September 2, 2004

Partnership between city and community creates dream park

By Jeanne C. Lewis
Staff Writer

With summer temperatures sizzling, Almaden Winery Neighborhood Association [AWNA] sponsored its third annual picnic Saturday with a special presentation of its youth lot groundbreaking by dignitaries and community members.

The youth lot groundbreaking at Almaden Winery Park signified a unique blend of the city and AWNA, establishing a team that has created a dream park for the residents of the 368 homes represented by the association. It also creates a very unique park in San Jose blending historic buildings with recreational area facilities.

“A government works in partnership with people,” Pat Dando, Councilmember 10 and Vice Mayor said at the groundbreaking. “This is a prime example of a public and private relationship where the government steps in and listens to what the people want and they step forward with a plan. The neighbors helped us plan every step of the way and raised money to make it happen. It is the best of what community is and this park shows the effort of their work. I am very proud.”

Construction on the youth lot is set to begin in October, with a completion date set for March, 2005. It is being built for 6- to 12-year-old children, whereas the tot lot is specifically for 2- to 5-year-olds.

Included in Almaden Winery Park is the historic red brick building built in the 1850s by Charles LeFranc—the second oldest winery in the state of California—the heritage rose garden with plants that were originally brought from France, restored antique lighting, footpaths, benches, foliage, iron gazebos refurbished with a Community Action and Pride grant, a tot lot and a community center built in the 1970s still being renovated that will open in December for public use.

Attending the festivities were Art Rosales, District 10 park manager, AWNA President Michael Kubiniec, Amy Paschal and Dede Smullen, both on the Almaden winery Youth Lot Committee. Paschal and Smullen were instrumental in the creative methods used to raise over $50,000 with garage sales, golf tournaments and even a casino night. The city allocated $150,000, plus the remainder of the park trust fund with the total cost of the upgrades $320,000.

“I had no idea what I was getting involved in,” Paschal said at the picnic and reported that they are near the additional $20,000 needed for the youth lot. “But it couldn’t have been done without a lot of help from the people in the association and Pat.”

Besides raising funds, a lot of sweat equity went into the park. Volunteers from the neighborhood helped plant much of the foliage and attend to the special needs of the area.

The goals of the committee for the park were to reflect the history of the winery, maintain a high priority to the needs of the residents, a design placing strong importance on the visual quality of the park, provide varied activities, a design that was financially achievable with minimal maintenance and accessible to all ages and abilities.

If this past Saturday’s picnic and groundbreaking ceremony is any indication, AWNA is on target to achieve their goals. In attendance to celebrate the event were four of the San Jose Mounted Police unit [Maximus, a Belgian draft horse and fifth member of the unit died this past week] and San Jose Firefighters from Station 17 complete with fire truck.

“San Jose is the safest big city in the nation,” Pat Dando remarked at the podium. “Not one of the safest, it is the safest. And it is in great part because we have great public safety officers. When you call they will be there in three to four minutes. We appreciate that very much and the good work that they do day in and day out.”

After the groundbreaking—complete with shiny new shovels—the families fired up the barbecues and visited with music playing in the background. The kids enjoyed the jump house, water slides and swimming pools with an occasional horse taking a thirsty drink. And there was a sense of pride for the members of AWNA and the city officials in attendance. After all, their dream dream park had become a reality.