MY PLAN FOR IMPROVED PARKS & REC SERVICES ​

• Working with the Wayne-Westland School District to Bring Back a Community Pool: 

       Working with our partners in the Wayne-Westland School District to bring back an indoor swimming pool for 

       community use. We can partner with the school district to either utilize and remodel the pool at John Glenn High School

       or at the Dyer Senior Center and allow Westland resident to use a pool. Residents have long requested a community

       pool be brought back to Westland after the Bailey Center was closed and torn down and so we should be working to

       fulfill that request.

 

• Creating and offering more spring and summertime programming for our kids: 

       Working with our Parks & Recreation Director Kyle Mulligan and third party organizations in the area, I would like to see

       us fund and expand more summertime programming geared towards kids in our community. The more activities and

       programs you can get kids involved in the more life skills they can learn and more interpersonal relationships they can

       build with others. I want to go beyond the scope of athletics and offer programs like art and design, culinary classes,

       computers and technology, day camps, STEM programs for learning, and more. We can utilize grant dollars to fund all or

       a portion of any expanded programming efforts.

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• Hiring another full time Parks & Recreation employee to help out our Director Kyle Mulligan: 

       Our Parks & Recreation Director Kyle Mulligan does a great for the City of Westland. However, one person can only do

       so much. That's why in order to increase programs and services offered by the department for residents and there

       families, I believe we should hire another full time employee to work with Director Mulligan in the department. This

       would allow both Director Mulligan and the new full time employee to focus on expanding our program and service

       offerings.

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• Adding ADA accessible playground equipment to more of our parks: 

       I believe that at our most utilized parks, like Central City Park, Corrado Park, Jaycee Park, and Tattan Park, that we should

       add ADA accessible playground equipment for kids who are differently abled to utilize. Kids of all ability levels and their

       families should be able to be outside and enjoying our city-owned parks the same as their peers. We can add ADA

       accessible swing sets where wheel chairs can be hooked up to.

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• Continue investing in and improving our parks: 

       The City of Westland has done a great job working with partners at the state-level of government to bring back grant

       dollars for our parks. I hope to continue to work with our grant writing firm and elected leaders in Lansing whom I have

       a good relationship with to bring back funding to improve our parks.

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       I am committed to working with my colleagues on Council and the Mayor's Administration to make every park walk-able,

       with increased green spaces at each park. I want to ensure that we continue to make investments in our parks that

       update the equipment and facilities at the parks, not just slap a new sign down with the Mayor's name on it.

 

• Keeping our parks beautiful and clean: 

       Westland has a variety of fantastic parks from Corrado to Tatton. Our parks have great amenities like farmers markets, 

       athletic facilities, playgrounds, pavilions and more. In order to keep our parks beautiful and ensure residents return to

       use them they must stay clean and well-kept.

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       I believe that we can periodically utilize our additional Ordinance/Neighborhood Service Officers to tend to the grounds

       of our parks and keep them clean. We can create spring, summer, and fall programs for Westland youth to partner up,

       clean up our parks, and earn community service credits through school.

 

• Maintain our youth athletic programs:

​       The Westland Youth Athletic Association is a first-rate organization, promoting athletics and sports for kids all across our

       city. It supports two winning football programs in the Comets and Meteors, as well a baseball program. With facilities

       like Mike Modano Ice Arena, Norwayne Boxing Gym, countless baseball diamonds, football, and soccer fields, we must

       continue to work with community partners, like the WYAA, to expand our sports programs to kids across the area.

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• Protecting the Holliday Park Nature Preserve:

​       Holliday Park Nature Preserve is a gem in the Westland community. I want to work with our community partners at the

       Holliday Park Nature Preserve Association to ensure that the current land deed continues to be enforced and no

       residential or commercial development encroaches on the nature preserve. We must protect it for current and future

       generations.

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• Adding covered baseball dugouts to Jaycee Park (Credit Councilwoman Sampey for this idea):

​       Our best baseball and softball fields in Westland are over at Jaycee Park. One thing that is missing at them are covered

       dugouts. By adding covered dugouts that will allow us to try and attract more leagues, baseball and softball, to utilize

       the fields. We can start having recreational league softball at the Jayce Park fields as well.