By Mickey Zeichick

The next meeting of the San Carlos Area Council (SCAC) will be Wednesday, Sept. 5, at 6:30 p.m. in the San Carlos Branch Library, 7265 Jackson Drive. We will be meeting monthly and please note the new time.

Our monthly meetings will alternate between more in-depth reports from elected officials’ representatives one meeting and the next month’s meeting will have a speaker as the focus. However, elected official office representatives will be invited to provide brief updates.

Parks Master Plan

The city of San Diego is embarking upon a citywide Parks Master Plan, which is a three-year planning effort to shape our future parks, recreation facilities and programs for the next 20 to 30 years.

The Work Plan for the Parks Master Plan outlines the goals, what we will study, the project schedule and our public outreach. This Work Plan is available on the project website. The Parks Master Plan will be the city’s road map for creating a world class parks and recreation system. It will be relevant to changing needs, make parks accessible to all community members, and celebrate the unique qualities of San Diego.

San Diego’s last Parks Master Plan was competed in the late 1950s. In the past 60 years, changes in recreational trends and demographics have reshaped our city’s parks and recreational needs.

There are 52 community planning areas and many of these communities are built out with little land left for traditional parks. Many of these communities were built prior to the current park service levels the city requires today and therefore we do not have an equitable balance of recreational resources across the city.

Not only is it difficult to find park land, but land is very expensive to acquire. And yet the Parks and Recreation Department manages over 42,000 acres of park land and only a small percentage of this land is used for population-based community and neighborhood park needs. Therefore, we need to study how all city-owned land is used for our recreation needs. This effort would provide the criteria and use of park equivalencies.

Have a voice in the revision to the Parks Master Plan and attend any one of the 10 regional workshops: June 11 at Robb Field; June 12 at San Diego Central Library; June 14 at Black Mt. Middle School; June 18 at Mid-City Gym; June 19 at Skyline Hills Rec Center; June 20 at Canyonside Rec Center; June 21 at Standley Rec Center; June 25 at Golden Hill Rec Center; and June 27 at San Ysidro Community Activity Center. A meeting was held on June 6 at the Linda Vista Rec Center.

SCAC dues are due ($7 per household). Please send your check for membership to: SCAC P.O. Box 19246, San Diego, CA 92159-0246. If you wish to be added to the Interested Persons List or have a topic you would like to learn about, please contact me at [email protected].

—Mickey Zeichick is secretary of the San Carlos Area Council.