Nearly a year after the San Benito County Board of Supervisors
approved the project’s funding, Hollister workers are installing a
new play structure at John Z. Hernandez Park.
Nearly a year after the San Benito County Board of Supervisors approved the project’s funding, Hollister workers are installing a new play structure at John Z. Hernandez Park.
The old play structure, at the corner of Ranchito Drive and Central Avenue, was made of scratched steel and faded paint. But workers have installed a bright green-and-yellow plastic play structure, replaced the sand with wood fiber and on Wednesday were busy installing a new handicap-accessible sidewalk.
County Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz, who pushed for the renovations, said the park should open in around three weeks.
“It’s an important symbol,” De La Cruz said. “It shows that the City of Hollister and the County of San Benito can work together on ideas.”
The park has a practical purpose, too. Local mothers Matilda Carrio and Blanca Guzman said they’re excited by the improvements. Carrio said they would never take their young sons to the old park, which was unsafe.
“Now it’s real beautiful, real nice,” said Carrio, a Spanish speaker whose remarks were translated by De La Cruz.
Hollister Community Services Director Clay Lee has said Hollister’s building moratorium has left the city’s park fund empty. As a result, Hollister doesn’t have the money to renovate Hernandez Park, and it won’t have any funds until the moratorium is lifted at the end of 2008 and park money starts piling up again.
Instead, De La Cruz and county staff found $50,000 in state park funds targeted for San Benito County. With the county supplying the financing and the city supplying the workers, Lee has said the project is “a win-win situation.”
The plans were delayed by several months, De La Cruz said, because the firm that provides the city’s play structures had a “huge, huge backlog.” De La Cruz initially predicted the park would open in May or June 2007, but the city wasn’t able to purchase the play structure until now.
De La Cruz said he wants to pursue other projects with the city, particularly the construction of a 40-acre sports facility. The supervisor also serves on the Veterans Memorial Park Commission, and he said existing local sports facilities are at capacity – while a big, new park could bring in new revenues.
That park would carry a sizable price tag and probably receive funding through grants, De La Cruz said.
“Oh, we’re talking $10 million, no doubt about it,” he said.
De la Cruz also acknowledged that the city first needs to finish fixing Hernandez Park. As of Wednesday afternoon, the play structure still needed swings, trees still had to be planted and dirt underneath parts of the sidewalk were still exposed. And Carrio, the local mother, said the park needs one more finishing touch.
“They need a bench for the mamas,” she said.
