Meeting Report
PRESENT: Chair, Cindy
Chavez, Councilmember Pat Dando, Councilmember Ken Yeager
ABSENT: Vice-Chair
George Shirakawa, Jr.
STAFF: Jim Holgerson, Norm Sato,
Mark Linder, Albert Balagso, Terry Eberhart, Steve Emslie, Jaime Matthews, Jim
Norton,
The
meeting was convened at 1:35 P.M.
Item
e was referred to the City Council meeting June 26, 2001, and partial minutes
were distributed earlier.
a.
Youth Commission Monthly Report (April and May) (Parks, Recreation and
Neighborhood Services)
Mark Linder, Director, Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, introduced Albert Balagso, Parks Recreation and Neighborhood Services, who presented the report. Albert stated there would be four commissioner vacancies in Districts, 4, 7, 10 and City-wide. He also acknowledged Timothy Eng, our City-wide representative, who was accepted to West Point. Terry said replacements will be needed to continue the fine work done by these individuals.
Upon motion of Councilmember Dando, seconded by Councilmember Yeager, the Committee accepted the staff report.
b. Aging Services Master Plan Update (Parks,
Recreation and Neighborhood Services).
Mark introduced Terry Eberhardt, Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, who discussed the report. Terry stated we have provided service to over 20,000 seniors, 1.7 million unduplicated participant hours, through the City’s eleven senior sites and six City-wide Special Services Programs. He also stated they were building on their leadership role in the development and implementation of the San Jose Aging Services Master Plan, “Planning for the Age Wave, a Ten Year Plan”, adopted by the Mayor and City Council in 1994. The Office of Aging administers the implementation of the San Jose Aging Services Master Plan and coordinates with at least 500 agencies. The Master Plan will be updated as part of the “Greenprint for Parks and Community Facilities Programs”.
Terry also reported he Nutrition Program had
received additional funding, which places this program in practically every
District throughout San Jose. The
Nutrition Program has increased the older participation in the centers.
He also stated the Senior Games continue to be a
large activity and the City will be hosting the State Senior Games in
2002. To expand this program, PRNS will
be recruiting for a new supervisor’s position next year The next challenge will
be the “Strategic Plan for Aging Services “, which is a collaborative effort
with the County of Santa Clara as a joint City-County Plan. Terry reported they would be engaging a firm
to look at the strategies and processes and hope to present the updated Plan to
the Committee in the fall of 2002. This
report will include a statistically valid survey of our senior citizens to
determine their needs and interests.
Pat commented that District 10 held their first Nutrition Program and
over 50 seniors attended. It is not a matter
of “can you afford your lunch,” but it is a social time giving seniors the
opportunities to be with people with like concerns and issues.
A preliminary report on the Master Plan will be
presented to the Committee at the September17 meeting, outlining steps for
completion of the Master Plan by fall 2002.
Pat stated that one of the reasons we requested the
Mayor to fund the new Event Coordinator position this budget cycle was so they
would take a lead role in the Senior Olympic games as one of their duties. The desire is to make that a year-round
activity. Hosting the 2002 Senior
Olympic games seems to be a good time to start. Terry stated the position would be posted and hopefully filled by
fall. Pat also requested that we see a
City-wide event, i.e., Mayor’s Senior Awareness Day, Senior Education Day,
early next year. She also stated the
goal was to identify an author for an education proponent for seniors or even
an entertainer, like Bill Cosby, to do a program at the CPA. As May is Seniors’ Month, it was selected
for the first City-wide event.
Terry also said they were discussing outreaching to
the younger seniors, the 50-60 year old group.
Cindy inquired that when looking at the CSA and the
targets that are being accomplished, i.e., 20,000 seniors with 1.7 million
unduplicated hours, if there was a way to determine cost per unit per service,
other than blending everything together.
Mark stated that information would be added to their September report.
Upon motion of Councilmember Dando, seconded by
Councilmember Dando, the Committee accepted the Staff report, with the
following directives to Staff:
§
A Preliminary report is presented to the Committee at the September 17
meeting on the strategies and processes for updating the Strategic Plan for
Aging Services, including cost per unit per service.
§
A senior’s city-wide event is held in May, 2002.
c. San Jose BEST Recommendations/Evaluations (Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood
Services).
Mark stated the report was their annual report and introduced Albert and
Neil Rufino, Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, to make the
presentation. (Attached).
Pat inquired if the computers purchased for the TABS Center are actually
keeping better statistics on repeat truants.
Pat requested a report on truancy, indicating whether the truancy rate
is going down, are the schools losing as much money and are we seeing fewer
repeat offenders. Neil responded they
would work with the Police Department, as PRNS only has a partnership with the
TABS program to obtain the information.
Neil stated the Truancy Intervention Project, which targets high-risk
truants, indicates there is approximately a 30% increase in attendance. He
stated they had sent out surveys on how well the program is being received. Pat requested the breakdown of the number of
surveys given to parents versus responses.
Neil stated he would get the numbers and report back to the Committee. He also said he had talked to the teachers
to see the link with truancy, parental involvement, children staying in school
and their grades. Neil said that they
are finding that truancy is only a symptom; there are so many more issues for
the children dropping out of school. He
indicated they are gaining more partnerships with school administrations,
school boards and city government to look at these issues.
For each group funded, including the Police Department, Cindy requested
they philosophically approach the question of truancy, as some of our truants
are ending up in juvenile hall and our intent was to keep youngsters out of
that environment. She requested each
group talk about this philosophically and then to actually operationalize what
happens to the young person, especially where we have challenges with the
parents. Cindy suggested staff talk to
the non-profits who are also doing this kind of work for their feedback.
Cindy also stated, according to Chief Lansdowne, gang violence is
actually growing in some areas
Pat requested staff look at police statistics on young people who have
been involved in severe injuries or deaths over the last 6 months to see how
many of those were in school, habitual truants, dropped out of school (when and
why), and report back to the Committee.
Upon motion of Councilmember Dando, seconded by Councilmember Yeager, the
Committee accepted the Staff report with the following directives to Staff:
Following reports be prepared and returned to the Committee in September:
Is truancy going down, are the
schools still losing as much money and are we seeing less repeat offenders?
A breakdown of the number of
surveys sent to parents versus number of responses.
Report on police statistics on
young people who have been involved in severe injuries or deaths over the last
6 months to see how many of those where in school, habitual truants, or dropped
out of school (when and why).
d. Report on the implementation/timeline for Skate Parks (Parks, Recreation and
Neighborhood
Services).
Mark introduced Jim Norton, Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services
who discussed the report. Jim stated
they had contacted 20 cities in Northern California and by reviewing the City
of Palo Alto’s study done in September of 1998, 60 cities are represented in
the report. The City of Santa Cruz has
the longest-term skate park in the State, which has run peacefully for over 15
years. The Park is open to the public and unsupervised. In talking to other cities, the most
important element in setting up a skate park is community buy-in prior to the
park’s installation. Most skateparks in
California are not supervised as 1998 legislation removed some of the liability
issues for skate parks built after 1998. They found the permanent structures
are better; more expensive to build, but less expensive to run and the skaters
prefer them. Jim stated we have funded
sites and we are moving forward on these, we have the consultant on board, and
the pending legislation, SB 994, grants a great deal more freedom in terms of
liabilities for skate boarding.
Currently there are two pieces of legislation, one on skateboarding and
other on in-line skating.
The skate park that is planned for District 7 is 6,000 square feet, which
is the perimeter of the facility, where the majority of them average 10,000
square feet. Cindy requested this
report become a monthly update to the Committee indicating what parks are being
planned, where we are in the process, and the timelines. Jim stated that whenever possible, we want
to maximize what we currently have available rather than start new. The use of
Regional Parks, who already have the amenities, i.e., restrooms, parking. Pat requested a portable skate park be
installed in the Almaden Lake Light rail area for this summer’s use, if
approved by VTA. Pat and Cindy will
talk to the VTA Commission at their next meeting to see the availability of the
VTA Park and Ride lot at Almaden Lake.
Cindy requested a calendar showing when the various skate parks would be
installed, making sure we have a few in close proximity.
Upon motion by Councilmember Dando, seconded by Councilmember Yeager, the
Committee accepted the staff report, with the following directives to Staff:
§
The Skatepark Update Report will become monthly which will include what
parks are planned, where we are in the process, timelines and a calendar
showing dates for implementation for the various skateparks throughout the
City.
f. Approval
of final draft Auto Body Ordinance (Planning, Building and Code
Enforcement).
Jamie
stated this had been brought before the Committee once before and this was
returning the ordinance and
specifics. In 1997 the Council
approved the Auto Dismantling Ordinance, which was needed, but there was a hole
left. The Auto Body Repair Shops often
act very much like dismantlers, but were left completely unregulated. Jamie said they have been working very
closely with the California Auto-Body Association to assure the ordinance is
fair. We have approximately 800 auto body repair shops throughout the City, of
this number 250 are estimated to be illegal operations or unable to meet the
zoning standards in which they are located.
Eliminating these illegal operations will be phased in over 3 years. New
staff will not be is needed to implement the ordinance. The cost of the program will be off-set by
permits. Councilmember Ken Yeager inquired if the County had something similar
in existence. If not, we should contact
the County and have them consider similar ordinances. Steve Sterkin, Auto Body Association, stated the Association’s
plan is to contact the County and then make it state-wide. If this is not done, the illegal operations
will just pick up and move to other locations.
Upon motion of Councilmember
Yeager, seconded by Councilmember Yeager, the Committee accepted the staff
report.
g.
Approval of final draft for “Blueprint for Bridging the Digital Divide
(Parks,
Recreation and Neighborhood
Services).
Mark stated they would be
presenting their final draft of the Blueprint for Bridging the Digital Divide
and they were hoping to receive feedback on the “draft”. He introduced the Youth Commissioners:
Jennifer Leung, Rachel Stone, Justin Imamura, Jennifer Hernandez, Stephanie
Tsai, and Alex Berger. Mark stated the
Youth Commissioners, at the request of the Mayor, drive the entire process and
they have taken it seriously.
Mark then turned it over to
Jennifer Leung, the Chair of the Commission.
Jennifer stated their main vision has been to represent the youth of the
City of San Jose. At the 2001 State of
the City address, the Mayor charged the Youth Commission with doing the
revision of the Youth Services Master Plan and to have the plan ready by August
2001. She requested, on behalf of the
Youth Commission, the Committee accept and approve the final draft of the
“Blueprint for Bridging the Digital Divide”.
With the Commission’s recommendations, the Youth Commission will return
in August with an Action Plan detailing their plans for the first year. Jennifer then introduced the three co-chairs
of the Blueprint Advisory Council, Jennifer Hernandez, Rachael Stone and Alex
Berger.
Albert stated the report
being presented was the foundation on how they would proceed. The actual items that have strategic actions
would come before the Committee in August. This will give them time to prepare
and also do an inventory of the resources that are already available, so the
youth actions we target do not duplicate, but rather enhance or change what
exists and make it better. Youth want
to succeed, they want to contribute toward their communities, they want to feel
safe in their neighborhoods and schools and they want to know they are valued
and appreciated by their parents and other adults.
Albert presented the report
(attached).
The first year’s actions
will be based on the top three priorities:
§
Community
planning and school safety services will be available to children, youth and
families.
§
Parent
and family services that promote skills and competencies will be available to
families.
§
Quality
early childhood development and educational programs will be available to young
children.
The Action Plan for the
first year will come before the Committee’s August 20 meeting for the
Committee’s approval, they will then be ready to proceed in September, as
committed to the Mayor. Ken, Cindy and
Pat extended their thanks to all who were involved in the Blueprint. At some point she would be interested in
knowing how the implementation plan would reflect the priorities of the
Commissions. Cindy suggested we review
the work that Pat and Ken are doing as far as Smart Start Centers. In some areas we have already taken steps,
but we may not be moving as quickly or as strategically as we could be. She requested this be included in the
Action steps for year one.
It is important we keep in
contact with the past Youth Commissioners to see if we are on track and whether
or not they have observed any impact from the steps take so far.
Upon motion by Councilmember
Yeager, seconded by Councilmember Dando, the Committee accepted the Staff
report with the following directive:
§
Action steps for year one, including the inventory of existing
resources, funding implications and Smart Start Centers, be returned to the
Committee at the September 17 meeting
h.
Oral Petitions
None
i.
Adjournment
The Committee was adjourned at 4:10 P.M.
Councilmember Cindy Chavez, Chair
Education, Neighborhoods, Youth and Seniors
Committee