|
Redwood City E-News
Building a Great Community Together
Issue #10 ~ May, 2004
IN THIS ISSUE:
*Study Session for Courthouse Square Design - May 3*
*Celebrate “National Historic Preservation Week” - May 3 - 7*
*The Forum at Redwood City – May 5*
*Day in the Park is Great Fun for Kids 5 and Under – May 6*
*Join the “Human Race” and Help Community Services – May 8*
*General Plan Update Meeting in Redwood Shores - May 18*
*3rd Annual Public Safety Memorial Service Scheduled - May 23*
*Fair Oaks Community Center Celebrates 30 Years – May 27*
*Skate Park Receives Award of Excellence*
*About Redwood City E-News*
**************************
Study Session for Courthouse Square Design - May 3
Interested Redwood City people have imagined, discussed, examined, and shaped several design alternatives for the Courthouse Square to be implemented Downtown. With the planned removal of the “annex” building at the old courthouse, the overarching purpose of the public workshops so far has been to create a comfortable place Downtown for people to gather, meet, and be part of a real community, in the manner of a central gathering place, a plaza, or a town square.
To bring these concepts together, a joint study session is scheduled for Monday, May 3rd at 7:00 pm in City Hall Council Chambers to select a single design concept with which to move forward on this project.
This will be a joint meeting of the City Council, the Planning Commission, and the Architectural Review Committee. The public is invited to participate in this study session and help select a single design concept which will then be refined and presented at a future public workshop. The study session will include a review of the principles of good public spaces, and an overview of the attributes of each design concept, how they were developed, and how each might function in our Downtown.
**************************
Celebrate “National Historic Preservation Week” - May 3 - 7
The 32nd annual National Historic Preservation Week is May 3 - 9, 2004, with the theme, “New Frontiers in Preservation.” This special week is sponsored annually by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and locally by the City of Redwood City Historic Resources Advisory Committee.
We’re celebrating National Historic Preservation Week 2004 in Redwood City with the following fun, interesting, and historically rich events:
~ Historic walking tour - 10:30 am, Sunday May 2nd, meet in front of Lathrop House at 627 Hamilton Street. Tour lasts 1 hour and 15 minutes. See where Wyatt Earp occasionally came for a drink, where President Hoover once slept, where a Wells Fargo Express Office operated in 1875, Redwood City’s first new car showroom salon and auto repair garage, the finest theater on the peninsula in 1896, the former homes of prominent pioneer citizens and much more.
~ Union Cemetery Historic Site tour - 10 am, Sunday, May 8th, meet at the cemetery, Woodside Road near El Camino Real. Sponsored by the Historic Union Cemetery Association,
~ Field trips for seventh grade students from participating schools from the Redwood City School District - May 18th through May 20th. Over 450 students will tour the restored 1863 Lathrop House, a historic house museum at 627 Hamilton Street, the Old County Courthouse (home of the San Mateo County Historical Association and Museum), and the historic Fox Theater.
Business and community sponsors and participants for the school tours include restaurant and Fox Theater owners John Anagnostou and Michael Monte, the San Mateo County Historical Association, the Redwood City Heritage Association, Bob’s Courthouse Coffee Shop and the Redwood City Optimist Club.
**************************
The Forum at Redwood City – May 5
The City of Redwood City and local non-profit training and education organization Communities by Design, will hold another exciting educational forum on urban design on Wednesday, May 5, from 6:00 to 7:45 pm in Redwood City.
This month brings the author of “Global City Blues: The Impact of Globalism on the Livability of our Cities.” Mr. Daniel Solomon is a world-renowned San Francisco-based architect and urbanist with thirty-five years of professional and academic experience focused on residential architecture and urban design. He is also the co-founder of the Congress for The New Urbanism, an urban design and planning movement that the New York Times called "the most important phenomenon to emerge in American architecture in the post-Cold War era."
The Forum takes place the first Wednesday of each month at the Little Fox Theater, 2209 Broadway, in downtown Redwood City. Doors open at 5:30 pm and the cost is $10 per person, payable at the door. An optional no-host dinner with the presenter and other participants will be held following the Forum for those wishing to continue the discussion.
**************************
Day in the Park is Great Fun for Kids 5 and Under – May 6
With a morning full of activities like craft projects, a fire engine and police car, snacks, and more, “A Day in the Park” is sure to delight even the most hard-to-please toddler, preschooler, or kindergartner. Redwood City’s annual “Day in the Park” event is scheduled for Thursday, May 6, 2004 from 9:30 a.m. until 12:00 noon at the Community Activities Building, 1400 Roosevelt Avenue, Redwood City.
Children five years and younger are invited to come with their parents, grandparents, child care or preschool providers, or other caregivers, for fun play activities, entertainment, snacks…and more fun! To promote healthy living for little ones from birth on, activities this year will relate to nutrition, physical activity and other health needs. Activities include: Planting seed cups to take home; a fruit & vegetable identification game (by feeling them inside an enclosed box); making sun visors (gluing foam fruit shapes on paper visors to take); Project READ book-making activity; popcorn machine snacks; fire engine visit. Call 780-7311 for more information.
**************************
Join the “Human Race” and Help Community Services – May 8
The 26th Annual “Human Race” is a fundraising walk/run that benefits over 60 community organizations throughout San Mateo County. Each year, participants gather pledges and contributions and then participate in a 5K or 10K walk/run to raise funds for non-profit and community services organizations, including the Redwood City Veteran’s Memorial Senior Center.
Last year over $12,000 was raised for the Redwood City Senior Center allowing them to continue providing low cost programs and scholarships, buy equipment for their nutrition program, and help build a stronger community.
The Human Race will be held on Saturday, May 8 at Coyote Point Park beginning at 8:00 am. Redwood City is urging the public to join the “Human Race” for the benefit of our Senior Center. In addition to the festive and healthy run/walk, the public can enjoy kids’ races and other fun children’s activities, free coffee, live music, a post-race party, and more.
This is a great opportunity to help out Redwood City’s Senior Center through this fun and healthy fundraising effort. Members of the public can participate in several ways: make a direct donation to the Human Race or the Senior Center; sponsor one or more walkers/runners by pledging a specific amount of money; or join in the walk/run, and solicit and collect pledges. Call the Redwood City Veteran’s Memorial Senior Center at 650-780-7306 to get involved! Participants in the race itself receive a free commemorative T-shirt, and a place of honor on the Senior Center’s “Walking Wall of Fame.”
**************************
General Plan Update Meeting - May 18
What do you like about your City? What needs to be improved? What do you want your neighborhood and your community to look like in 10 years? What kind of community do you want your children to have in the future? How should the City address housing, transportation, development, and other issues?
These and other questions will be discussed at the fourth public workshop on the City’s General Plan update, scheduled for Tuesday, May 18, 2004 at 7:30 pm, at Sandpiper Community Center, 797 Redwood Shores Parkway. For this workshop, free child care (ages 3 and up only; call for required reservations) and refreshments are provided, and all attendees receive a $10 coupon for use toward any Parks and Recreation Department class or program. More information is available at www.redwoodcity.org/generalplan, by calling 650-780-7234, or by emailing generalplan@redwoodcity.org.
The General Plan for Redwood City is a document that establishes the policies, goals, and programs for the long-term physical development of the City, and it provides the basis and foundation for decisions on future development. The City’s existing General Plan was adopted in 1991, and now – as we move forward in the 21st century – our City faces new challenges and opportunities that need to be addressed. Public involvement is an essential element of the General Plan Update, in order to identify and address the City’s major issues and opportunities, and to reflect our community’s values, needs, goals, and vision. To accomplish this, a series of public workshops is being hosted by the City’s Planning Commission.
At these workshops, neighbors and other participants are discussing their likes and dislikes about Redwood City, what might be improved in our community, and what they think the City needs that it doesn’t currently have. The results of these discussions will be compiled by City staff and used to formulate a Vision for what Redwood City should be in the next 10-to-20 years. At future meetings, the Vision will be further refined to serve as the basis for a new, updated General Plan.
**************************
3rd Annual Public Safety Memorial Service Scheduled - May 23
Local public safety agencies throughout San Mateo County will be taking part in the third annual San Mateo County Public Safety Memorial Service. This special commemoration is in honor of fallen public safety professionals and will be held on Sunday, May 23 rd , 2004 10:00 am in the Cunningham Memorial Chapel at Notre Dame de Namur University, 1500 Ralston Avenue in Belmont . The service will be non-denominational.
San Mateo County Chaplains Dick Morton and Don Wright will be conducting the ceremony, and ceremonial bell and bagpipes will be part of the service. All are invited to join in the commemoration and honoring of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Informal reception immediately following the service.
**************************
Fair Oaks Community Center Celebrates 30 Years – May 27
Redwood City’s Fair Oaks Community Center, a remarkable collaborative of public, private, and non-profit agencies serving the community’s critical needs, turns 30 years old this year. From emergency food to shelter referrals, legal services to childcare, senior services to cultural and educational events, the Fair Oaks Community Center has made a huge, positive difference in countless lives throughout Redwood City and the North Fair Oaks community. In collaboration with the County of San Mateo Human Services Agency, the Center accommodates nearly 100,000 visits per year, helping families, children, seniors, the homeless and jobless, and anyone in need.
On May 27th from 4 to 7 pm, you’re invited to celebrate this unique and irreplaceable community resource, located at 2600 Middlefield Road. The event features a walk-through display highlighting the center’s 30-year history, inter-generational art exhibit, open house, great food, exciting music and dance, and a variety of other activities celebrating this extraordinary place, and honoring the exceptional people that have built it into one of the most vital and indispensable community service centers in the bay area.
“The Fair Oaks Community Center is one of our most precious and valued resources,” said Redwood City Mayor Jeff Ira. “It’s a model for community service centers throughout the region. The people who created it and those who work there today are truly outstanding in their commitment and dedication to our community. I invite everyone to participate in honoring the Fair Oaks Community Center on its 30th Anniversary.”
**************************
Skate Park Receives Award of Excellence
The California Park & Recreation Society (CPRS) has awarded Redwood City’s Phil Shao Memorial Skate Park an “Award of Excellence” in the category of Facility Design/Skate Park.
According to Chris Beth, Superintendent of Redwood City Parks, Recreation and Community Services, “The CPRS awards program is the highest recognition a parks agency can receive and the this award is really a credit to the staff and many volunteers that were a part of making the skate park a reality.” The skate park, located at Red Morton Community Park, provides a state-of-the-art-facility to a unique and growing sport. As one of the most widely used features in any Redwood City park, nearly 200 skaters a day have an opportunity to enhance their skills and enjoy a wonderful facility.
CPRS is a membership organization with 4,200 members representing the 525 local park and recreation agencies in the state. The mission of CPRS is to provide the leadership and resources to promote the role of parks & recreation in creating community through people, parks and programs. Its website is located at www.cprs.org
**************************
About Redwood City E-News
|
