thankful for, 12
that we are here where we are. I want to start by extending a big thank you to staff for all 13
they have done through this difficult time. Your dedication is something we always knew 14
was there, but it’s really shown through in the past eight or nine months. We thank you. I 15
want to thank all the Commissioners, as well, and Council Members and our partners. The 16
community is very appreciative of all these efforts that help give us some extra outlets and 17
some things to do that have a few extra bright shining lights during these difficult times. 18
Certainly, our parks have been more well thought of than perhaps ever, and the 19
understanding of the importance of the parks has really been emphasized and brought to 20
the forefront. So I just wanted to thank you to everyone. We have a lot to be thankful for. 21
V. BUSINESS 22
1. Approval of Draft Minutes from the October 27, 2020 Parks and Recreation 23
Commission meeting 24
Approval of the draft Minutes was moved by Commissioner Moss and seconded by 25
Commissioner LaMere. Passed 6-0. 26
2. Rinconada Park Interpretive Solar System Update 27
Chair Greenfield: The next item of business is the Rinconada Park Interpretive Solar 28
System Update, something we’re interested in hearing. Daren, could you please introduce 29
our speaker? 30
Mr. Anderson: Thank you, Chair. My pleasure to introduce John Aikin. He’s the Director 31
of the Junior Museum and Zoo. Thanks so much for being here tonight, John. Greatly 32
appreciate it. Mr. John Aikin: Good evening, Commissioners. It’s an honor to be here. I’m 33
here to speak about the solar system model that’s planned as an interpretive element in 34
Rinconada Park. The installation is part of the Rinconada long range plan, which calls for 35
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exhibits and public art throughout the park. We called this exhibit Voyage, because we’re 1
actually looking at purchasing an exhibit, an already-made exhibit. I’ll tell you a little bit 2
more about it. It’s called Voyage, in part because it was launched originally at the National 3
Mall in Washington, D.C. when the Voyager spacecraft was collecting information and 4
sending it back to the U.S. It’s a one- to ten-billionth model of our solar system, spanning 5
about 2,000 feet. It was first installed at the National Air and Space Museum in 6
Washington, D.C., in the mall adjacent to the museum, and its production was managed by 7
the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and the Arthur C. Clark 8
Institute for Space Education. I’ve got to say, those are great credentials. These people have 9
got contacts to make sure that their facts are absolutely correct and that the model is 10
accurate. There were prior installations, not just the one in Washington, D.C., but in Corpus 11
Christi, Texas; Houston, Texas; and Kansas City. In terms of budget, it’s about a $60,000 12
investment. That’s because it’s very well made. We are paying for it with a mix of funds 13
from Friends of the Junior Museum and Zoo, which have come up with $20,000 for it, and 14
$40,000 from our exhibits budget, because we are trying to coincide this installation with 15
the re-opening of the Junior Museum. Voyage is an amazing model because of its sense of 16
scale. It really shows you how small we are, and it celebrates what we know about earth 17
and space and our ability to know it. It reveals the true nature of human existence, six 18
billion souls occupying a tiny, fragile, beautiful world in vast space. It’s an exhibition that 19
speaks to all humanity, and like all models, it develops a deep connection and 20
understanding to our world in the context of the greater universe. This one, anyway. As I 21
was saying earlier, the elements are really well-crafted, durable and beautiful. It’s made 22
out of anodized aluminum so things don’t rust. Very durable, graphic interface, and 23
essentially, most of the models of the planets and various elements are 3D models that are 24
a hologram inside crystals, so it has phenomenal details within it. It is a series of stanchions 25
that run a linear line, so we had to figure out exactly how we were going to install this, plus 26
the producer is very picky about its accuracy. They will not let you install it unless you are 27
absolutely accurate. They provided this overlay for us to look at maps of Rinconada Park 28
and find out within the orbits of each of the planets where they would coincide with 29
pathways so we could create this linear line. Just to kind of show you how particular they 30
are about accuracy, here is a table they’ve provided that lists the model objects – the sun 31
through Neptune on the left. Really, the focus of our conversation here is the last column, 32
the average distance in feet for the model, plus or minus. This is the error rate that you have 33
to be, say for earth, within 0.82 feet. In other words, like ten inches of the distance from 34
the sun. They’re really trying for accuracy here. It’s pretty amazing. We’ve laid out, 35
preliminarily, the inner solar system model here in this slide, in Rinconada Park. Let me 36
tell you what you’re looking at, because this is kind of an odd view right now. You’re 37
looking at the construction site for the Junior Museum a year ago. There aren’t any updated 38
satellite images that I could find that were any earlier than a year. The Museum roof is this 39
gray roof here. This is the area where the Zoo is located and this is the wall that separates 40
the Zoo from Rinconada Park. This are is the entrance to Rinconada Park that will have a 41
circular plaza. The Girl Scout House is right here. In fact, you can see its brown roof right 42
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there. Right next to the Girl Scout House, our promenade in front of the Junior Museum 1
intersects with the entrance to the park, and we’re planning on putting the sun right there 2
and then clustering the planets nearby. This layout shows them in a sequence as you walk 3
into the park, with the inner solar system all, really, within that playground area to the park 4
entrance. As you get to the outer solar system, you add quite a bit more distance to it. Here 5
is our inner solar system, coming along here, and then you eventually get to Uranus, which 6
is right outside the pool. Then Neptune, which would be right outside the Rinconada 7
Library and across from the Arts Center. Pluto – we’re debating whether or not to include 8
Pluto. Pluto is a subject of debate. It’s no longer considered a planet. It’s now a dwarf 9
planet, but if we include Pluto, it will be way out here by the composting area of the 10
Community Garden, right at the parking lot. What are our next steps? We will complete 11
the layout, hopefully by December of 2020, as Peter is finalizing and bringing it in to the 12
Park Improvement drawings for the contractor that they are about to go out and rebid that 13
project with us. The contractor for fabrication that we need to work with, or through, is the 14
National Center for Earth and Space Science. They manage all of the fabrication, and we 15
need to get into contract with them in January of 2021. The footings will be installed by 16
the Improvement Contractor, under Peter’s watchful eyes, likely in March of 2021. Exhibit 17
installation will be done by the Junior Museum and Zoo’s Exhibit Team, likely in July of 18
2021. That’s all I really have to present, but I’d love to entertain questions that anybody 19
has. 20
Chair Greenfield: Thank you very much. That was a really interesting presentation. It 21
sounds like a really interesting project and sounds like it must have been a blast to work 22
on. Any Commissioners have some questions? Raise your hand, or I can call on you and 23
give everyone an opportunity to speak. Anyone want to speak first? Commissioner 24
Reckdahl. 25
Commissioner Reckdahl: I’m really excited about this. This looks like a very educational 26
and also a piece of art. A piece of art that teaches something is always the best combination. 27
You said these are very well-made. What is the lifespan that we expect out of them? 28
Mr. Aikin: These are typical exterior installations that are made out of these kinds of 29
materials can last decades. I would expect 30 years, is usually what we look at for this level 30
of quality. 31
Commissioner Reckdahl: And of that $60,000 of the cost, how much of that is installation 32
and how much is actually buying it? 33
Mr. Aikin: Actually, $35,000 is actually all of the pieces, and then there is shipping, and 34
we are doing some upgrades. I really should say, $35,000 is the base price. You can buy 35
this for a little bit less expensive with a little bit less quality materials. We’ve chosen some 36
of the upgrades to make sure that the quality is there, so it’s really the mix of the upgrades, 37
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shipping and handling, and our Exhibits crew is doing the installation, so that’s no cost. 1
The hardware is in the main budget, then the footings are part of the Park Improvement 2
budget that Peter is managing, because those will go in with the contractor and the pathway 3
installations. 4
Mr. Reckdahl: And will each planet have a full explanation, so if you stumble on one, you 5
know what it is? 6
Mr. Aikin: At the entrance, over here by the sun, there will be actually, and introduction 7
telling you that you are entering an exhibit, and then on the far side of Neptune, there will 8
be another introductory sign. I believe the graphics do also have a line that shows you 9
where you are in the sequence. 10
Mr. Reckdahl: Okay. It would be good, especially if you’re sitting at Neptune, it may not 11
be obvious where Uranus and Saturn and Jupiter would be. There’s a lot of different ways 12
to go between there and the Sun. I’m looking forward to this. Very good. 13
Mr. Aikin: Great. Thank you. 14
Chair Greenfield: Other Commissioners like to have an opportunity for questions or 15
comments? Commissioner Moss? 16
Commissioner Moss: This is pretty amazing. I didn’t believe it would fit, but it looks like 17
you have shoehorned it in. When I drove by there over the weekend, I couldn’t see where 18
the entrance to the Park was going to be, near the Junior Museum and Zoo, and now I can 19
see, there’s a little path, very small path, between the parking lot and the Park, so that’s 20
helpful. It looks good, it looks good. Thank you. 21
Mr. Aikin: Thank you. 22
Chair Greenfield: Commissioner Olson? 23
Commissioner Olson: I don’t have any questions, but I am very much looking forward to 24
this as well. My kids are at the age where they just love the planets and exploring, so we 25
would love to participate as soon as it’s open. Thank you. 26
Mr. Aikin: That’s great. I might also mention that the original concept for a solar system 27
model in the Park came from the teaching staff at the Junior Museum and Zoo, because 28
they wanted to be able to take classes out and show them in full scale – excuse me, ten 29
billionth scale – a scale model of the solar system. 30
Chair Greenfield: Great. Commissioner LaMere? 31
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Commissioner LaMere: I think this is a very cool project. Thank you so much for 1
spearheading this. With the installation – first of all, I’m assuming this is a permanent 2
exhibition? Is that correct? 3
Mr. Aikin: Correct. 4
Commissioner LaMere: Okay, and does it fall under any of the art covenants or anything 5
that we’ve looked at with our Parks planning in the past, where we’ve had to move 6
something, but it couldn’t be moved because it was an art installation? Is there anything 7
with that with this installation? 8
Mr. Aikin: My understanding is that it’s not public art. It’s just an exhibit installation, and 9
in the way we treat exhibits in the open space preserves and in the Junior Museum is that 10
they all have a life and eventually wear out and are replaced. 11
Commissioner LaMere: Okay. The porcelain enamel for the displays, I’m assuming that’s 12
long-lasting? I sometimes see signage that fades quickly or fades away before the 13
installation, so I imagine that has the same lifespan as what we expect with the other parts 14
of the installation? 15
Mr. Aikin: It does. One of the big issues with outdoor graphics is fading over time. We can 16
replace them if they do, but these have the same durability as freeway signs. It’s the same 17
process. 18
Commissioner LaMere: Do we anticipate any of the placements of, perhaps, Jupiter or any 19
of the other planets that would impact any of the usage of the grass field? 20
Mr. Aikin: I don’t think so. I think it’s likely that, depending on where Peter has got this 21
path laid out, I think what we would like to do is have the sequence in line with each other 22
enough that you can see to the next stanchion. I’ve drawn it here, but it may just curve in 23
further and be tucked in over this way. It just needs to be within the orbit. 24
Commissioner LaMere: Great. Thank you so much. This is going to be great when this gets 25
installed. 26
Mr. Aikin: Thank you. 27
Chair Greenfield: Vice Chair Cribbs? 28
Vice Chair Cribbs: Nothing to say. Thank you very much. I think it’s really exciting, as do 29
the rest of the Commissioners, and only leads to all the anticipation for the Junior Museum 30
to be opening as well, so very fun. Thank you so much. 31
Mr. Aikin: Thank you. 32
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Chair Greenfield: I agree. This is very exciting and very interesting. Commissioner LaMere 1
touched on most of my question areas. I was kind of curious if Public Art funds can be 2
used for this, and I understand there’s a good reason not to use Public Art funds so that we 3
have more control on the lifetime and replacement of the installation. Last question I have 4
is how will the fate of Pluto be decided? 5
Mr. Aikin: I think we’ll be talking with Peter and the Museum staff about it. It was on our 6
original plans, and I noticed lately a draft that I saw, it was gone, so I didn’t know how to 7
deal with it for this presentation. I thought, “I’ll just say it’s in question.” We’ll go back 8
and take it to the committee, and we’ll figure it out. I’d like to put it there, because I think 9
controversy is good. We just have to make sure the graphics talk about it as an issue. 10
Chair Greenfield: I agree. I think older generations tend to have a fond place in their hearts 11
for Pluto, and it seems worthwhile for that discussion to continue with younger generations, 12
rather than allowing the concept to die out. Excellent stuff. It’s really hard to visualize 13
exactly what this project was when we’re just hearing a short description. This really puts 14
it into color and gives it life, and can’t wait to see it open up for the public to enjoy. Thank 15
you very much. 16
Commissioner Moss: A I look at this picture, are you going to be able to see? If you stand 17
near Uranus, will you be able to see Neptune, and if you’re standing near Neptune, will 18
you be able to see Uranus? 19
Mr. Aikin: That’s a good question. When I’ve walked the site I’ve looked through there 20
and it depends on kind of where you’re standing where they’re located, so it’s kind of iffy. 21
One of our options was to look at putting Neptune way out here. The downside with that 22
is it encourages people to do what is a not very safe crossing on the street here. Where this 23
sidewalk is used much more, I think people will engage with it over here by the library and 24
know that the rest of the exhibit is there. We’re going to challenge ourselves to try and 25
figure out a way to make this a visual connection if we can. 26
Commissioner Moss: Yeah, maybe you make Neptune a little bit higher, or Uranus a little 27
bit higher, so you can see over some obstacles, or at least point to where it is the next step 28
in the path. 29
Mr. Aikin: We’ll do that. We’ll probably have a little map, too, to show you how to get 30
there. 31
Chair Greenfield: There’s a lot of signage in the park already, and there’s signage in terms 32
of bike paths and where they go. It seems like we should be able to piggyback on that 33
branch, but certainly want to be able to make it easy for people to connect the dots, or the 34
planets. Thank you very much, John. Does anyone else have any comments? [None] 35
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3. Aquatics Program Annual Report 1
Chair Greenfield: I see that Tim Sheeper is here, and Daren, would you like to introduce 2
our speakers, please? 3
Mr. Anderson: Thank you, Chair. Yes, my pleasure to introduce Sharon Eva, Manager with 4
Community Services Department, overseeing Aquatics and several other programs. Our 5
contractor, Tim Sheeper, Founder and owner of Palo Alto Swim and Sport. Thank you both 6
so much for being here. 7
Ms. Sharon Eva: I am here, joined with Tim Sheeper of Team Sheeper. I’m sure you 8
already know that Tim manages the Aquatics program at Rinconada Pool. I’ll begin with 9
introducing a few performance updates from the past year and share Team Sheeper’s ’20-10
’21 goals. Tim will then follow with a presentation that describes these updates and goals 11
in more detail. It was just three months into this year that we were hit with this pandemic, 12
and unfortunately, we’re still living through it now. However, with the attentiveness of Tim 13
and his staff, they were able to reactivate Rinconada Pool immediately upon receiving 14
clearance from the County. Since then, there have been 25,000 lap swim visits at the pool, 15
of which 72 percent of those visits are Palo Alto residents, and 10,000 of those are seniors; 16
3,700 family swim visits, 210 summer campers that were registered in three-week-long 17
summer camp sessions, and also the Palo Alto Masters has grown to 41 swimmers. This 18
all occurred within this past calendar year, 2020. Some of their 2021 goals are to improve 19
their reservation system. Another thing is to remain nimble, and the third is to endure. I’ll 20
now turn this presentation to Tim, who will go over the updates and goals I just mentioned 21
in further detail. 22
Mr. Tim Sheeper: Thank you, Sharon. Good evening, Commissioners. I just have a few 23
slides; I think there’s five or six. In the report I put together, I went extensively into the 24
community, the annual survey, and focused on what we really needed to work on and 25
improve from the feedback that we received. I just wanted to go through, with this slide, 26
and really paint a picture of how the community is feeling about swimming at the pool and 27
being a part of the Aquatic Center. This is the people who are satisfied and/or extremely 28
satisfied with these programmings, and it was nice to see that 92 percent of the Masters 29
swimmers are really enjoying what’s going on in their first year in the transition from 30
Rinconada Masters to Palo Alto Masters. It’s due in part to just this great leadership that 31
we have from the wonderful new coach that we have. Then, 89 percent are feeling safe at 32
the facility with the entry and exit procedures and just the way our staff is handling and the 33
other people are using the pool. Eighty-eight percent of the people are satisfied or 34
extremely satisfied with the full lap swim; 85 percent with the way they are being 35
lifeguarded and the whole lifeguarding situation at the pool; 82 percent are very pleased 36
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with the family swim experience that we were able to hold this summer, opening the play 1
pool and cordoning off a little bit of each leaf of the pool, so we can put a family of five in 2
the pool; 81 percent are very pleased with the level of communications that we have, either 3
on our website or our constant email broadcasts. As Sharon mentioned, and as Jeff 4
mentioned, it is a collaboration, and there was a lot of communication, near constant 5
communication right prior to the shutdown and during the shutdown and prior to 6
reactivation, and a lot of planning went on with City staff. A lot of pieces were put together 7
quickly, so that we could transition smoothly, so that the community could benefit right 8
away without and stalls or hurdles or hiccups. I put so much information about the lap 9
swimming in the report, so I just wanted to give you a little snapshot of what I think is 10
important about the lap swimming. Ninety-one percent of the lanes are filled all the time; 11
72 percent of the people swimming at lap swim are residents; 34 percent are seniors. There 12
are 290 people who are monthly members. The cost breakdown – because we limit people 13
to four swims per week – it breaks out to a regular adult swim would be $4.31 a swim, or 14
$3.68 for a senior swim., just to give you an idea of the volume and what’s going in and 15
out of the pool on a daily average. This is just average numbers. Of course, there’s going 16
to be some days that are bigger. This is a combination of lap swimmers and open swimmers, 17
Master swimmers and the youth swim teams. It’s about 255 swimmers on a daily basis 18
coming in and out. You have to remember, that’s just one person per lane, so the pool is 19
being heavily utilized, as far as from 6:00 a.m. to well into the night. Looking forward to 20
2021, we struggled as a company, as a provider, with our registration system. It’s basically 21
our reservation system. We’ve had this registration system where we’ve never used the 22
reservation part of it. Even the provider, the platform, it wasn’t using this heavily before, 23
so we had to modify it quickly to make it happen. There were just some hurdles along the 24
way, so we are really pleased that we are quite a ways down the road of just replacing the 25
whole business system, which includes the reservation system, so we’ll be able to change 26
the release times of when people can make their reservations. Currently it opens up at 27
midnight every night, and we can’t change that. The target date is by February 1st just to 28
install a whole new program. It’s been a massive undertaking. It takes several months to 29
switch systems. We just hope to pretty much continue operating as we’re operating right 30
now and just having that nimble part, so whatever changes with our community and our 31
country, just being able to scale up, scale back or stay in place as quickly and as safely as 32
we can. I’m happy to field any and all questions at this point. 33
Chair Greenfield: Thank you, Sharon and thank you, Tim. Appreciate the update, and thank 34
you again for your perseverance through these very challenging times and reinventing 35
some wheels, it sounds like. Ann is our Aquatics liaison and our swim champion. Would 36
you like to start? 37
Vice Chair Cribbs: I would love to. I just have a couple notes that I made, but first of all I 38
want to say congratulations, Tim, to you and your team, and Sharon as well. What I hear 39
from people who just happen to say something to me about swimming is that your staff has 40
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been incredible in this time of COVID, incredibly welcoming and responsive and very 1
respectful of the community and patrons, in telling people what they have to do and what 2
they couldn’t do and where they could go, and all of that. That’s not easy, so really kudos 3
to you and the management. I just hear a lot about good customer service. I think the people 4
are going to be delighted to hear about the reservation system and not having to set your 5
alarm at 12:00 in the nighttime to get a lap in the pool the next day, so I think that’s going 6
to be great. In terms of water usage, it looks to me like you’re using as much of the water 7
as you can, as many times of the day as you can, and everything is really being utilized in 8
terms of the protocol that the County is putting on you, and that kind of thing. Do you feel 9
like that as well? 10
Mr. Sheeper: Absolutely. Yes. 11
Vice Chair Cribbs: So, if somebody said, “Tim, could you use a bigger pool or more pools, 12
or another pool in South Palo Alto?” you’d probably say what? 13
Mr. Sheeper: Right now, at this time, we wouldn’t have the staff. We’re so lean on our 14
staff. 15
Vice Chair Cribbs: That was going to be my next question. How are you doing with the 16
staff? Is it getting hard to find people? 17
Mr. Sheeper: We are right at the exact level that we need to be at, so there’s so wiggle 18
room. 19
Vice Chair Cribbs: I’m sorry there’s no wiggle room, but that’s good news that you’re right 20
where you want to go. 21
Mr. Sheeper: Yes. 22
Vice Chair Cribbs: In the past, there’s been comments about the locker rooms, and I know 23
that we’ve all tried to upgrade those a little bit, but how are the locker rooms with all of the 24
people and the protocols and all of that? How’s that going? 25
Mr. Sheeper: They’re not being used. They’re not in use. 26
Vice Chair Cribbs: Oh, that’s right. You can’t go to the locker room, right? You’re not 27
using the showers, either, correct? 28
Mr. Sheeper: Right. 29
Vice Chair Cribbs: So, maybe if we could take just one minute. Tim, can you go through 30
the protocol, so people can understand kind of the challenges? I’m so sure all of the 31
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Commissioners who don’t have, maybe, a swimming background. I’m a community 1
member coming to the pool, and what do I have to do? 2
Mr. Sheeper: First of all, you have to make a reservation to come to the pool. You can’t 3
just walk up. You can make a reservation on a drop-in basis, or you can sign up as a monthly 4
member to get more of a discounted entry, and then you have to sign up seven days in 5
advance. It opens up seven days in advance, and you pick you day and your time. You 6
arrive at the pool at your day and your time a few minutes right before, then you line up in 7
a queue that’s six feet apart, and there’s four team spots. You pass by the lifeguard and he 8
checks your name and asks you, “Are you experiencing any illness,” so he does a quick 9
verbal check, and then you walk into the pool, seven people on one side of the pool; seven 10
people on the other side of the pool, so everything is staggered. There’s only one person 11
per lane. These are 45-minute cycles, so if the cycle before you gets out quickly, you can 12
swim anywhere from 35 to 40 minutes, but in that 45-minute cycle, there’s a few minutes 13
to get into the pool and a few minutes to get out of the pool, so you’re assured 35 minutes 14
swim, but possibly a little bit more. You come in one gate and you exit the pool at a 15
different gate. Once the whistle is blown, or most people are watching the clock and they 16
know when their cycle is over. Then you just keep repeating that process. There’s 13 or 14 17
cycles a day, just one person per lane, and it just continues day after day. 18
Vice Chair Cribbs: Yeah, so it is a really big deal and a lot more than just providing 19
lifeguarding, right? 20
Mr. Sheeper: Yes, yes. 21
Vice Chair Cribbs: Then, the other thing that I do remember now is that there’s no standing 22
around on the deck and enjoying the sunshine. It’s just in and out, come to the pool in your 23
swimsuit and be ready to go. Correct? 24
Mr. Sheeper: You have to have your mask on. Anytime you’re on the pool deck, except 25
when you’re in the water. 26
Vice Chair Cribbs: One other question about entering the pool. For people who can’t dive 27
into the pool, like in the deep end and that kind of thing, can they enter the pool and then 28
go under the lane lines to get to their lane? 29
Mr. Sheeper: They’re entering just from the edge of the pool, and if they are challenged 30
getting into the pool, they let the lifeguard know at the time of entry when they’re checking 31
in, and the lifeguard either assists or switches lanes with another person so that they can 32
use the ladder to get in. 33
Vice Chair Cribbs: I got it. Okay. Thank you. Are you having swimming meets right now? 34
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Mr. Sheeper: No. 1
Vice Chair Cribbs: Not at all. 2
Mr. Sheeper: No, there’s no swim meets. 3
Vice Chair Cribbs: But Palo Alto Swim Club, PASA, is still swimming, right? Doing 4
workouts? 5
Mr. Sheeper: They are swimming the same way lap swimmers are swimmers. It’s still just 6
one person lane, and they have to do reservations, because we have to keep record for any 7
contact tracing, so we have to know exactly who is in the pool at what time. 8
Vice Chair Cribbs: So, we’re all worried about kids not getting exercise in this time, so I 9
just wanted to make sure that Palo Alto was swimming. The last compliment I have is about 10
the family swim. I think it’s great that we’ve been able to figure out letting families come 11
in five at a time, or four at a time, and have them swim in kind of pods together, or however 12
you do it. That’s great. 13
Mr. Sheeper: Yeah, thank you. Yeah, we were pleased to do that. 14
Vice Chair Cribbs: Thanks for letting me take so much time, everybody, but I think this is 15
really important, and I really appreciate the reports, so thank you, Sharon, and thank you, 16
Tim. 17
Mr. Sheeper: You’re welcome. 18
Chair Greenfield: Thank you, Anne. Appreciate your deep dive there. Would other 19
Commissioners like to speak? Any hands up? Anybody like to speak first? Jeff. 20
Commissioner LaMere: Tim, thank you so much. I think any of the facilities that we can 21
have open and used by our city for recreation is outstanding. Does anything change for 22
you, depending on what tier we are in for our County? Like, if we’re in orange tier, does 23
that impact how many people we have in the pool or anything like that? 24
Mr. Sheeper: Not really, because when we moved up to the orange tier, the mandate that 25
we’re still following is that the swimmers have to be six feet apart in and out of the water, 26
so there’s been a lot of debate and a lot of clubs and private clubs are really skirting the 27
rules by putting two or more people per lane, but we just haven’t been able to figure out 28
how to keep people six feet apart if there’s two in a lane. That’s going to disturb people 29
who want to be six feet apart, but they can’t, so we’re just staying – no matter what tier – 30
just one person per lane until things majorly change. 31
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Commissioner LaMere: Okay. I saw that there’s 41 Masters swimmers. Is that correct? 1
How do those numbers compare historically to what Masters swimming had been in the 2
previous four or five years? I don’t know if you know those numbers, but how has 3
[crosstalk] Masters swimming? 4
Mr. Sheeper: Those numbers weren’t available to us. They were not shared with us, so I 5
don’t know how to compare them, but I do know the numbers when they were…Rinconada 6
Masters at its height was close to 200 swimmers in its heyday. I don’t know what it was 7
last year or in previous years. It’s growing, and it’s nice to see that it’s growing when we 8
only have a very few workouts, and 35-minute workouts at that. 9
Commissioner LaMere: I also saw that PASA was using 26 ½ hours per week, and the 10
Masters were using 9 ½ this summer. Why such a big difference when the previous year, 11
the Masters were at 17, and also PASA was at 17? 12
Mr. Sheeper: It comes down to numbers. There’s 41 Master swimmers. PASA was 13
optimizing lane space at a maximum. Their team is close to 200 members, and they would 14
normally have five to eight swimmers per lane, so it just has a lot of swimmers to run 15
through the pool, so since we can’t condense them, we just had to extend the amount of 16
time. So, he just went later into the evening. He used to finish at like 7:00, so now he’s 17
finishing at 8:15. That cut into the lap swim time that we’re able to put in at night, but we 18
ended up putting Master swimming from 8:15 to 9:15, because now people are willing to 19
do that, just to be able to get into the pool. 20
Commissioner LaMere: I saw that there was an uptick in nonresident use – 30 percent 21
nonresident use, 70 percent resident use, which was a drop from residents. You had some 22
notes in there about perhaps it being that our pool is available to use and maybe some other 23
neighborhoods or communities were not. Were there any other thoughts? Could it be the 24
fact of the pricing or anything like that? Was there any other thoughts besides that for the 25
difference in use? 26
Mr. Sheeper: It’s all theory, but one of the big things is that Stanford was a highly-used 27
pool for lap swimming and Masters swimming. They had big programs, and that was just 28
a few miles – I don’t even know if it’s a few miles – it’s just down the road, and they 29
haven’t opened to the public yet, so it’s just for students and varsity swimmers. I’m sure 30
we’re getting a lot of those swimmers coming down to Rinconada to use the pool. I don’t 31
think it really has anything to do with price, because looking at the prices in the market, 32
before we did our price and we looked at what other people are charging, and it’s in the 33
range. 34
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Commissioner LaMere: I guess I would look forward to, I saw in the notes, that when your 1
new reservation system comes online, you’ll be able to tier the pricing. I think it’s important 2
that residents have a little bit of a cheaper price than nonresidents. I think that’s an 3
important feature for a community pool. 4
Mr. Sheeper: Oh, agreed, and we’ve always had that, but the way this system is, it can only 5
take one price. We could put resident and nonresident, but who’s going to pay the 6
nonresident? We have no way of checking. 7
Commissioner LaMere: Right. So yeah, I would look forward to that. Your Beyond 8
Barriers swimming program that you helped out underprivileged swimmers – how is that 9
advertised, or how are you able to access swimmers or even increase the number of 10
swimmers that you would be serving in that program? 11
Mr. Sheeper: We put the information on the website. I think this year it would have grown 12
a lot from last year, because the program has been around for five, six, seven years, and 13
we’re doing dozens and dozens – more than dozens. We’re doing hundreds and hundreds 14
of lessons in Menlo Park, both at Belle Haven and Burgess pool. It just hasn’t been adopted 15
in Palo Alto. I think it will take off, but we need to be able to do group lessons. We need 16
to have a more robust and vibrant swim lesson program. I think it will take hold, because 17
it really has taken off by word of mouth in Menlo Park, and especially Belle Haven. The 18
advertising for it is almost nonexistent. Beyond Barriers doesn’t do any advertising for it, 19
and it’s all about our swim instructors and our swim staff letting people know that it’s 20
available. 21
Commissioner LaMere: Great. Thank you so much for what you do with the pool. It’s such 22
a great community resource. I appreciate your efforts, especially during this uncertain time. 23
Mr. Sheeper: Thank you. 24
Chair Greenfield: Commissioner Moss? 25
Commissioner Moss: This is really amazing. Your goal of being nimble. It’s unbelievable 26
how you’ve had to adjust, and the fact that you are using the pool to the max – well, 91 27
percent - is fantastic, considering all that you have to go through. Going back to 28
Commissioner LaMere’s question about the 200 members in the past versus the 41 29
members now, I could see that, a) there’s a lot of people who may not want to be in the 30
pool during COVID at all because of fears of safety. It sounds like you're doing a fantastic 31
job as far as keeping people safe, but also the fact that you can only have one person per 32
lane is really, really limiting, and I would think that a lot of people would not want to go 33
through all the effort of signing up seven days in advance for a 30-minute workout. So, I 34
assume that you’re going to get more people back into the Masters swim once things settle 35
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down. Tell me about the new coach. It sounds like the new coach…They had a fantastic, 1
dynamic coach before for 50 years or 40 years. Tell me about the new coach. 2
Mr. Sheeper: Yes. The new coach is Steve Hurko. He is a triplet, and all three of them are 3
swimmers. They grew up swimming, and they ended up swimming at a high level for Santa 4
Clara Swim Club. He went on to swim on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo team. Then he 5
graduated and went into finance, and then decided that that was not what he wanted to do, 6
that wasn’t where his passion was, so he came back to aquatics. He worked at YMCAs, 7
and he worked at another private club. We just recruited him. He’s been with us now for 8
nearly a year. 9
Commissioner Moss: What I really wanted to know is, how is his rapport with the people? 10
Mr. Sheeper: He lives, eats and breaths swimming, and he loves people. He’s very 11
personable. He’s young and energetic. He’s under 30 years old. 12
Commissioner Moss: All right. One other thing I noticed is that you’ve had to significantly 13
reduce the number of employees in order to endure. That was your other goal. I’m 14
wondering what happened to them, and is it mainly because there’s no group lessons and 15
things like that? 16
Mr. Sheeper: Yes, yes. You could see that we, without group lessons and without open 17
swim where we would have a lot of lifeguards…We would need, on a weekend, about ten 18
lifeguards just to guard the play pool and everything, so now we could do it on a skeleton 19
staff and be very safe on a skeleton staff. It’s that high level employees or high level 20
managers are doing a lot of basic work, too, just to keep their positions and keep our 21
company going. 22
Commissioner Moss: Yeah. That’s all I had. It’s just amazing what you’ve had to go 23
through, and I hope we can see a light at the end of the tunnel middle of next year. 24
Mr. Sheeper: Yeah, thank you. 25
Chair Greenfield: Keith? 26
Commissioner Reckdahl: I was glad to see the satisfaction ratings were high, especially 27
from the Masters. That was, in the past, been a sore point, so I’m glad to see things are 28
improving. Looking through, there are a lot of complaints about the reservation system, so 29
it looks like we, hopefully, will address that with the new reservation system. There were 30
also some complaints about price, like the swim lesson prices. Only about 40 percent of 31
the people were satisfied with swim lesson prices. Can you talk about that? 32
Mr. Sheeper: Yes, the swim lesson prices. There are three types of swim lessons. There’s 33
a group swim lesson, which is three or four per instructor. There’s semi-private, which is 34
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two people per instructor, and then there’s a private lesson, which is only one person per 1
instructor. When it’s a group lesson, the lessons are about $20 per 30-minute lesson, so the 2
end user is paying $20. Now, all we can do to stay within the mandates, within the 3
guidelines, is do private lessons, so the only way you can get a swim lesson is if you pay 4
the private lesson price, so the private lesson price is out of a lot of peoples’ range, so they 5
weren’t able to take swim lessons unless they went through BBAF, and even then they 6
would have to be under a certain income range to even qualify for BBAF, so it’s really 7
taken a lot of kids out of the water and learning how to swim this summer. 8
Commissioner Reckdahl: So you think the people in the survey that were unhappy were 9
people who were used to group lessons and now they’re doing individual lessons? 10
Mr. Sheeper: Correct. That’s the only option they have. That’s the only option we have. 11
Even these private lessons, now we have to keep the instructor on the pool deck behind a 12
mask, so you cannot be a learn-to-swimmer. You have to be somebody whose safe in the 13
water, even, to be able to take a swim lesson. 14
Commissioner Reckdahl: That’s hard, yes. You said it’s $20 for 30 minutes. Was that the 15
same price as last year for the private lesson? 16
Mr. Sheeper: That’s a group lesson. 17
Commissioner Reckdahl: What is a private lesson right now? 18
Mr. Sheeper: It’s $76 for a half hour, for a private lesson for a half-hour. 19
Commissioner Reckdahl: Oh, wow. 20
Mr. Sheeper: Yeah, and that’s what it’s been for years and years. 21
Commissioner Reckdahl: Okay. That’s unfortunate. 22
Mr. Sheeper: Definitely. 23
Commissioner Reckdahl: How does that compare to other cities, like Sunnyvale and 24
Mountain View, their lessons? Are they in the same price as ours? 25
Mr. Sheeper: They’re probably not even giving swim lessons. There’s a lot of pools who 26
just didn’t have swim lessons through this pandemic, just pretty much took that right off 27
the table. It’s kind of a rarity that we’re even able to do it. 28
Vice Chair Cribbs: Tim and Keith, if I could jump in here for a second. I think this is all 29
just, the swim lesson situation right now, is just a result of the pandemic, and availability 30
of water time. The fact that you really cannot teach a child who is unsafe in the water 31
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without being in the water with him or her. You have to be in the water to teach a little kid, 1
or even an adult, how to swim who doesn’t know how to swim and who has any kind of a 2
fear at all. Maybe we shouldn’t worry too much about all of this until we get back full field 3
with a vaccine and everything. Then I would like to suggest that the Commission really 4
think about how to make up the time that kids lost because they’ve been out of the water, 5
and make sure that we can offer as many swimming lessons as possible through group 6
swimming and all of that, to make sure that kids are not missing the opportunity to learn to 7
swim. I do think, from what I know about the pricing, this private lesson business can be 8
much more than that in private clubs. I think it’s just a COVID thing right now. I don’t 9
know, Tim, whether you have anything else about that to say. 10
Mr. Sheeper: I think you summed it up pretty well. It’s not optimum for the entire 11
community, but we are proud just to be able to do that and to get an instructor who is 12
willing to teach from the pool deck behind a mask. It’s very, very difficult. It’s hard to 13
connect to a student and really make a difference. 14
Vice Chair Cribbs: I would say that it’s really hard, as an instructor, to connect with a child 15
or an adult to help them if you can’t be with them in the water, and it’s incredibly 16
frustrating, because you so want the child to do well. It hardly ever works. 17
Mr. Sheeper: Unless you’re a verbal learner, yeah. 18
Mr. Reckdahl: I’m not beating up Tim because the price is too high. We’ve lost the group 19
lessons, and that’s certainly a change in the situation. But in general, we always want to 20
see, what are we charging people and how do our rates compare. It’s the same thing if 21
you’re talking about golf, you’re talking about aquatics, you’re talking about children’s 22
theater. We want to say, “Are we charging the right amount?” A good way to look at that 23
is to say, “What are other people charging?” When we talked about this last Jazmin she 24
had promised to put in the report a comparison chart of both swim lessons and also for lap 25
swimming, and that’s not in the report this year. We’d like to see that next chair, just a 26
comparison of costs and just to say, “Where do we rank compared…?” Sharon, can you 27
take an action to include that in next year’s report? Just a generic piece of information we 28
really need to have. 29
Ms. Eva: Definitely. 30
Mr. Reckdahl: Finally, the other thing that stood out to me was, when I looked through the 31
survey on page 24, they talked about, “How did you hear about us?” and it was almost all 32
word-of-mouth or other. What outreach do we do, Sharon, so people know how to get 33
swimming lessons and how to get lap swim? 34
Ms. Eva: We do have a webpage as well as our catalog – well, it’s a virtual catalog now – 35
that promotes our aquatics programming, and then also, I know that Team Sheeper and 36
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their staff also promote it through email blasts and their own marketing. Tim, do you have 1
any more detail on how you guys also promote this? 2
Mr. Sheeper: There was no information on the “other.” It just said, “other.” We didn’t have 3
a field that filled that in. 4
Mr. Reckdahl: In the survey it says, “Other, please specify,” but we have no data for that? 5
Mr. Sheeper: We have no data for that. 6
Mr. Reckdahl: Okay, so that’s a little misleading in the fact that it says, “Please specify,” 7
then. 8
Mr. Sheeper: I have don’t have that. There’s nothing. 9
Mr. Reckdahl: Okay. That would have been good to know, because that was half the people 10
right there had “other,” and that wasn’t word-of-mouth, so they’re learning about it 11
somehow. So how does the outreach – this is a question for Sharon – how does the outreach 12
for the pool use compare to other recreation programs? 13
Ms. Eva: Basically, for other programs like within Community Services Department, we 14
actually try to utilize as much as what we have for marketing with those to also promote 15
the Aquatics program. Like I said, when we have our catalogs or we have our social media, 16
anything that Team Sheeper offers, we will try to promote that as well. We really just want 17
to make sure that the programs, their camps, their swim lessons, even when it’s time for 18
family open swim, if they are having that, then we’ll make sure to try to promote that as 19
well. 20
Mr. Reckdahl: Okay. Right now it’s kind of a moot point, because our lanes are full, but 21
going forward there’s going to be a time when the lanes aren’t full, and we really need to 22
make sure that we’re doing, especially the low cost methods through Enjoy! and other 23
places like that, make sure that we’re fully using all of the… 24
Ms. Eva: And also, we have banner spaces, even stuff like that, where we can create 25
banners for them, so we can say, “The pool’s going to be opening,” or “Summer camps are 26
going to be starting for Aquatics,” but we really make sure that we include their programs 27
within our marketing as well. It will get the word out to the community. 28
Mr. Reckdahl: Okay. That’s it. Thank you. 29
Mr. Sheeper: Keith, if I could just make a comment on that. You’re talking about filling 30
the lanes. Well, if we’re talking the performance pool with lap swim, Masters and PASA 31
using the pool, the pool is highly utilized, whether it’s pre-pandemic, pre-COVID or even 32
now, it’s highly utilized, and if we’re talking the play pool, it’s heavily utilized during the 33
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summertime with family swim, open swim and camps. You brought up lessons, so 1
historically, there has not been a big push of lessons in Palo Alto, at least in the past 20 2
years that I’ve been watching Palo Alto. We are transitioning to introducing more in-depth 3
and more year-round lessons, so we are in the infancy, if you will, of putting in a full lesson 4
program there. What stands in our way is it is very difficult to run lessons in that play pool, 5
because there’s not a lot of space to run a good, proper swim school, and using the 6
performance pool, or the big pool, it’s really tough on that pool, because it’s already heavily 7
utilized from lap, Masters and PASA. It is a puzzle. It’s still trying to work all these 8
programming pieces together, so I don’t think it’s a matter of bringing more people in or 9
people not knowing about our lesson program. It’s just making things work. I don’t know 10
if that cleared up anything. 11
Mr. Reckdahl: Yeah, part of it is, you want the lanes full, but also we’re doing a community 12
service, and you want to make sure people in the community know about the services that 13
we’re offering. Even if the lanes are fairly full, you want, still, to do the outreach. 14
Mr. Sheeper: Oh, agreed. That’s the name of the game, the outreach, yes. 15
Mr. Reckdahl: Okay, thanks. 16
Chair Greenfield: Thank you. Commissioner Olson? 17
Commissioner Olson: Tim and Sharon, thank you so much for all of your efforts. I’m really 18
glad the Commissioner Moss referred back to your goals, because I think I could adopt 19
your last two goals and see if I can continue to be nimble and endure through this. It’s 20
really impressive the amount of ability you’ve had to sort of pivot and do different things. 21
I will say, I’m only one data point, but I have taken my boys to lessons at Rinconada pool 22
in your programs and to a private place as well, and when the pandemic hit, of the two, you 23
all opened much sooner than the other pool, so I do know that I only have a very limited 24
amount of data that I’m looking at, but I was very impressed with how quickly you were 25
able to get people outside and active again. I think its so important for, not just our children 26
– I know their access is more limited right now – but seniors in particular, it’s such a great 27
outlet, and if that’s something that you’ve been doing a lot of years, and that’s the thing 28
that you do to get exercise, it’s so important to make that available. I do appreciate those 29
efforts and your report, and I hope you keep on keeping on and endure, and we’ll all get 30
through it together. Thanks so much. 31
Mr. Sheeper: Thank you, Jackie. 32
Chair Greenfield: Tim and Sharon, again, thank you for all of your efforts on this. Other 33
Commissioners have said things very eloquently how much we appreciate what you’ve 34
been able to do for our community during these challenging times. I do have a couple 35
questions. You were previously talking about the Beyond Borders program at Belle Haven 36
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and Menlo Park. Did I understand correctly that the enrollment numbers, in terms of the 1
number of lessons that you provided at those two pools through Beyond Borders is a lot 2
more than we’ve had in Palo Alto, [inaudible] that we’re only five unique swimmers that 3
we had, so it’s much more popular and people are signing up for the lessons more through 4
word-of-mouth at the other pools? 5
Mr. Sheeper: Yes, they are. It’s been around at the other pools for a lot longer. We have a 6
five-year head start on where we were. The numbers that we’re at with the Menlo Park 7
sites are extremely low as compared to what they’ve previously been as well. It’s almost 8
like families have just really stopped thinking about putting their kids into swim lessons. 9
It’s just not on their radar. I imagine it will go up in the next year or when we’re able to do 10
a full group of full service lessons. 11
Chair Greenfield: I appreciate that. It makes a lot of sense. It also ties into the data question, 12
your survey question regarding feeling safe at the pools. It’s kind of a self-selecting group 13
– the people that feel safe at the pools are the people who are going to show up, not people 14
who don’t feel safe at the pools aren’t going to be there. That totally makes sense. Is there 15
any provision for family members to share a lane? Or, for family members to share a 16
lesson? 17
Mr. Sheeper: That gets back to the one person per lane. You have to keep people six feet 18
apart, so there is…We’ve struggled with this one, and we’ve debated it so many different 19
times. Yes, we can put two family members in a single lane, but then that puts the people 20
on either side of the lanes at risk, because then they can’t be six feet apart, so it affects 21
other people. The same was for the lessons. 22
Chair Greenfield: Can you explain that? The conflict of six feet? I’m not quite getting it, 23
not quite visualizing it. 24
Mr. Sheeper: Okay, so lanes are eight feet wide, and then people swim down the middle of 25
the pool on the black line. It’s more than six feet from black line to black line, but if you 26
put two people in, they split the pool, so they’re swimming really close to the lane line, so 27
each person is swimming close to the lane line, which is then a mere three or four feet from 28
the other person, so it just condenses the space between swimmers. 29
Chair Greenfield: And all of the lessons are using the lanes as well? Are there any lessons 30
using the small pool? 31
Mr. Sheeper: They were using some lanes, but it was in the…They were using the play 32
pool as well, but what ends up happening is the play pool is mainly used for learn-to-swim 33
people, kids who don’t know how to swim, so they could touch the bottom. Since our 34
instructors could only be on the deck, we only could have people who could swim to take 35
lessons. We could only do one, because if we put two kids in or if they were siblings, that 36
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would affect the person next to them in the lane, because there would be two swimmers in 1
a lane. We were getting feedback from swimmers, because we initially started that and put 2
siblings together for lessons, and there was a lot of fear. We got feedback from lap 3
swimmers, so we just re-evaluated and then we halted that within the first two weeks. 4
Chair Greenfield: Thank you. That makes sense. I appreciate the clarification. I do echo 5
Keith’s request for cost comparison data to help provide better perspective, to help us 6
understand… 7
Mr. Sheeper: I have all that. It wasn’t in the list in the…Yeah, we’ll get it. 8
Chair Greenfield: Not that your report didn’t have enough pages in it.. 9
Mr. Sheeper: There always seems to be something. I thought, “Okay,”…it’ll be 120 pages 10
then. 11
Chair Greenfield: But again, I appreciate…This has not been an easy path for you to come 12
into our community and achieve the success in terms of the satisfaction of our community. 13
There are some high bars here to hit. I think you’re swimming through the hoops. How’s 14
that? We appreciate the effort and look for to the continuing relationship. Thank you for 15
what you’re providing our community. 16
Mr. Sheeper: Thank you. 17
Chair Greenfield: Does anyone have any follow-up questions, final comments? Council 18
Member Kou, do you have any comments? 19
Council Member Kou: No, except just thank you so much to Mr. Sheeper as well as to 20
Sharon for all of the work that you are doing here. I was going to ask a question with 21
regards to what Chair Greenfield had asked about family members sharing a lane, 22
especially for people with disabilities, so I’m thinking that perhaps, since you cannot share 23
a lane even between family members, so that question kind of got answered, so thank you. 24
Chair Greenfield: Actually, that raises another question related to the family sharing a 25
lesson. Would it be possible to have any kind of parent and child group lesson together? 26
Or the parent assisting the younger student who is learning to swim, or is that a safety issue 27
since the instructors can’t be in the pool with them. I’m talking about having a lesson done 28
in the small pool. 29
Mr. Sheeper: I believe there was some of that done in the play pool when there was a 30
parent. There was a little bit of that going on. That was a small portion of what happened 31
this summer in the play pool. That was allowed, and that did happen, but at a very small 32
level. 33
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Commissioner Moss: If the COVID issue is getting worse, not better, and I hope it’s going 1
to start ramping back down, but have you had any COVID incidences that you’ve had to 2
do that contact tracing so far? What does the County require you to do if someone tested 3
positive or something? 4
Mr. Sheeper: We haven’t had any incidents right now, so we would just have to, if 5
somebody was traced back to the pool, we would have to submit all of our records of time 6
and place and who was around them. That’s why we keep our daily records. We get them 7
from PASA. We have them in our reservation system, and we can turn them over right 8
away. 9
Commissioner Moss: Wow, okay, thanks. 10
Chair Greenfield: Interesting. Thank you. Any other Commissioners? Thank you again, 11
Sharon and Tim. We look forward to hearing back from you a year from now and hopefully 12
get to work between then and hopefully we have a much different story to hear next year. 13
Mr. Sheeper: Great, thank you very much. Thanks, Sharon. 14
4. Golf Course Annual Report 15
Chair Greenfield: We’ll now move on to our next item of business, which is the annual 16
report on our golf course. Daren, if you’d like to introduce our speaker. 17
Mr. Anderson: Thanks, Chair. Lam Do is the Superintendent of Open Space Parks and 18
Golf. Thank you so much, Lam, for being here and sharing the information about the update 19
on the golf course. 20
Mr. Lam Do: Good evening, Chair Greenfield, and members of the Commission. Thank 21
you for this opportunity to once again speak with you and share the golf course’s 22
performance. To begin with, this brief presentation is intended to supplement the staff 23
report, not replace the staff report. It is kept brief in anticipation of a more extensive Q&A 24
session with the Commission. With that, I’ll begin. A little bit of background on how our 25
golf course came to be and what led up to our course design. In looking back at some 26
historical information, our original municipal golf course was actually petitioned by the 27
community going back to 1939 when the initial thought of having a golf course offered by 28
the City was planted. Then sometime in the 1940s a Palo Alto General Recreation Advisory 29
Board proposed, too, what I believe are your predecessors, the Palo Alto Recreation 30
Commission at the time, that a course be built in the Baylands. From there, it took some 31
time, some various locations in the Baylands were considered. Some land surveys had to 32
be done, an initial site was felt to be not suitable, and eventually the current location was 33
determined to be the appropriate location to build a course. From there, our course was 34
built and eventually opened up in May of 1956. The course that was built in 1956, the 35
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course layout remained fairly the same, and there were some minor upgrades and minor 1
changes over the years. Some of them had to do with irrigation in the late 90’s as well. 2
Ultimately, there was deterioration of the course, deterioration of the turf. The irrigation 3
system had aged out, and other improvements needed to be done, so the City decided to 4
consider a full course redesign. This coincided with a need of the adjacent San Francisquito 5
Creek JPA, which wanted to expand flood control, which meant that as the creek’s girth 6
expanded it would expand into the footprint of the existing golf course. That also triggered 7
a need to redesign the golf course. At the time, in 2012, the City engaged with a golf course 8
architect, Forrest Richardson and Associates, at the time, to provide several course designs. 9
What culminated in 2013 was the selection of a links style course. A link style course being 10
one that is not flat, has contours, has elevation, has more rough areas. The term link style 11
course originated in Europe, where courses there tended to be built around pre-existing 12
contours of land. In our case, we artificially created a links style course between 2013 and 13
2016, while the City was securing environmental permits to build the course, we were also 14
importing soil and stockpiling soil so that we could create a contoured course with 15
elevation and with some rolling hills and such. After we secured enough soil to build the 16
course and also secure all of our environmental permits, in 2016 we closed the course for 17
construction, and then from there, we were able to open the course in May of 2018. A 18
change when we reopened the course from how we previously operated was the City went 19
out to seek a single operator to provide all elements of service, from managing course play 20
to managing the practice facilities, to maintaining the course itself, to handling 21
merchandise sales on behalf of the City and to also provide food and beverage service. 22
Previous to that, the City for over 30 years or so had operated with multiple operators 23
managing different perspectives. For a while, the City was also maintaining the course 24
itself until we sought a maintenance contractor, so that was one of the big changes, not just 25
that we debuted a new course, a new style, but we also went with a single operator model, 26
which I believe has provided a much richer golf experience, more cohesive experience as 27
well, and maintenance of the course is essential to how the course plays, and because it’s 28
the same company managing the course play, managing customers, that’s also the same 29
company that’s maintaining the course, I think there’s cohesiveness that benefits us all. 30
Since the course opened, I think a lot of people when we think of how is a golf course 31
performing, there are thoughts of [inaudible] golf rounds. However, that’s just part of the 32
story. There’s also customer satisfaction involved, but I think it’s hard to overlook what 33
are the key indicators that people look for? So, when you look at our first fiscal year 34
operating in 2019, we came close, but we did not achieve our targeted revenue. We had 35
revenue of $3.4 million when our expenses were about $3.7 million. This was our first year 36
of operating under the new course. We did not know fully what to anticipate, other than 37
what we had based on performers, of which we had hired the National Golf Foundation to 38
provide us with some estimates. We had also worked with a golf consultant to take a second 39
look at the National Golf Foundation’s performers, and I think they were both in 40
concurrence. However, we did not reach our target. We were a little bit above, six or nine 41
percent. I forget that figure. I apologize. Under our expected revenue line. We then moved 42
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into our second full year of operating, which ended in fiscal year 2020. You can see, there’s 1
a much lower revenue number of $2.8 million where expenses were $3.5 million. That’s 2
attributed to the current pandemic that we’re in, which started earlier this year, which 3
closed the course in March, which was the spring season. That is essentially, other than 4
summer, the peak season for golf play. We took a big financial hit in regard to revenue 5
loss, and then when the course reopened, per allowance by the State and the County, we 6
weren’t able to open full bore. We followed the guidelines of the State and County, and we 7
opened with singles play only. That further hampered our opportunity to bring in revenue, 8
which resulted in much fewer rounds of golf played and a large gap in revenue loss. 9
Surprisingly, in the current fiscal year, which started in July, we are doing well. Both the 10
County and the State changed the guidelines and provisions and allowed us to have 11
foursome play, not only foursome play, but foursome amongst different households, so that 12
gave us an opportunity to have more rounds of golf played, book more tee times. Right 13
now we’re on pace to exceed our revenue target by year-end, should everything go well. 14
It’s hard to tell. We’re only four months, almost five months, into the fiscal year, but we’re 15
also heading into the winter season. Since July we’ve been doing well and strong. 16
Hopefully, depending on the weather, if we don’t have a strong winter rain season, typically 17
we do get some revenue from there, and then it picks up in the spring and hopefully we 18
have a good spring season, which would leave us on target to hit our revenue goals. That’s 19
part of the indicators of how the golf course is doing. The other indicators would be how 20
customers view our course. The other indicators would be how they complain about our 21
course as well. From a perspective of how people, when they’ve played the course, it’s 22
been very well received, from the conditions of the course to specifically our greens are 23
very well appreciated, even among superintendents of other local courses who have played 24
our course. All feel that we have probably one of the best greens on course in the entire 25
region. That’s where things are positive. Where things are not so good, we have had some 26
issues in regards to our pricing. We did go with a dynamic pricing model, so our prices 27
fluctuate based on time of the day, day of the week, and also how far in advance one books 28
their tee time. There have been unwanted reception to the dynamic pricing. I can talk to 29
you more about that in the Q&A session as well. I think that’s a fair way to describe, but 30
there’s two sides of it all. In regard to that, to look at the revenue expenses and rounds of 31
golf played as well. How all this plays out, I think, is how well the golf course is received 32
overall, I think. When we look at that, we take a look at who’s playing our course. Where 33
are they coming from to play our course? In last fiscal year 2020, 89percent of our golfers 34
came from our county and San Mateo County. In particular, 27 percent of players were 35
Palo Alto residents. This is an increase from our prior course. Our prior course we hovered 36
right around 20 percent of our players were Palo Alto residents, so we’ve improved on that 37
figure with our new course. This fiscal year that figure is actually increased to 29 percent 38
of players are Palo Alto residents. There’s another 44 percent of county players coming 39
from other parts of the county, not including Palo Alto. In general, we are drawing a good 40
number of local players. However, we do want to be not just attracting local players, but 41
we also want to attract regional players. It’s hard to tell right now in the current pandemic 42
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whether or not people are current percentage is increasing, because we are drawing more 1
players locally who don’t want to travel, or whether there are other factors involved, but I 2
think right now we’re doing pretty well in regard to reaching our own Palo Alto players. 3
Then, to wrap up and summarize where our golf course has done and what type of profile 4
and how people rate us, I think in regards to people who actually play the course, I think 5
in general much of it is positive. The service is good, from being welcomed, from the 6
booking, from having a marshal on course to ensure pace of play is continuous. Our current 7
operator does offer a higher level service commensurate with what we think is a better 8
course, both from before and a better course compared to most of the courses we generally 9
hear that are public courses. In regards to what type of recognitions the industry has given 10
us, we have received several recognitions since we’ve opened. Soon after we opened we 11
received the “Renovation of the Year,” placing third for public courses from Golf, Inc. 12
magazine. That was a very prestigious award for us to receive. Every year there are 13
numerous courses throughout the country, public courses, that get renovated, but for us to 14
place third was a very nice recognition. Within the state, the California Parks and 15
Recreation Society awarded us an “Award of Excellence” for facility design and 16
environmental sustainability, which was one of the goals of the design, not just to have a 17
links style design, but also the selection of the type of turf that have, being salt tolerant to 18
allow us to recycled water going toward environmental sustainability and design overall. 19
That was a good award to have. Perhaps one of the best recognitions that we received is 20
from Golf Week magazine, which placed us 13th among golf courses open to the public in 21
California. This list includes several of the Monterey Bay courses, so for us to place 13th, I 22
think, shows all the work that we’ve put into this has been acknowledged and has been 23
received. With that, I’ll conclude my brief presentation, and I’ll turn it over to you. I think 24
you’re going to probably have quite a few questions for me to answer. 25
Chair Greenfield: Thank you for the presentation and for all of your work overseeing the 26
golf course and the operations. Again, there’s certainly been challenges that we’ve been 27
faced with, so thank you for persevering. Looking for hands from Commissioners who 28
might like to speak first. David? 29
Commissioner Moss: This has been a tough year under the circumstances, your second 30
year, and actually your first big year. I’m a little surprised that your 1:52:10 expenses for 31
this year - $3.5 million – were so high considering that you were shut down for a while and 32
even when you came back up, it was very slow. What goes into those expenses that required 33
it to be so high, considering? 34
Mr. Do: The lion’s share of the expenses is the course maintenance. Whether the course is 35
open or the course is closed, that cost is incurred. We’re not able to let the course grow and 36
be unkept, even though we were closed. Much of it, especially the putting greens. Putting 37
greens, if we don’t attend to them two or three times a day to keep the turf low, you risk 38
disease growing, fungus growing in the turf on the putting green. In addition to that you 39
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also risk when you cut them back that they will not be sustainable after you’ve let it grow 1
so tall, so it’s sort of like you have to train the grass to constantly be alive and well at a 2
short cut. We’re talking short cuts of a quarter inch and less. So, that’s the lion’s share of 3
the maintenance. The other big share is staffing. You’re right. The staffing was reduced 4
temporarily; however, we were not able to go to fully zero staff. We still needed to have 5
some staff onsite as well, so that’s where, unfortunately even with the golf course closing, 6
we could not avoid those costs. 7
Commissioner Moss: Yeah, and you know, with Team Sheeper, they’ve had to do so much 8
to get around COVID – the six feet limit and things like that – I’m noticing that you’re 9
pretty much back to complete normal. Is that right? Or, do people have to take special 10
precautions, still? I’m thinking of four people in a golf cart, or things like that, or just 11
foursomes in general? 12
Mr. Do: We are not at full normal. The biggest thing is that we are operating at less than 13
capacity, so when we reopened, we reopened with twelve-minute intervals between tee 14
times. Right now we’re operating with ten-minute intervals between tee times, when at 15
other times we could operate at between seven- to eight-minute intervals between tee times, 16
so we are not at optimum capacity to start with. Secondarily, in regards to going back to 17
normal, the tee time reservation system is solely online at this present. In regards to sharing 18
of a golf cart, it’s members of the same household. So there are a few things in which we’re 19
not at full capacity at present. We would like to be; however, being cognizant of the current 20
pandemic and being that we want to adhere to guidelines of both the County and the State 21
we’re in the current state that we are where we’re less than capacity. 22
Commissioner Moss: Okay. You said that we have so many incredible awards, and we 23
have one of the best maintained courses. Do we have to have one of the best maintained 24
courses in the state? Or, can we reduce expenses and be okay? I know you have to maintain 25
your base, your fan base, but how low can we go and still do that? 26
Mr. Do: It’s a difficult balance. It goes back to, I think, when this design was selected. The 27
design was selected along with the dynamic pricing was selected, so Forrest Richardson 28
provided the City five and maybe six. They call them by different letters. They weren’t 29
numbered, but the designs were lettered, of different types of layouts and different types of 30
course designs, and this was the premium one that was selected, so as the premium that 31
was selected, of course it cost more, not just to build but also cost more to maintain, so 32
we’re up against a large expense that we need to recoup through revenues. Do we have to 33
be the best course in the area? I think the intended customer profile that we’re looking for 34
is different from what other courses in the region are catering to. We’re catering to both 35
the mid range and the high range. We have other courses regional here in other 36
municipalities catering to low to mid range. So, I think if we were to maintain our course 37
to a lower standard, it’s commensurate with what…We’d be competing with our other local 38
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jurisdictions, which then puts us sort of in a tough spot, which is what happened in Golf, 1
right? Golf had too many golf courses at one point. They were often pitting against each 2
other, and a lot of them didn’t survive, so I think we’re at a threshold that we can be a 3
player in and do well in, I think. Hopefully, we can break even. I can’t promise that we’ll 4
break even, or maybe we’ll even operate in the black instead of operating in the red, but 5
that’s how the golfing issue is. It’s difficult to break even and operate in the black. Most 6
golf courses operate in the red, so I’m not sure we want to go to the point where we’re not 7
competing with our neighboring courses. 8
Commissioner Moss: All right, I get it. Good luck, and I hope that you can make that 9
revenue to expense ratio for next year, starting July, so we’ll see what happens. Thank you. 10
Mr. Do: Thank you. 11
Chair Greenfield: Jackie? 12
Commissioner Olson: Hi, thank you for this. I don’t have any comments to follow up on 13
that. I appreciate it. 14
Chair Greenfield: Thanks, and probably should have started with Jeff LaMere, who is our 15
golf liaison, to see if he had anything specific in terms of [crosstalk] and how to direct. 16
Commissioner LaMere: Thanks, Jeff. Lam, thanks so much for the presentation and 17
everything you do with the golf course. It’s certainly a beautiful space. In regards to the 18
tiers and how we’re doing with the rounds and the spacing of rounds, now that we’ve 19
started with the certain minutes between rounds, are we affected at all by the tier that we’re 20
in? Has there been any new guidance issued for outdoor spaces or for golf courses? 21
Mr. Do: For outdoor gatherings there has been. This is not considered an outdoor gathering. 22
This is more of an activity where we haven’t seen the type of restrictions that would impact 23
golf in particular. At the course, however, we have ceased all types of gatherings. We only 24
allow online bookings. When you come and check in you checking in outdoors, and you’re 25
going straight to your round. We ask that you come early to practice a few balls at the 26
driving range that people only arrive 15 minutes early. We also ask that, upon completion 27
of your round that you depart within 15 minutes, so several practical things to discourage 28
any type of gatherings. In regards to tournaments and banquets, banquets have not been 29
held since COVID. Tournaments initially were not held2:01:24 for the first several months. 30
Tournaments have come back in the last month or so, but they’re not coming back in the 31
shotgun tournament, where there would be a gathering, or where everyone would tee off at 32
the same time. The tournaments are now done in flights, as if it were players coming 33
individually, just like the members of the public will come for every interval of ten minute 34
tee times. The tournaments are held the same, too. There are no meals with the tournaments 35
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at present. Also, no gathering, there’s no award ceremony after the tournament as well, so 1
tournaments are held as if they are just a regular ten-minute flight as well. 2
Commissioner LaMere: Can you discuss the impact on this in terms of the use of the 3
restaurant as well as the pro shop? 4
Mr. Do: I can discuss half of it. The reason I say that is because the restaurant is operated 5
by the same operator, but they operate based on a lease from the City. They are struggling. 6
I don’t have details and numbers to show you, but their channels of business before this 7
came from banquets and events. That has shuttered. Their lunchtime business channel has 8
also shuttered, because all of the local businesses across the street do not have employees 9
there, and then the golfers. We discourage golfers if staying around to enjoy a meal or to 10
enjoy a drink. So, most of their business channels have been shuttered. I don’t know what 11
the financial hit is to them. Your other question in regards to how this has impacted the 12
golf shop. The golf shop is operated by the same operator, OB Sports, on behalf of the City. 13
So, the City is taking the financial loss in regards to lost sales. Even before COVID, we 14
struggled in competing with other retail channels, whether it be online or big box retailers 15
selling golf merchandise, and then now we essentially do not have sales other than essential 16
needs that every golfer needs when they arrive, so we still sell some balls, we can still sell 17
some gloves, but most of shoes, clothes, golf club sales, those pretty much are nonexistent 18
at this point. 19
Commissioner LaMere: Can you discuss, it looks like the golf course lost a million dollars 20
the last two years. Does the City incur all of those losses, and then, if you can talk about if 21
there is revenue that’s a profit, how much of that does the City get, versus OB Sports? 22
Mr. Do: Yes. When the golf course operates in the red, the City takes the loss. The course 23
is a general fund program. I think the million dollars you referred to, the bulk of that, 24
$700,000 of that, was in last fiscal year, and that was revenue loss from March through 25
June. That’s part of a citywide revenue loss due to COVID pandemic. When the golf course 26
does operate in the black, our agreement with the operator is a revenue share. The revenue 27
share is a little bit complicated. They would need to reach a certain threshold in regards to 28
them receiving a revenue share, and they don’t reach a threshold above the target, there is 29
no revenue share. 30
Commissioner LaMere: So, in the case of, if there was $300,000 in revenue, in profit, this 31
next year, how much would the City potentially get of that? 32
Mr. Do: Let me talk in sort of round numbers instead of exact numbers. There is a certain 33
threshold above the target number which the City would set aside for future use. Anything 34
above that threshold is a 20/80 share between the City and the operator, where the City 35
would receive 20 percent and the operator would receive 80 percent. It’s sort of an incentive 36
program for the operator to over excel, over exceed. 37
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Commissioner LaMere: Can you please discuss the status of the contract with OB Sports 1
currently and going forward? 2
Mr. Do: Yes. Our contract with OB Sports is for them to provide a full service, so going 3
back to course play, course practice, course maintenance, merchandise sales and also then 4
to provide food and beverage. Going to the back to the food and beverage service, is the 5
same operator, but they lease the restaurant facility from the City. All other services that 6
they provide is through a master contract with the City. We established with them a three-7
year contract, of which we are in the third year of the contract, fiscal year 2019 and fiscal 8
year 2020 being the first two years, and fiscal year 2021 being the third year. There are 9
mutual renewals established in the contract, which upon both parties mutually agreeing to 10
renew, the contract would be renewed for an additional three years, for a total of six. At 11
the end of six years, should both parties also want to mutually renew, there is an option for 12
a second renewal with another three years. So, in total, the contract could have a lifespan 13
of nine years. 14
Commissioner LaMere: Thank you for your time, Lam. 15
Mr. Do: Yes, thank you. 16
Chair Greenfield: Commissioner Reckdahl? 17
Commissioner Reckdahl: You mentioned in your presentation about dynamic pricing. Can 18
you talk more about that? How has that been working in COVID-land? Have our prices 19
been going down? In the past we’ve been able to squeeze out revenue. If you have good 20
demand you can squeeze out revenue, but if you don’t have demand, you may not be able 21
to squeeze that revenue out. So can you talk about that? 22
Mr. Do: What we feared did not happen. Naturally, the opposite happened. Let me speak 23
to dynamic pricing in general. I think the hotel business, sports, ticketing, sports attendance 24
ticketing has also gone to similar models, where the pricing – and same with airlines – 25
where the pricing fluctuates depending on when you buy. We are one of the few courses 26
that have adopted dynamic pricing. The reason why when we opened this course we 27
adopted dynamic pricing was a lot of the struggles that the golf course industry had resulted 28
from a boon in the business. Some people call that the Tiger Woods effect, where as golf 29
gained popularity, so did construction of golf courses to the point where there were too 30
many golf courses throughout the country competing for a set, a number, of golfers, which 31
resulted in players shopping around for the best golf prices, or players waiting until the last 32
minute to book a tee time, because they knew that golf courses were competing against 33
each other and were willing to discount at the last two days in advance, or even the day of. 34
So, a lot of players would wait until the last minute to book, to get a rock bottom rate. In 35
essence, golfers had sort of trained themselves to do that. The [inaudible] on courses that 36
changed that paradigm, changed that dynamic, [inaudible] understand that this shouldn’t 37
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be how it is. Nationwide, that’s going to be an issue further down, and we as a golf course 1
did not want to be operating in a competition model of who’s going to be the lowest green 2
fee. So, we adopted a pricing dynamic pricing. Sorry for the long answer to your question. 3
How has COVID affected it? Have we been able to squeeze more bang for the buck, or the 4
opposite – to squeeze as much as we can out of the golf course? We feared that golf play 5
would be diminished due to COVID, but we’ve experienced the opposite. During the 6
closure, we took…going back to the numbers, the $700,000 loss. That was during March, 7
April and May of last fiscal year, and even in June. In June, we reopened, but we reopened 8
for singles play only, so essentially that really limited our revenue stream. Once the COVID 9
guidelines from the State and the County were relaxed to allow us to have foursome play 10
across households, demand for the course was there, so we’ve been able to essentially, 11
almost sell out every day. As the weather has gotten colder, we’re not selling out every day 12
any more, but during the July, August, September months, we were pretty much, I’d say 13
90 to 95 percent booked, if not 100 percent booked. Based on the dynamic pricing model 14
also allowed for a good revenue stream, but I think I mentioned earlier, that’s also led to 15
some complaints about our golf course and it’s pricing being high. I would say it’s higher 16
than what we would have typically thought it could be, but even at the highest point, we’re 17
not drawing plays that are paying that highest price point. Our golf course has sort of a rack 18
rate. We then have a regional discounted rate. We then have a resident discounted rate, and 19
then we also have a membership rate. As you could see earlier, 80-something percent of 20
our players are local players, so very few people are actually paying the highest rate that 21
we can get out of dynamic pricing. Most players are paying the discounted rates. 22
Commissioner Reckdahl: But still, if I look at the…like Saturday mornings, we’re still 23
selling out the prime tee times, so even with dynamic pricing raising the prices on those 24
high demand tee times, those high demand tee times are still going first. 25
Mr. Do: You are correct. The player demand is there, which was a surprise. We anticipated 26
that perhaps the impact of the economy, loss of jobs, reduced leisure income, but with a 27
resounding affinity to golf, I guess I would say, people have come and played. 28
Commissioner Reckdahl: But to talk to David’s point about do we have to be the best 29
course? This was an intentional decision when we remodeled this. We have Moffett has 30
opened up now, and Moffett is really cheap and Shoreline is cheap, and they’re a totally 31
different experience, so for a lot of people, paying an extra thirty bucks and going to one 32
of the best public courses on the West Coast is a deal. It really depends on how much 33
disposable income you have and how much you care about golf. The people I know who’ve 34
played Palo Alto just love it. They think it is the best. You have Half Moon Bay, which is 35
pretty good, but in the Bay area this side of Skyline, it’s probably the best public course. 36
It’s there. We’ve built it already, so we’ve kind of made our bed, and we have to sleep in 37
it. But I think – 38
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Mr. Do: [crosstalk] collectively the City, the Council made, and right, so we invested in it, 1
so we need to recoup our investment. Building a golf course was a financial hit for a 30-2
year payment schedule to pay back the cost to build the course. I think going back to, you 3
hit it exactly and rephrased it how I was phrasing it earlier. What we chose to be we could 4
not go to a lower level to place us in competition with the other local courses. We would 5
not survive. 6
Commissioner Reckdahl: And I don’t know if we knew that Moffett was going go open up 7
when we made this decision, but when we remodeled, Moffett was not open to the public. 8
The fact that it’s open now and is charging thirty bucks a round, that would have been 9
really hard to compete against, so I think we’re lucky that we went a higher scale. But very 10
good. The challenging times, I think we’re doing as best we can. Keep the faith. Thank 11
you. 12
Chair Greenfield: Anne? 13
Vice Chair Cribbs: I think this is a really good report in challenging times and just say 14
congratulations to everybody who’s doing the work and that kind of thing. I was interested 15
in one of the slides. It’s 29 percent of the people who play are Palo Alto residents. Did I 16
read that right, or 27? 17
Mr. Do: You have that correct, Vice Chair Cribbs – 29 percent, and that’s this current fiscal 18
year to date. Last fiscal year we ended up 27 percent Palo Alto residents. 19
Vice Chair Cribbs: It seemed a little bit low to me. Don’t we have any more people in Palo 20
Alto that play golf? And then I was wondering about exactly if you could talk a little bit 21
about the kind of marketing that our vendor is doing and the City is doing, because what 22
I’m hearing from the golf officials that I work with and people who are pretty in the know 23
about golf is exactly what Keith was just saying about this is a great golf course and it kind 24
of has been a secret, but now that people are coming to play on it, they’re really, really 25
loving it and the word is out on the street that it’s a really great place to play. If you could 26
talk a little about marketing, and then talk a little bit about, is it COVID that’s pushing the 27
fact that we have so many from just Santa Clara and San Mateo County where people are 28
just not driving and not traveling, or is it going to continue like that? I guess the last 29
question is, do we have any figures, back when we were doing 110 rounds at the old Palo 30
Alto Muni in the 80’s, about what the percentage was from people in Palo Alto, or were 31
they traveling people? 32
Mr. Do: Going back to the late 80’s, early 90’s, even the late 90’s, the information we 33
received during that time was the same golf course, the management [crosstalk] 34
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Vice Chair Cribbs: Of course. 1
Mr. Do: It was a different management for us. It was Brad Lozares who we contracted 2
with, and Brad did not have the exact numbers for us. Part of that is also on us. I don’t 3
think we tracked it to that depth at the time, so in general we hovered about 20 percent 4
golfers from Palo Altoians. It was hard for us to get more Palo Altoians to play our course, 5
but we also have to recognize that our course had deteriorated at that point. It’s hard to 6
draw, your local crowd, when your product has deteriorated. Going from the 20 percent to 7
the 29 percent now, I think is an improvement. Is it COVID-related? I could say last year 8
was 27 percent before COVID, so the improvement is [inaudible] COVID-related, but at 9
present the peak at 29 percent, I suspect that some of that is COVID, because even the 10
numbers in Santa Clara County went up, not just local Palo Alto residents playing, but also 11
in the county, more county residents are playing. So, it could be that people don’t want to 12
travel out of the region as much to play golf. They may travel out of region for other needs 13
– family needs, travel needs, business needs, things like that, but to play golf, perhaps they 14
don’t want to travel out of the region. Your other question was is it sustainable how we’re 15
performing and what are we doing to market? I would venture to say that after COVID that 16
perhaps our Palo Alto resident numbers and our county numbers will decline, but it will be 17
replaced with San Mateo players coming, San Francisco County players coming and other 18
across the Bay players coming here to keep up the play. It’s because the word is out, 19
absolutely. We been recognized by national magazines as a great course to play and 20
amongst golfers. They invite their friends and then they pull their friends to play in a 21
foursome with them. The numbers will fluctuate, but right now I will venture to say that it 22
is probably likely that our higher local play is due to people not wanting to travel. 23
Vice Chair Cribbs: Lam, is there a number that you all have in mind for two years or three 24
years from now what you’d like the number of rounds to be that the course can comfortably 25
sustain? 26
Mr. Do: We do, but I don’t have those numbers off the top of my mind. You can see that 27
our goal for this fiscal year is to hit 57,000 rounds, which is higher than our prior years. In 28
our golf course performance it is an acceleration of rounds every year, and the National 29
Golf Foundation did tell us it would take us about four to five years to reach a peak, so 30
we’re not at that point yet. This is not even two-and-a-half years in. I apologize. I don’t 31
have the figure with me, but it is somewhere in the 60,000-63,0000. Please don’t quote me. 32
Vice Chair Cribbs: I won’t, I promise. Thank you very much. Are the men’s clubs, the golf 33
club, and the women’s clubs happy? 34
Mr. Do: Well, happiness is a different definition. I would say dynamic pricing did not make 35
them happy. Course play makes them happy. 36
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Vice Chair Cribbs: That’s fair. Thank you. 1
Chair Greenfield: Thank you, Lam, for the presentation. I really appreciated the historical 2
information that you presented to us. It was interesting to learn and help put things in 3
perspective. I think it’s amazing that we’re on target for hitting our numbers for fiscal ’20-4
’21, given the pandemic. I think overall expectations are very low for just about anything 5
right now. So to be hitting the target numbers, that’s great. Based on some of the previous 6
discussion in terms of the booking rates that you’re hitting, I think what we have working 7
in our favor is the lack of options for recreation, particularly outdoor recreation 8
opportunities are going to be much more popular right now, since indoor isn’t an option, 9
so that certainly must be working in our favor. 10
Mr. Do: I’m going to knock on wood that we sustain this pace. I know that, unfortunately, 11
they’re right. It’s also fortunate that our community will have other options soon, I hope, 12
but there’s a lot more going on, I think, than just what we’re looking at. I can say that the 13
golf course is on target, and I hope it stays on target, but there are other factors that could 14
easily make it change and go either way where we could accelerate and do so well, or we 15
could not accelerate so well. Unfortunately, the past two years we also had a fire season 16
that, in fact, impacted air quality, which has a direct impact on golf course play as well. I 17
think there are many factors that can impact this. We’re all crossing our fingers, knocking 18
on wood that we can sustain this. 19
Chair Greenfield: Sure. Thanks for helping set expectations, but we’ll take good news when 20
we hear it. How does our partner agreement for the golf course differ or compare with the 21
Aquatics contract? Part of my question is based on I know for the Aquatics discussions 22
we’ve had, Tim Sheeper has always been involved, and that has been a part of the reports 23
and the presentations and discussions. I’m wondering, is there something fundamentally 24
different, whereas we don’t have anybody from the golf course operator involved in these 25
presentations and reports? 26
Mr. Do: I think maybe one fundamental difference is, from what I understand – and I don’t 27
oversee, nor am I involved in the Parks budget – but from what I’ve seen is it’s a 28
requirement in the Aquatics contract that the operator present their figures. We do not have 29
that requirement in our contract. Certainly, I think if I were to ask them to be a part of these 30
presentations, they would be willing. Is that what you’re asking? Am I reaching your point? 31
Chair Greenfield: That’s very helpful to understand, that it is required in the Aquatics 32
contract. That makes sense, and I’m not saying that we’re not getting the information we 33
need from you. I’m just considering the contrast between the two and trying to understand 34
what the difference is. That makes sense. Thanks. As far as changes required because of 35
COVID and the reopening of the course, what are the rules for people out on the golf 36
course? How are these communicated, and how are these enforced? 37
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Mr. Do: We have several changes in course play. Several things that we changed. Initially, 1
we opened without any cart rentals, and that was per State and County guidelines. When 2
we allowed cart rentals, we initially allowed them as singles only, and then we evolved into 3
the same household. On the course, the biggest COVID precaution is putting. Where one 4
putts, you’re putting towards the hole, but your ball is not far into the hole. We’ve put sort 5
of a lift on the putting green holes, so that your ball reaches the lift and then it bounces 6
back, and that’s considered a putt. This is so that players are not reaching into the hole, one 7
after the other, to retrieve their putts. On the course, we also have a course marshal for two 8
purposes. Generally, the course marshal is to ensure fair play, but now the course marshal 9
is also to ensure that people social distance and that, sometimes when we have a short hole 10
followed by a long hole, or two short holes follow each other, players may have to wait on 11
the course for the group ahead to be far enough that they would not be hit by a golf ball 12
who teed off, so the marshal is also on the course to remind people to distance while they’re 13
waiting. 14
Chair Greenfield: Masks are required for everyone? 15
Mr. Do: Masks are not required. This once again is per State and County, and the City’s 16
mask ordinance which, when you are participating in an activity, you are not required to 17
wear a mask. One other precaution that I forgot to mention previously was that the golf 18
balls on the driving range are sanitized before they are distributed. We sanitize them 19
through a ball wash machine, a ball wash process. 20
Chair Greenfield: So masks are not required, even if there’s people that aren’t from the 21
same household that are playing within the same group? 22
Mr. Do: That’s correct. They’re in the same foursome, but they’re not in the same cart, and 23
they’re not teeing off together. They’re teeing off one after the other, so the social distance 24
perspective different from what I think we heard a lot in the Aquatics presentation, is not a 25
challenge. I can see why being in a lane, it’s difficult to have more participants swim, but 26
at the golf course, it’s wide open enough, even while you’re waiting for the tee, you 27
probably have at least – a foursome at each tee – I’m going to say the area has at least 500 28
to 800 square feet of space for four people. 29
Chair Greenfield: So everyone has to stay at least six feet apart, but they don’t have to have 30
a mask on? 31
Mr. Do: Unless you’re in the same household. 32
Chair Greenfield: All right, thanks. You mentioned the driving range, and I was going to 33
ask about that. Could you explain how the operations have changed there? I think maybe 34
every other stall is now open? 35
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Mr. Do: That’s correct. We have reduced the number of stalls available to play. This is to 1
create more distance in between those that are practicing golf. In addition to that, we have 2
shut down our ball vending machines. Now, in order to…that way, no one is distributing 3
tokens, no one is retrieving tokens. Now you are, when you arrive to practice, you are 4
distributed a basket of balls that have been sanitized. You’re handed a basket. It’s all been 5
outdoors. There’s no indoor sales, and from there you go to your practice area. We do have 6
a time limit on how long you can practice as well. It has resulted with fewer stalls and some 7
people having to wait until a stall becomes available. I’m trying to think what other 8
measures are in place. I think that’s about it. 9
Chair Greenfield: Thank you. I haven’t heard anything about youth programming and use 10
by high schools or youth clubs. What is the status of youth programming? 11
Mr. Do: Our high schools are using the golf course on a regular basis. We also continue to 12
golf programming through the First Tee Silicon Valley at the course. We also, this past 13
summer, had a few summer camps that were offered as well, so even as we reopened with 14
COVID, we still continued to have our youth programing. One thing that we did not 15
continue to have, we suspended temporarily and have reinstituted now is the Youth On 16
Course program. The Youth On Course is separate from a teaching program. It’s a program 17
that allows you to go on course and play. That program we suspended temporarily, but we 18
brought that back earlier this month. 19
Chair Greenfield: Thank you. I would appreciate seeing more year-to-year comparison data 20
and would encourage you to start accumulating this data to present a year from now. It’s 21
good to see the revenue, expense and rounds data coming up. I’d be interested in seeing 22
the percentage of open tee times, so our booking percentage, average booking fees, youth 23
camp participation and perhaps other youth data as applicable. I think this would be very 24
helpful for us to see on a year-to-year basis, so that we can chart our progress, and there 25
may be other applicable similar data that you could include. 26
Mr. Do: Okay. 27
Chair Greenfield: Otherwise, thank you very much for the presentation and all of your 28
efforts in managing this gem for our community. 29
Mr. Do: Yes, and I thank you for this opportunity. Daren asked me if I could present to 30
you, the Commission, I said, “Yes, absolutely.” I’ve had this opportunity, so once again, 31
I’m glad to do this. 32
Chair Greenfield: Thank you. Council Member Kou, do you have any comments? 33
Council Member Kou: No, but thank you for the presentation, Lam. 34
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Mr. Do: Yes, you’re welcome. Thank you very much. 1
Chair Greenfield: Any follow-up comments from other Commissioners? 2
Mr. Do: If I could just say in closing, thank you for the appreciation of my work, but I also 3
want to share, my work is also the work of other colleagues as well. In our division, Parks 4
and Open Space every now and then we rely on each other for help here and there. I do 5
rely on the Parks staff occasionally for irrigation support. I do rely on the Open Space staff 6
for monitoring, so it’s a collective effort, so if I could extend the thank you to my colleagues 7
as well. 8
Chair Greenfield: Absolutely, well noted. You are the face of the program, but there are 9
many people involved. It takes a village. 10
Mr. Do: With that, I’ll conclude. 11
5. Other Commission Ad Hoc and Liaison Updates 12
Chair Greenfield: We’ll now move on to the next item, which is the Commission Ad Hoc 13
and Liaison updates. There has been a report submitted, probably most enthusiastically and 14
consistently by Commissioner Moss. Thank you. There’s probably other information that 15
isn’t getting submitted, so does anyone have any questions or information you’d like to 16
share? This is an opportunity to add in what may not be in our monthly report here. 17
Vice Chair Cribbs: I’d like to add something to our fund development report, if I might. 18
Chair Greenfield: Yes, please. 19
Vice Chair Cribbs: I just wanted to mention that we talked to everybody last time, I believe, 20
and did a fund development report, talking about identifying small, medium and large 21
projects that might be good projects to be looked at in terms of possible funding and to so 22
see also which ones were in alignment with the Master Plan. One of the ones that we’ve 23
been working on is the gym, because as everybody knows, the city of Palo Alto doesn’t 24
have their own gym. Right now we’re just doing some research and collecting information 25
on three things. First of all, possible locations. Second of all, the footprint, the acreage and 26
the square footage and also what that gym might look like, because there are a lot of 27
variations on the kinds of gyms that reflect the needs of the community. The third thing is 28
what the price tag would be on each one of those gyms. So, it’s pretty exciting to think 29
about all of this and have a vision of having our own gym for Palo Alto. I’m pretty excited 30
to look at the way the Junior Museum did their great work by creating a vision at the 31
beginning and capturing the imagination of the community, so I just wanted to mention 32
that about the gym project in particular. 33
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Chair Greenfield: Thank you. Did you want to say anything about the discussions you’ve 1
had with Palo Alto Recreation Foundation? 2
Vice Chair Cribbs: Yes. Since our last report – and that is in the November update – we 3
had a great meeting with the Recreation Foundation. I was invited to come and talk with 4
them about the projects that they want to fund, their process for funding, how they work 5
with the City. They are very excited that Adam Howard is now going to be their new staff 6
liaison. So, they are anxious to hear what our thoughts are for the future, and I will look 7
forward to attending some more of their meetings. I also had a good meeting with Friends 8
of the Park, and they, too, are excited about the opportunity to help the city. They did talk 9
about the dog contributions for potential dog parks, for amenities for dog parks. Then, as 10
we said, we had Daren put together a great meeting with the staff of Recreation and Parks 11
to help us understand their role in future fundraising to help Community Services. 12
Chair Greenfield: Thank you, and I understand that you impressed the Recreation 13
Foundation so much they’d like you to attend the monthly meeting. Given that, I think it 14
would be appropriate for us to officially give you a liaison role from the Commission to 15
the Palo Alto Recreation Foundation. Unless any Commissioners have a reason not to move 16
forward with that, we’ll move forward with you being our liaison. I can’t think of a better 17
person for it. 18
Vice Chair Cribbs: Thank you, Jeff. 19
Commissioner Reckdahl: I think that would be a very good idea. 20
Chair Greenfield: Great. We’ll add you to the list there, and Catherine, if you can please 21
add to the liaisons listing. We’ll look forward to more good reports from you on that end. 22
Thank you. Any other comments or questions? 23
Commissioner Moss: I have one about the Magical Bridge and one about the off-leash dog 24
presentation. Dog area in Ramos Park, just wanted to mention that staff has done a 25
tremendous amount of work to try to bring the Magical Bridge Playground into compliance 26
with County rules and regulations about opening a playground. This is no small feat, and 27
they had not very much time to do it in. They did officially open up last week. I’ve been 28
over there three or four times. It’s getting popular, and the issues are real. Staff, they have 29
two staff members there all the time that they’re open during the week, and then they have 30
security consultants there on the weekend. I understand that they’re moving forward with 31
some volunteers, but it’s a tremendous effort, so I want to thank staff for doing that, and I 32
just want to make sure that everybody knows how much work is going into that. 33
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Chair Greenfield: Thank you. Daren did touch on that, certainly, in his Department Report. 1
Commissioner Moss: Yeah, but it just touched the surface. 2
Chair Greenfield: We appreciate the effort here. It’s a challenge. 3
Commissioner Moss: And then the second thing is that we’ve been talking about the Ramos 4
Park renovation, but it seems that one of the biggest remaining issues that staff has spent a 5
lot of time on is the concept of an off-leash dog area instead of an official dog park. I just 6
wanted to thank staff for all of the effort, specifically Peter Jensen, all the work that they’ve 7
had to do. I am personally dubious about how well it’s going to do, but we’re going to 8
watch and see how this goes and see what happens. Anyway, it’s a lot of work. That’s it. 9
Chair Greenfield: Thank you. Anyone else? I have a quick update regarding the Cubberley 10
lights, as the field liaison, the temporary lights that Palo Alto Soccer Club has up. They 11
seem to be happily working with just the four lighting units, which is good, so there’s none 12
on the sidelines. It’s good for everyone. It’s less expensive for the club and less 13
encumbering for the community. They have got the units taped off and coned off properly, 14
which wasn’t initially done. I also have a question. I don’t know if the Rec Opportunities 15
Ad Hoc has done anything for communication with the skate park folks? I just wanted to 16
know if there was any update on that that anyone had to share. 17
Commissioner LaMere: I do not have an update in regards to that, but I will reach out to 18
Sam again next week. Sam Kaplinsky, who is the young man who spoke with us a few 19
meetings ago. 20
Chair Greenfield: Thanks, Jeff. This is an opportunity for anyone else to ask if there are 21
updates on any of the projects or liaison roles that you would be curious about. [none] 22
Okay, Council Member Kou, do you have anything you would like to add? Thank you for 23
joining us, as always. 24
VI. TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR December 15, 2020 25
26
Chair Greenfield: Let’s move on to discuss our tentative agenda for the final meeting of 27
the year, December 15th, an early meeting based on the holiday season coming up. Daren? 28
Mr. Anderson: Thank you, Chair. Three, I think, likely candidates, although I’m going to 29
put tentative in there, just because there are a few, as always, outliers that need approval 30
from other departments, and sometimes those take time. The Ramos Park Park 31
Improvement Ordinance we could bring to Commission. The dog off-leash area, as a 32
discussion. This would be before the public outreach meeting that we do for the 33
community, and we had sort of switched positions on this. The Ad Hoc had discussed 34
which should come first, and after more discussion, we settled on bringing it to the 35
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Commission first. Lastly, potential Foothills Park name change. I hope to have that on the 1
agenda on December 15th. 2
Chair Greenfield: Great. Does anyone else have any requests or suggestions either for this 3
coming month, or to work into the queue for future meetings? 4
Commissioner Moss: I think the Magical Bridge, there should be an update from staff in 5
the next couple months, somewhere around January, just to see how we’re doing, or just 6
an update. I don’t want to wait six months. 7
Chair Greenfield: I think you’re asking for an update, as opposed to an agendized 8
presentation on Magical Bridge. Is that correct? 9
Commissioner Moss: Right. 10
Chair Greenfield: I suspect we’ll be getting a monthly update for a while. One question I 11
didn’t bring up in the previous golf item is, given that the annual contract is expiring at the 12
end of the fiscal year, is there a role that the Parks and Rec will play in reviewing whether 13
or not we decide to opt to renew? 14
Mr. Anderson: Not necessarily, although we can certainly consult the liaison and discuss 15
it a little bit more with Commissioner LaMere and see if there are any elements that sort of 16
bear a discussion like that, but typically it’s an operations point of view, and staff moves 17
forward on that, but I’m certainly open to further questions and comments on that. 18
Chair Greenfield: Okay, thank you. 19
Vice Chair Cribbs: Jeff, since we’re talking about golf again, at the last session we talked 20
about the First Tee and a possible timeline or understanding on the Commission’s part 21
about what had to be done to make the First Tee move forward in terms of an MOU, other 22
departments in the City, check-off times and all of that, so that we could understand the 23
timeline. Is that possible in your staff report? I don’t think it has a big agenda item, but just 24
to learn more about that? 25
Mr. Anderson: Yeah, probably not in this coming staff report, but soon. We’re working 26
over a hurdle on City contribution to this project and how to manage that, which is sort of 27
an antecedent to moving on to those other elements. So, we’re going to keep working on 28
that piece and see if we can find a way to make that work, and then move on. As soon as I 29
have that, I’m glad to incorporate that into a Department Report. 30
Vice Chair Cribbs: That’s great. Thank you. 31
Commissioner Moss: Last time we talked about getting John Aikin back in about the 32
Baylands Trail. Just, if you can schedule that in. 33
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Mr. Anderson: Will do. 1
Chair Greenfield: It’s been some time since we discussed the idea, but I think there was a 2
goal at some point to get an overview of all the trails in Palo Alto Open Spaces. 3
Vice Chair Cribbs: That’s like a New Year’s Resolution, isn’t it? 4
Chair Greenfield: I suppose. I guess we’d have to say that it’s going to be one of the more 5
popular checkbox items on New Year’s Resolutions, at least for the first half of the new 6
year. 7
Vice Chair Cribbs: Yeah. 8
Chair Greenfield: Given the limited access at gyms. 9
VII. COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 10
Chair Greenfield: Does anyone have anything they’d like to share? 11
Vice Chair Cribbs: Only Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. 12
Chair Greenfield: Thank you. I realize this would be a more appropriate time to make those 13
wishes known, but I decided to speak earlier while we had our participants on the meeting. 14
Vice Chair Cribbs: No, that was very nice that you do that. That was very well done. 15
Commissioner Reckdahl: We had the joint meeting with North Ventura, and today North 16
Ventura did send out a notice saying that one of the property owners is looking to redevelop 17
soon, so that pushes up the timeline for re-evaluating the parks in that neighborhood. 18
Chair Greenfield: Which property owner was that, do you know? 19
Commissioner Reckdahl: They’re looking at re-developing part of the Fry’s parcel. It 20
would be the part of the parcel that’s near Park. They just gave some big picture ideas of 21
what’s going on. More details will follow, but it will be – 22
Chair Greenfield: Thanks for the update. 23
Commissioner Moss: Is this near where they wanted to widen the creek, or is this a potential 24
gym site? 25
Commissioner Reckdahl: They’re going to go, starting at the creek and going north from 26
there, so this would be right up against the creek, which would reduce some of our options 27
if we wanted to widen it. But the most practical way of widening it would just be using the 28
existing right-of-way and not adding any extra parkland. There’s still some naturalization 29
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you can do without having to require additional land. But if we really do want that 1
additional land, then we have to get into the planning process, too. 2
Commissioner Moss: So Daren, like we did with the AT&T property, can we put a bug in 3
the ear of Real Estate and Legal and try to get ahead of that? 4
Mr. Anderson: I can certainly try. 5
Commissioner Moss: I think just a bug would be good and see where it goes, because it 6
doesn’t happen very often. 7
Vice Chair Cribbs: No. 8
Commissioner Reckdahl: The other thing to realize is this is going to be…There’s a new 9
housing law that was passed last year, S.B. 330, which really compresses the timelines, so 10
this won’t be as leisurely as the normal planning sessions. All the timelines will be 11
compressed, so if we do want the park, if we want land for the creek, we have to decide 12
very quickly and get it into the queue. Otherwise, you snooze, you lose. 13
Commissioner Moss: All in favor say aye. 14
Commissioner Reckdahl: Well, it ain’t gonna be cheap. 15
Chair Greenfield: I think Council Member Kou is listening. This is information that’s 16
obviously going to need to go to Council to get further. It’s a difficult time and a unique 17
opportunity, and something to consider. Thank you. Any other comments? 18
VIII. ADJOURNMENT 19
Meeting adjourned by motion by Commissioner Vice Chair Cribbs and second by 20
Commissioner Moss at 9:53 p.m. 21
TO: PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION
FROM: PETER JENSEN
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
DEPARTMENT: PUBLIC WORKS
DATE: DECEMBER 15, 2020
SUBJECT: PARK IMPROVEMENT ORDINANCE FOR RENOVATION OF
RAMOS PARK
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Parks and Recreation Commission (Commission) recommend that City
Council adopt and approve a Park Improvement Ordinance (Attachment A) authorizing the
renovation of the playground and park amenities (Exhibit B).
BACKGROUND
Capital improvement funding of $200,000 was approved by City Council to address park
renovation needs. The renovation includes infrastructure, accessibility and maintenance
improvements. The renovation of the existing playground is the main park amenity to be replaced.
Capital improvement funding of $350,000 was approved by City Council to add a restroom to the
park.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The project primarily focuses on the playground, access, and surrounding park furnishings as
diagramed in Exhibit A.
(1) Remove and replace existing toddler playground with a
playground spanning the age of toddlers through children age five
and above;
(2) Installation of a new pre-fabricated restroom building;
(3) Expansion of concrete walkway loop path connection;
(4) Replace or install site furnishings such as benches, trash
receptacles, and drinking fountain;
(5) New 42” tall chain link fencing along E. Meadow Drive at the
North East turf area;
(6) Addition of new basketball court striping and new basketball
hoop at the existing paved area;
and
(7) Planting of native trees and shrubs.
DISCUSSION
Two community outreach meetings were held for design review. An in-person meeting on January
29, 2020 and an on-line meeting August 13, 2020 to present the proposed renovation items and
receive feedback from the community. A subsequent online survey was conducted to capture
further input which received input from 198 community members.
The Ramos Park Renovation Project was also discussed at the February 25th & the August 25th,
2002 meetings. The commission reviewed draft design option, reviewed community input and
provided design feedback.
The response from community members in attendance at the meetings to the proposed renovation
plans were positive and supportive. Input received guided the overall renovation development
including: identifying the restroom location, agreeing to expand the age range of the playground
and equipment type, the pathway connections and support for native habitat planting.
Per the pervious PRC meeting the direct pathway from the current dead end park path out to E.
Meadow Drive has been eliminated and replaced with a path along the edge of the decomposed
granite picnic area to create a continuous paved loop path through the park as well as access to the
new restroom.
Discussion was also held with the community about having a dog off-leash dog pilot program at
the Park. Plans for further community outreach and commission discussion on the pilot program
are being developed. Because the proposed location for the off-leash area will remain passive turf,
the off-leash program is not included as part of the Parks Improvement Ordinance. The off-leash
pilot program will continue forward independently from the park renovation project. If the pilot
program is approved, it is anticipated to begin in the Spring of 2021, prior to completing the park
renovation project.
All proposed park renovation items can be viewed on the Attached (Exhibit A).
FUNDING
$200,000 from the Ramos Park Renovation Project (PE-14000) and $350,000 from the New Parks
Restroom Project (PG-19000) has been approved for this project as part of the FY 2021 Capital
Improvement Plan budget with funding from the City’s General Fund.
RESOURCE IMPACT
No staffing increases are proposed as a result of this project and maintenance of Ramos Park is
included in the Citywide park maintenance contract. The restroom will require approximately
$9,000 annually to maintain.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Park Improvement Ordinance for Ramos Park
Exhibit A: Diagram of proposed park renovations
TO: Parks and Recreation Commission
FROM: Public Works
DATE: December 15, 2020
SUBJECT: Ramos Park Off-Leash Pilot Program
RECOMMENDATION
Staff will present a draft park renovation plan and results of the community input meeting to
the Parks and Recreation Commission. No action will be taken.
BACKGROUND
Capital improvement Project (PG-14000) with funding of $229,000 was approved by the
City Council to address park maintenance and renovation needs at Ramos Park in Fiscal
Year 2020. The renovation includes replacement of the playground equipment, benches,
trash receptacles and drinking fountain as well as accessibility improvements and possible
renovations to the large, paved area.
The first community meeting was held on January 29, 2020 where the community raised
the issue of off-leash dog parks and inquired about including a dog park in the overall
design. A dog park was not an aspect of the original Capital Improvement Project for
Ramos, but the community at the first meeting felt it was an issue that needed to be
addressed. An on-line community survey followed the first community meeting and a
question was added about community desire to include a dog park in the overall renovation
plans. Of the 198 residents that responded to the survey, 117 (58%) supported the
addition of a dog park to Ramos Park.
During the on-line survey period, several residents next to the proposed dog park location
within the park reached out to the City with concerns related to the proposed fencing
restricting their access to the park and potential noise from an established dog park. To
address these concerns, staff proposed a pilot off-leash dog park area.
Both the community and the adjacent neighbors were supportive of the idea of the pilot off-
leash program, and with assistance from the Dog Park Ad Hoc group, city staff has started
the process of structuring the pilot program.
Overall Goals of the off-leash dog area include:
Provide a clearly defined area and time dogs can be off-leash in the park.
Reduce/eliminate off-leash use of the programed turf field area.
Allow the community to continue to use the designated park area for off-leash
purposes
Eliminate the need and cost of fencing for a designated dog area.
Maintain access to the park from the adjacent neighbors.
Create an opportunity for the community to be responsible for maintaining the rules
of the off-leash area.
Have a minimal impact on the park.
Provide areas of multi-use in the park.
The off-leash area pilot will be conducted with no community promotion.
The proposed off-leash dog pilot is structured in the following way:
A defined passive turf area in the park adjacent to the programed turf field is the
designated location of the off-leash area. The area will be maintained in its current
condition with no fence added. (Exhibit A)
A sign will be posted at the off-leash area that will show the boundaries of the space
the dogs are to be kept.
A sign will display the off-leash rules. (Exhibit B)
The sign will also include the times the dog park is available, currently set twice a
day from 7-9 am and 4-7 pm or dark (whichever comes first). Only during these
times will dogs be allowed off-leash in the designated area.
A waste bag dispenser will be installed. No trash receptacle will be provided to
reduce staff maintenance.
As an aspect of the capital improvement project a 20’ wide native planting buffer
with a 42” tall chain link fence will be installed along the frontage of E. Meadow Dr.
to reduce dogs or dog toys from entering the street. This work will not be completed
prior to the start of the pilot.
The pilot program will last for a period of 9 months or longer depending on the
recommendation of the evaluators.
The pilot program evaluators will be composed of 9 members
o 2 dog owners
o 2 adjacent neighbors
o 2 field users
o 2 PRC Ad Hoc members
o 1 Staff member
Staff will work with the neighbors and field users to identify the evaluators
Evaluators will meet a total of 3 times (once every 3 months) via a web call to review
the data and make any recommendations/changes to the pilot to make it more
successful.
The evaluators will be required to visit the park 6 times (3 times in the morning time
and 3 times in the afternoon) over the first 3 month period for a time span of 15-30
minutes to evaluate the overall use of the off-leash area.
Evaluators will fill out the evaluation form provided by the City (Exhibit C).
At the end of the 9 months the evaluation committee will make a recommendation to
the Parks and Recreation Commission to either establish a long term off-leash area
or to cease the use of the off-leash area.
The Parks and Recreation Commission will be presented with the recommendation
at a monthly meeting and make the final decision on the use of the off-leash area.
DISCUSSION
Staff requests further discussion and input from the Commission on the following items:
Review the off-leash dog park rules
Review of the off-leash area times of use
Review of the evaluation form questions and scoring/points
Review of the overall 9-month process
NEXT STEPS
Community meeting to review the scope of the pilot program
Return to the Parks and Recreation Commission seeking a recommendation to
Council to implement the pilot program
Seek Council approval for the pilot program
Staff to identify and recruit evaluators
Evaluation group kick off meeting
Installation of park amenities (sign and waste bags)
Start of Pilot program
Three evaluation committee meetings (every 3 months)
PRC update during the pilot
Evaluation committee recommendation
PRC vote to continue or cease the off-leash area pilot
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
The proposed recommendations are consistent with Policy C-26 of the Community
Services element of the Comprehensive Plan that encourages maintaining park facilities as
safe and healthy community assets; and Policy C-22 that encourages new community
facilities to have flexible functions to ensure adaptability to the changing needs of the
community.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Draft Off-Leash Dog Park Area Exhibit
Attachment B: Draft Off-Leash Area Rules
Attachment C: Evaluation Form
PREPARED BY
Peter Jensen
Landscape Architect
City of Palo Alto
PALO ALTO PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION
AD HOC COMMITTEE MEMBERS STAFF LIAISON December Update Meeting date
Baylands 10.5 Acres LaMere Reckdahl Olson Daren Anderson
Cubberley Cribbs Greenfield Olson Kristen O'Kane
Projects & Fund
Development
Cribbs Greenfield Moss Daren Anderson 1. Pursuing clarification on what types of donations to
Adopt-A-Park are typically tax deductible, since the
city is not a non-profit organization.
2. Working to include notification of community
donation opportunities within applicable public
meeting notices, utility bill and enjoy catalogue.
3. Draft of "Processes for Fundraising" sent to staff
with some input received.
4. Researching costs of large projects outlined in
Master Plan, starting with a gym, discussion about
cost, footprint, location options.
5.Confirmation information about successful funding
partnerships in the City (SF)
6. Emphasize middle school sports scholarship help
Foothills Park LaMere Olson Cribbs Daren Anderson The Foothills Park Ad Hoc committee met on
December 2 to discuss
(i) a methodology for studying visitor impact to inform
future capacity limits,
(ii) whether there were any means of achieving cost-
neutrality without charging entrance fees, and if not,
whether discounts or exemptions should apply to
certain groups,
(iii) the name change proposal, and
(iv) the timing to bring the matter back to Council for
consideration.
December 2
Park & Facility Use Policy Greenfield Moss Reckdahl Adam Howard Magical Bridge opened Nov 17th with much scrutiny
and many safeguards and then closed again Dec
7th. Cubberley lights working well. Ramos Park off-
leash dog topic separated from the physical
renovation / PIO. Meeting with staff to discuss
potential updates for tennis/pickleball courts.
Park Improvements Cribbs Moss Daren Anderson The third set of Boulware Park renovation community
meetings were held, with good community turnout and
feedback.
Recreation Opportunities LaMere Olson Reckdahl Kristen O'Kane
LIAISON MEMBER(S) STAFF / CONTACT
Aquatics Cribbs Sharon Eva
BCCP Moss Daren Anderson
Community Gardens Olson Catherine Bourquin
GSI Moss Pam Boyle Rodriguez?
PAUSD / City Reckdahl Kristen O'Kane
Safe Routes Greenfield Rosie Mesterhazy
Sustainability Olson Christine Luong
Field Users Greenfield Daren Anderson
Urban Forestry Greenfield Reckdahl Daren Anderson
Ventura Coordinated Area
Plan
Reckdahl n/a
Youth Council Cribbs n/a
Golf Reckdahl La Mere Lam Do
Palo Alto Recreation
Foundation
Met with Friends of Palo Alto Parks and Palo Alto Rec
Foundation to discuss processes and determine the
types of projects they want to help with.