The Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation is hosting a series of annual meetings to present their plans for local facilities and answer questions, according to county officials.
The meetings are being held on the weekends and later in the evenings to make it easier for families to attend, according to Sam Estrada, regional recreation director for the L.A. County Department of Parks and Recreation.
“Join us this September at L.A. County Parks for community meetings at 67 parks and nature centers,” reads the posting on the county’s website. “Meet staff, learn about programs and share your ideas.”
The meetings promise to shape the department’s budget priorities for the next fiscal year, according to the site.
The meetings start at Vasquez Rocks Nature Center from 7 to 8 p.m. Friday, per the schedule posted online.
The next meeting for the North County area is for Val Verde Park from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday, and the meeting for the Castaic Sports Complex is being held the following weekend, from 10 to 11 a.m. Sept. 21.
The facility recently had its air conditioning restored, per county officials, after an emergency outage last week.
The penultimate meeting in the Santa Clarita Valley is scheduled for the Stevenson Ranch Library, which is going to discuss nearby Richard Roux Park.
Placerita Canyon State Park is the final stop, which is the last meeting on the September calendar, for 10-11 a.m. Sept. 28.
“A lot of it is to give some insight on our department’s vision, what (programs) we’re going to be conducting going into the next year,” Estrada said.
It’s an opportunity to find out about the fall programming that’s planned and also for staff to hear what residents would like to see, he added.
There will also be representatives for everything from maintenance and operations to facilities, and people can ask questions on everything from operational hours to why certain programs are available at specific times.
Castaic resident Glenn Milner said he found an added benefit when he showed up to last year’s local meeting at the Castaic Sports Complex, which had a $50 raffle for attendees.
As he and his wife were the only attendees, they won the raffle.
After he also collected the same prize last year for being the only attendees at the meeting for Richard Rioux Park, he decided to use his $100 for a good cause: to pay for the painting of lines on the pickleball courts that seniors use at the Castaic facility.
He laughed at the potential of his story’s publication hurting the chances for a repeat raffle sweep. He said he’d rather see people at the meetings.
The schedule for all of the meetings is available here: tinyurl.com/38zrf4tz.
