SR 05:131 - Laserfiche WebLink

school district site, is an issue that I have mentioned numerous times in writing to the Director, Mr. Wolfe and the City Council. Havinq free and open tennis courts is a part of a first class City. Constricting the supply of facilities in order to be able to charge money for court usage, is elitist and has no place in any ungated community. As one of the speakers charitably stated at the meeting, "The City of Pleasanton has an unusual policy of charging for use of tennis courts." The fee has nothing to do with maintenance or upkeep, since there is minimal maintenance or upkeep on such surfaces or nets. As I have said before, if the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena and their Dad lived in Pleasanton, they would never have been able to play on public tennis courts. 5. Privatization of Public School Facilities is not only wrong, it is a big part of the problem Significant pressure from the soccer/lacrosse/football/baseball constituencies demanding more fields for practice and games, could be eliminated by first DEMANDING from the Pleasanton Unified School District that it remove the locks on gates at schools like Hearst, and make the facilities accessible and useful. (See prior comments, below) At Hearst, with the size of the field, one would be able to provide for a **minimum** of two baseball/softball fields, one at the Southwest corner of the field, and one at the Southeast corner, with the middle to be used for soccer or lacrosse or football (or play). One will likely find resistance from the School District which has "privatized" the playground after school through its Kids Club franchise, which has 50 children enrolled and charges over $400 per child. (A $20,000 cash flow revenue stream to the District, which they would not want to see go away, and it would not need to go away, if SHARING or responding to the community were a priority.) The estimated 3-4 acres of grassy fields at Hearst are the biggest waste of available space in Pleasanton. If the Trustees know about it and have done nothing, they should be ashamed. If they don't know about it, tell them. If the School District made the fields available, then there would not be so much pressure for ballfields on the Bernal Property "jewel". Think about it. Eight teams could practice per day at this one school's field. Also, there is plenty of unutlized space at Pleasanton Middle School which could support even more teams. The problem is the lack of citizen-focused coordination between the City and PUSD. Such an approach will reduce the competition for space among the private, organized team constituencies. 6. Natural Weather Patterns like E1 Nino are Unforgiving to Athletes on Private Club Teams The soccer/lacrosse/basketball/football team constituencies in attendance at the meeting uniformly commented on the wet fields' effect on the ability of the clubs to play their games. My kids play soccer and baseball, so I am very sensitive to the need for facilities. Here's an idea: How about entertaining the idea of "the clubs" with enough cash to split the cost of upgrading the grassy fields with PUSD, into all weather turf, using a "public private partnership" model. The precedent is exists. The City of Pleasanton has done so with PUSD and still does. The City can be the financier if the clubs don't have the money. Without such an arrangement, it seems that each of the clubs are collectively a private, special interest lobby seeking to obtain special consideration at the expense of the majority of members of the public {including young and old), seeking to dominate the public process through generating more massive turnout at the Town Hall meeting. 7. Cultural Arts/Theater and Sports Facilities Nearby can Leverage Underground Parking Placing the Cultural Arts Center as close to downtown makes sense. Below ground parking would be a great way of keeping and conserving the acreage above ground useful. Creating a large, underground parking facility which serves both the cultural arts center, as well as the 3