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Colleen Jordan, 84 Eddystone Court, spoke in support of her Redwood City neighbors in the Friendly Acres and Centennial Neighbors, "who have tolerated flooding in their streets and their homes for years." Ms. Jordan said she joined Jan LaMantia from Centennial in praising Public Works Services Director Peter Ingram and his staff "for their diligent efforts and finally putting a firm foot forward to solve the flooding problems." Ms. Jordan said flooding should be one of the top priorities of the Council. Jan LaMantia, 167 F Street, Chair of the Centennial Neighborhood Association, said she agreed with Ms. Jordan, "We have waited a long time, and I do appreciate all that you are doing now, and just hope we keep going forward." Jason Cross, 344 Chesham Avenue, San Carlos, spoke "in support of all the people in Redwood City that are trying to put together a Skate Board Park." He said he has been heading up the effort in San Mateo for the past three years, and the Council had just approved an interim park on a publicly owned lot. Mr. Cross said he knew there was a large demand in Redwood City for a skate park, and suggested an interim park would be a great way to determine if the Council should set aside the $150,000 a permanent park would cost. He said Half Moon Bay is now completing its skate park which is located behind the police station. Mr. Cross said skate parks bring out of town revenue to cities. He thanked the Youth Advisory Board and all the other people who have worked and supported skate parks. Mayor Howard saluted all those people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and do the work and create solutions. She said it made the Council's job easier when people want to be part of the solution. David Stuart, 927 Blandford Blvd., said he had been active in coaching soccer for twenty- two years at the CYSA and A YSO levels, is on the Board of A YSO and a member of Redwood City 2000. Mr. Stuart said he was involved in gathering support from those groups and the community to form a collaborative to address the needs of recreational activities in the community. He described a February meeting that brought together 65 people representing field suppliers including Canada Community College, Sequoia High School District, Redwood City Elementary School District, City staff, County staff, as well as field users from Pop Warner football, baseball, softball, seniors, coed, horseshoes, soccer, and Latino Leagues. He said those groups represented 5,000 individuals involved in sports in the community and 1,000 volunteers, such as referees, umpires, coaches, Board members and fund raisers. He said that didn't include organizations such as PAL that haven't organized sports groups because they know there are no fields. Mr. Stuart said the predominant theme of the group's discussion was, "How do we make the pie bigger." He said no one wanted to impinge on another groups use of fields. Mr. Stuart thanked Council for setting new fields and field renovation as one of its top priorities. He described the agreement reached with the County, School District and the City to improve two gyms in the area, and the possibility of losing more fields to classrooms with Bond funds from Measure A. Mr. Stuart urged the Council to keep this issue a top priority and to support renovating three fields at Taft, Garfield and Fair Oaks, two of which are in the REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 56 MAY 11, 1998 MINUTES Page No. 474 PAGE 25