Quality of Life

By Nadja Adolf

Recreation, Traffic, Environment, and Accessibility

The city needs to preserve the existing recreational areas within neighborhoods, including school sites. Recreational development priorities should begin with putting restrooms in the existing parks and making sure that there are usable recreation areas within walking or cycling distance of homes.

The real recreational need in the city is for playgrounds and soccer fields. Local soccer teams currently use the football field at the middle school + but the proposed housing element update would turn this into a 192-unit housing development. Many existing parks are almost unusable because they lack restrooms; the city has been unwilling to provide restrooms for children while expressing great eagerness to add to the oversupply of golf courses in the Bay Area.

TRAFFIC

The city needs to take advantage of the skills of retired professionals and other professional volunteers to design and implement traffic calming measures in many residential areas and in the business districts.

ENVIRONMENT

The City of Newark claims to be going green; but actions speak louder than words.

Relocating the City Hall and the library from a central location to one that would require most residents to take more, and longer car trips to access these facilities is not green.

Building high-density housing far from grocery stores and other daily needs shopping also requires more car trips. This is not green.

The proposed housing developments on the wetlands would destroy them. Not only is that not green; but building over-sized, high consumption houses on over-sized lots is also not green.

ACCESSIBILITY

In many cities and towns there are neighborhood associations composed of residents who meet regularly to discuss problems and propose solutions. The city needs to encourage such groups and to listen to them.

In many towns retired individuals are tapped for their skills; Newark is blessed with many retired professionals and skilled tradesmen. The city should work with them to achieve projects that otherwise would not be affordable.