By TR Robertson
The sixth meeting of the City of Vista’s Leadership Academy met at the Gloria McClellan Senior Center at 1400 Valle Terrace Dr. Gloria McClellan was a former City Council member and Mayor of Vista. The meeting covered presentations from a variety of different departments in the city including Recreation and Community Services, Code Enforcement, Housing, and the Homeless Strategic Plan. Mike Pacheco, Recreation Director for the City, began the meeting with a presentation of the variety of programs and services he oversees. These services and programs include Recreation Programs, the Adobe, Moonlight Amphitheatre, Public Arts, Senior and Youth Community Activities, Brengle Terrace Park, Parks and Trails, Wave Waterpark and the Parks and Recs Commissions. He said they have 26 Full time employees and a number of part time employees. Mike pointed out that the Public Art Kites Over Vista is a popular program for artists that also includes murals, sculptures and utility box paintings. If you go to www.vista.gov/residents/recreation-comm-services or www.vistapublicarts.com a full listing of all of the Recreation Departments services and programs is listed. He then introduced Operations Manager Rob Anderson who discussed the parks in Vista and what is available for residents.
Rob began by listing some of the statistics for Vista Parks. There are 20 parks in the city on over 500 acres. This includes 2 skate parks, 16 pickleball courts, 5 tennis courts, 6 basketball courts, 10 softball and baseball fields and some soccer fields. Over 20,000 park rentals take place annually. There is also Disc golf and Bocce ball offered at Brengle Terrace Park. Rob pointed out one of the popular rentals is Vista Adobe that is used for a number of weddings each year. The Adobe is also used for grade 2-3 student visits to the historic Adobe. The Senior Center, where our meeting was held, is active each day of the week with numerous activities for Seniors. Between 60-80 lunches are served daily as well as providing Meals on Wheels with lunches to deliver Seniors who can’t make it to the Center. Also offered out of the Center is a Cultural Caravan visit to various spots in the county. This is not limited to Seniors. Go to www.vista.gov/residents/senior-services for more information.
Speaking next was Mike Bradford, Operations Manager, working with Moonlight Amphitheatre. Mike spoke about the upcoming musicals soon opening at the Moonlight. The first musical for this season will be “Grease”, opening on April 30th until May 17th. This musical, appearing in 1972, is popular and will feature songs everyone will recognize. Moonlight ticket prices are the most reasonably priced theatre performances in the county and a variety of packages are offered for the season. Following “Grease” will be “The Waitress”, “Anastasia”, “Fiddler on the Roof”, and finishing with “Prince of Egypt”. Moonlight Amphitheater offers 1,000 fixed seats and 1,000 lawn seats for the productions. Moonlight Theatre also offers 12-20 Concert Series shows. Many of these are tribute groups of famous performing groups, like Fleetwood Mac. May will have 3 of these Concert Shows and more in July-October. Mike explained Moonlight has a Holiday Experience called Jingle Terrace Live December 5-21 (on the weekends) that has become a popular holiday family tradition. When asked about the future of paving the grass area by Moonlight and Alta Vista Botanical Gardens, he said this is in the planning stages. When asked about The Avo Theatre future he said the first plan is to work on the roof to repair any damages and the committee studying the future of The Avo is still meeting and investigating the possibility of bringing in an outside agency that might help facilitate repairs and updates inside The Avo.
Mike Pacheco returned to discuss additional Recreation programs and the Vista Parks Master Plan. He said the Wave Waterpark repairs are complete and ready for operation as the summer approaches. On Thursday, June 5th, there will be a Wave Workshop at 5:30 pm concerning the future of the Wave. The meeting will be in the Community Room at the Civic Center. Vista will still have an Independence Day Celebration on July 4th. The Wiivay Fitness Park Project is underway along the Vista Conservatory Trail. He said that the City of Vista Parks Master Plan is currently obtaining feedback on the 2 parks in the planning stages. These parks are the ones planned for the courthouse area and the one across from the Chick-fil-A business and not far from Food-4-Less. 413 surveys online have been obtained, and 1,700 additional surveys have been obtained looking at what residents think these parks should have in them. An additional meeting will be held on Tuesday May 14th, at the Gloria McClellan Senior Center.
The next speaker was Clarence Rich, Code Enforcement Manager for the City of Vista. He said his department responds to complaints about possible code violations, ensures compliance with city code regulations and educates the public on city standards and regulations. Clarence said he has 7 staff that assist him with the variety of programs they oversee. A few of the issues they deal with are compliance of homes and businesses, animal issues (working with the SD Humane Society), graffiti abatement (working with Vista’s Public Works and Sheriffs Department), nuisance issues, parking issues, and property management to name a few. For parking his department hears about abandoned cars, illegal auto repair and storage of vehicles. Other concerns the Code Enforcement Department deals with are litter and trash and junk accumulations, encampment clean-up, and illegal signs. Clarence said the city is now allowing A frame signs for businesses in business parks. One other issue they enforce is permissible businesses and illegal street vendors. He showed examples of stands that occasionally appear in the city that are not approved and showed what sidewalk vendors are permitted. Their department also looks into catering trucks and their licensing. He pointed out that ice cream trucks are inspected. Clarence said 4 garage sales per year are permitted and items must be used, not brand-new products. Overgrown vegetation is another issue they investigate. Abandoned shopping carts have also become a problem for them. For more information go to www.gov/departments/code-enforcement . Clarence also recommended residents put the AccessVista app on their phones to report problems they may see.
The final presentation for the evening was from the Housing & Homeless Department. Johannah Knieff, Management Analyst, and Jonathan Lung, Homeless Services Program Manager said their department has 5 staff members. Johannah said they deal with the variety of housing options available for residents, such as the 800 affordable housing units in the city. Several of the newest ones are at 902 Vista Village Drive and 211 Palm Drive. Along with this they are in Contact with numerous agencies, such as Operation Hope and the Boys and Girls Club of Vista, in assisting families. Their department also deals with CDBG Capital Improvement Projects, like sidewalks. Looking at the Homeless Issues, their strategic Plan to address Homelessness includes trying to reduce, prevent and improve homeless cases, deal with encampment clean-up, increasing shelter beds in the area, working with a street outreach program and continuing to work on methods to prevent homelessness. They said there are four categories they use to classify the homeless – 1) Literally homeless, 2) Imminent risk of homelessness, 3) Homeless under other Federal agencies, 4) Attempting or fleeing to flee domestic violence. Jonathan said they measure the homeless each year in a point in time count nationwide in January. Information is submitted to the Homeless Management Information System to obtain client level data and track the progress of programs and services. Locally they track the data by name using a contracted outreach provider. For 2024 the count showed 271 city neighbors experiencing homelessness, 170 unsheltered, a 93.2% rise from 2023. The 2025 counts should be available soon. They continue to do a monthly Vista Homeless report to establish a monthly track record to establish a trend. In looking at prevention the idea is to establish the Inflow of the number becoming homeless; Look at those experiencing homelessness to see what outreach supportive services are being used; and Outflow to see how many of those end up being able to find or be placed into housing. There are a number of prevention programs available to provide intervention including rental assistance, legal aid and other support services. According to the most recent HUD Fair Market Rental Figures it is extremely expensive for many to live in California and find reasonable rental accommodation. Under temporary services provided the Buena Vista Navigation Facility provides 48 beds, Vista Safe Parking provided 25 spaces for those living in vehicles and the Alliance for the Regional Shelter Network assists in finding other facilities. The Vista Homelessness Outreach Team also provides assistance. The Santa Fe Senior Village at 414 N Santa Fe has 54 units with 27 fully furnished permanent supported housing. For many of the programs mentioned they rely on state funding with grants which, for the most part, are year to year and must be applied for each year. For more information go to www.vista.gov/city-service/housing-homeless-services or www.vistahot@sdrescue.org
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The next Leadership Academy meeting will be on April 30th at Vista Sheriff’s Station looking at our Law Enforcement Services.
