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With much festivity and celebration, the Gardner Community Center reopened
on August 21, 2004. The new building is impressive! Photos to come...
The Center will be training staff until August 30, and then will be
open to the public with a game room, a weight room, computer center,
meeting and education rooms...
Kevin Christman, chair of the Greater Gardner Coalition Neighborhood
Action Committee (NAC), gave a heartwarming and heartfelt speech at
the Center's rededication. Thanks, Kevin, for reconstructing your speech
for us here.
GOOD MORNING! THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING & WELCOME
TO OUR NEW COMMUNITY CENTER! WE HAVE SOME GREAT ENTERTAINMENT FOR
YOU TODAY, JALISCO MARIACHI, THE BLUES CREW, BAND OF BROTHERS, &
MAX THE CLOWN, PLEASE THANK THEM ALL FOR HELPING US CELEBRATE TODAY!
THIS IS AN EXCITING TIME FOR OUR NEIGHBORHOOD WITH SO MANY POSITIVE
THINGS THAT HAVE EITHER HAPPENED OR THAT ARE ON THE HORIZON. THE COMPLETION
OF THE PLAYGROUND WITH THE RESTROOM IMPROVEMENTS & THE OPENING
OF THE GREGORY STREET PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE IN FEBRUARY, THIS CENTER'S
OPENING WITH THE PUBLIC ARTWORK, WITH OUR LOCAL HEROES, HERE IN THE
PLAZA, THE ACQUISITION OF MONEY FROM SJRA & PW, IN CONJUNCTION
WITH THE SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT REQUEST FOR
A THREE YEAR TOTAL OF $875,587.00 TO HELP REBUILD SOME OF OUR WORST
STREETS, GUTTERS, CURBS, & SIDEWALKS AND A CAP GRANT FOR $15,000.00
FOR CHILDREN'S ARTWORK TO HELP TRANSFORM THE OLD "HORSESHOE"
INTO OUR CIRCLE OF DREAMS, ALONG WITH THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE VACANT
CITY LAND ALONG FULLER AVENUE INTO FULLER PARK. WE HAVE GOD TO THANK
FOR MANY BLESSINGS & THE HARD WORK OF CINDY CHAVEZ & KEN YEAGER,
MANY CITY WORKERS & YOUR HARD WORKING VOLUNTEER NEIGHBORS (WHO
HAVE PAINTED TWO BRIDGES & THREE HOMES IN THE AREA & HAVE
PARTICIPATED IN THE ACQUISITION OF OVER $905,000.00 IN GRANT MONEY
FOR THE BETTERMENT OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD).
LIKE MARK'S ANALOGY OF THE SPIDER & HIS WEB, WE HAVE HAD OUR SHARE
OF CHALLENGES IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, AS WELL. MIGUEL WAS MURDERED
ABOUT A YEAR AND A HALF AGO, WE HAVE HAD 2 STABBINGS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD,
A SHOOTING IN THE PARK, THE TRAGIC BURNING OF OUR SCHOOL LAST FALL,
WE HAVE 14 & 16 YEAR OLDS BEING TRIED AS ADULTS FOR MURDER, AND
SOME SERIOUS STAFFING ISSUES AT THE CENTER.
ACTUALLY THE EASY PART OF NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION IS THE INFRASTRUCTURE,
THINGS LIKE BUILDINGS, STREETS, SIDEWALKS, AND SUCH.
THE HARD PART IS TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR & ASK IF WE ARE BEING GOOD
NEIGHBORS & SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE FOR OUR CHILDREN. IF WE ARE
NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION, THEN WE ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM. WE MUST
LEARN TO SHARE WITH, RESPECT & LOVE ONE ANOTHER. MARTIN LUTHER
KING HAD A DREAM, THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. CESAR CHAVEZ FOUGHT
FOR EQUALITY & RESPECT OF THE COMMON WORKER. LET'S HONOR THEIR
MEMORIES BY MAKING A VOW TO MAKE THIS PARK AND COMMUNITY CENTER AN
ALCOHOL, DRUG & VIOLENCE-FREE ZONE FOR OUR CHILDREN & FAMILIES.
THIS NEIGHBORHOOD NEEDS TO BE A SAFE PLACE FOR ALL OF OUR FAMILIES
REGARDLESS OF COLOR, NATIONALITY, OR RELIGION.
REMEMBER LONG BEFORE THIS NEIGHBORHOOD BECAME A LARGELY LATINO NEIGHBORHOOD,
IT WAS HOME TO IMMIGRANT GERMANS, SWISS, & ITALIANS.
REMEMBER THE LAST FIVE LETTERS OF COMMUNITY ARE U-N-I-T-Y. UNITY NEEDS
TO START RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW; IN OUR COMMUNITY, OUR SCHOOLS, OUR
HOMES, & IN OUR HEARTS.
WITH THAT SAID, I DO HAVE A SHORT LIST OF PEOPLE TO THANK. AT THE
TOP OF MY LIST IS MY WIFE, KARENA, WHO PUTS UP WITH ALL THE MEETINGS
& LATE NIGHT DINNERS. REY & NORMA MENDEZ (YOU HAVE THEM TO
BLAME FOR MUCH OF MY INVOLVEMENT IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD). DIANA SALAZAR,
FROM SJS, WHO GAVE US A "JUMP START" & BLUEPRINT FOR
NOT ONLY OUR COMMUNITY CENTER, BUT OUR SNI WORK AS WELL. MY PERSONAL
NEIGHBORHOOD HEROES, DAN ERCEG, KEN EKLUND, DEBBIE PALMER, & ALISON
ENGLAND, WHO I MET AT THE FIRST MEETING OF THE SALAZAR STUDY. ALONG
WITH FELLOW "SHARKS" FAN, HARVEY DARNELL, THEY ARE DEDICATED
PROBLEM SOLVERS & NOT JUST COMPLAINERS. GARY OKAZAKI, FROM THE
CITY OF SJ, WHO HELPED US THROUGH THE DESIGN PROCESS OF OUR NEW CENTER.
RESIDENTS AURELIA ALDAMA, DOLORES ARISTA, PAUL DUNCAN, BERT GUAJARDO,
MICHAEL HAWKINS, MARIA MONTES, & TONY TORRES, OUR REC SUPERVISOR,
WHO WERE ALL PRESENT AT NUMEROUS DESIGN MEETINGS, THE STEINBERG GROUP,
SPECIFICALLY SHERYL BAUER & JEFFREY BERG. CINDY & KEN, ALONG
WITH SUE EAKINS, CINDY'S FORMER PARKS COMMUNITY LIAISON. JENJOY ROYBAL,
FROM SJ's PUBLIC ART PROGRAM & STEPHEN PARLEY, THE ARTIST FOR
THE ARTWORK IN THE PLAZA; & ALSO KIP HARKNESS, CALLIE STRUGGS,
ELYSE EGAN, & NOW JENNIFER VASQUEZ FROM SJRA. BRIAN CLAMPITT &
HIS STAFF WERE ALSO A GREAT HELP BEHIND THE SCENES IN HELPING BRING
THIS CELEBRATION TOGETHER TODAY.
THANK YOU, AND GOD BLESS US ALL!
Kevin Christman, August 21, 2004
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