By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief
The Pacific Palisades Recreation Center Park Advisory Board met in person for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the small gym on Wednesday evening, April 19, to discuss a number of items, including pickleball and the future of ADA-compliant playground/restrooms.
Senior Facility Director Jasmine Dowlatshahi reported during the meeting that, after Recreation and Parks officials completed a sound test, pickleball “cannot be played permanently anywhere in this park.”
Previously, the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners voted during its Thursday, September 15, 2022, meeting to add pickleball lines to tennis court #7—pending a noise study—after the Pacific Palisades Park Advisory Board voted at its quarterly meeting on November 10, 2021, to support the conversion of one tennis court into a hybrid playing space.
Tennis court #7 is one of four courts at Palisades Recreation Center that is not operated by park staff, but instead run by a special operations branch of Recreation and Parks that runs Pay Tennis—which is based in Griffith Park. The Tennis Center oversees courts 1 through 4.
Dowlatshahi shared that she is working to regain control over the four courts in the near future, a policy that dates back to before she began her tenure at the rec center. The Park Advisory Board voted unanimously at the end of its meeting to support Dowlatshahi overseeing the courts, while forming a subcommittee to help put procedures in place, including how to make reservations and how to obtain permits.
The park will continue to offer pickleball Mondays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the large gym, as well as on tennis courts #1 and #3—the courts located furthest from residences—which will be taped by the Tennis Center daily for play until 2 p.m.
“Enthusiasm for pickleball is huge,” PP-PAB Chair Andy Starrels said, noting that the intensity on the court is different than that of tennis, but that “we as a community should be able to figure out a solution.” He shared that PAB is “committed to dialogue” regarding pickleball’s future in the Palisades.
Also on the agenda was a discussion about updating the bathrooms and playground at Palisades Recreation Center—both of which are decades old.
Dowlatshahi shared that she, along with Palisades mom Brooke Sutton, met with Tiffany Harris from Shane’s Inspiration about an updated playground. There is also an option for placing a prefabricated bathroom. Harris said they would help with things like fundraising in the community to bring the playground and restroom to Palisades Recreation Center.
Sutton explained Harris would “hold hands through the process,” and that the playground is all inclusive. She is also looking to add shade in some capacity at the playground.
Sutton asked about Quimby funds for the playground. PAB board members explained that it would be “appropriate to ask” but there is not usually much available for the Palisades, given its location and the circumference of area that Quimby funds are pulled from.
Starrels said that this would not be a replacement for the city providing funding for an ADA-compliant bathroom at Palisades Recreation Center, which PAB Board Member Rick McGeagh estimated should cost about $50,000 at most.
Community fundraising has brought things to fruition in the Palisades, like Veterans Gardens, Field of Dreams and the playground that is available at the rec center now.
“You’ll do it 10 years before we’ll be able to do it,” PAB Board Member and Pacific Palisades Baseball Association Commissioner Bob Benton said about fundraising for the playground.
Starrels suggested the Park Advisory Board ask RAP Commissioners—especially since there are new members sitting on the board—when the Palisades’ turn is for a new playground.
“We want a place where all of the children in our community can come together and play in a place that is inclusive to all,” Sutton shared with the Palisadian-Post following the meeting.
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