$300,000

Kids learning basic acrobat skills at Oceanview

Last night I skipped out on the second half of David's baseball game to be at a community town hall meeting. OMI (Oceanview, Merdced Heights, Ingleside) neighbors gathered at the Oceanview Park and Rec. Center (commonly called "Oceanview") to be heard on an important community issue, which is about Oceanview itself. The room was packed full of concerned parents, leaders, advocates, police, and children. Oceanview is a center of life in the neighborhood - OMI Family Resource Center; after school Safe Haven; and Park and Rec. offers many services and sports opportunities. For many families and especially children, Oceanview represents a point of life and saftey in the OMI, which has been plagued with 11 young men dying in the midst of gang and drug violence in the last year.

The main facility of Oceanview is the Gymnasium complex. It is old and delapidated. Two years ago the funds were raised and set aside for a new Gym, to be built behind the existing one. The community gave input on design to SF Park and Rec. and a design was agreed upon. So far so good. Now as preparations for the groundbreaking approaches word has reached neigborhood ears that the old gym will be torn down prior to the build and Oceanview will be closed for two years. There is nowhere close by to move the valuable services so everything stops for the full two years of construction. Make no mistake this is the making of a community disaster.

The head of Park and Rec listened as neighbors passionately voiced what Oceanview means to them. A rep. from our district supervisor entered with a surprised look saying, "Wow. There are a lot of people here." And a rep. from the mayor's office was also there. When it's all said and done the approximate savings for the overall project by tearing down the existing building before construction of the new complex will be $300,000. A middle aged latino lady stood and asked boldly, "Is $300K worth the lives of more deaths?" Her point was well taken. Without the center for two years a gaping hole would emerge in the community fabric. That hole will be filled with something, more than like something destructive.

The OMI was heard in the end. Each city rep. affirmed their commitment to fight for Oceanview to stay open. The climax was when the Park and Rec. leader signed a poster sized contract affirming his commitment to the overwhelming chants of "SIGN IT! SIGN IT! SIGN IT!..." But each one also stated that the community must show up at the upcoming Board of Supervisor meeting and get the mayors attention for the new city budget. So it's a battle in progress. I've never been to a City Hall Board meeting, I think the time has come. Doing this kind of thing is not just about my family and our needs. It's more about the community and it's health. I'm on a learning curve as much as my children - in life.