Community News

The meeting of the Santa Clara Parks Commission Workshop on Wednesday night, the third of March, was attended by myself and Kitty Monahan. I spoke out about the insurance funds being transferred to Calero being unfair to our community.

The Parks Commission heard my concerns and have placed it on the agenda for the April 7, 1999 meeting. We will again need lots of concerned people from our community to attend.

The commission addressed itself to the new budget items. At present they are planning to fund a $700,000 Entrance Fee booth project at Hellyer Park.

They spoke about how the Charter funds for the Parks is designed to be decrease in future years. The Charter states that even though new property taxes are incurred due to a higher tax base the Park funds are designed to be decreased.

This affects Santa Teresa Park improvements because the funds will be harder to obtain. Our community may never again have the opportunity to see better security improvements made at Buck Norred. The Friends of Santa Teresa Park are concerned about the safety issues at the site. Thus, it is important that the $300,000.00 extra funds for Buck Norred's stay to help improve the site.

I propose the improvements and land use being the same as the ones made at the old house across the street from Bernal School. The use is for housing a County park employee who watches the area for at-risk teenagers and vandals.

The Parks Commission reported that the Historic Heritage Commission funded the interior and interpreted programs at Joice/Bernal Museum site. This means the project is almost fully funded and allows the construction to be on schedule. The project is slated to be completed by early Y2K. We will need lots of community members to help staff the functions at the museum.

Also, the Historical Heritage Commission funded funds for study for the Buck Norred Historical site. This will help survey the resources at Buck Norred's to supplement the the Santa Teresa Master Plan . Buck Norred was not owned by the Park's department when the Master Plan was made. The funding will help the County Parks Department update it.

This meeting was well attended by our community and those who attended need to feel proud that they have help our community become a better place to live.