Introduction:

Hello all, in this week’s newsletter we have:

1. An updated list of upcoming events.

2. New ads and promotions with a new highlighted pet from the shelter.

3. A recap of the Hunt Park Visioning Session/Town Hall.

Upcoming Events in Holbrook, AZ:

Don’t see your event listed? I probably didn’t know about it! If it’s non-profit and for the whole community, I’ll probably list it for free*. Email us at [email protected]. *_{Hey Holbrook reserves the right to not list your event.}

Our Advertisers and Partners:

We have 2 pages of ads this week featuring a variety of local businesses and services, our featured animal shelter pet and an updated showing schedule from the Roxy theater. To be email-friendly, the images below are low resolution. For higher resolution images, please go to our website.

If you want to become an advertiser during this starting period, we’ll probably give you a week for free! Contact us at [email protected] to get started.

Hunt Park Visioning Session

Same disclaimer as usual; I do not consider myself a journalist. I’m just a Holbrook local. Here’s my take on the meeting:

The open town hall meeting lasted an hour with all participants encouraged to give feedback and ideas. It’s important to note that there was positive feedback. One comment mentioned that Hunt Park is one of the best facilities in Holbrook and others mentioned that they have been appreciative of the recent beautification efforts and replacement of the lights. But the mayor called for ideas for improvement and there were many! It’s tough to summarize a meeting with so many different ideas, but I believe it came down to 8 categories:

1. Softball/Baseball Fields: Citizens expressed a need for better maintenance of the current fields we have, the concession areas, and a need for landscaping for the fields and surrounding areas. There were also calls for more fields to better facilitate tournaments. Multiple attendees expressed the need for at least four fields to bring in larger tournaments. .

2. Playground equipment: There were multiple comments about how the current playground equipment feels outdated, unsafe, and unsuitable for the range of children using it. There were pleas for city councilmembers to see other parks; mentioning that parks in Taylor and Show Low would be great examples/reference points. The mayor invited citizens that if they see a piece of playground equipment at a different park that they would like to see at Hunt park, please take a picture and forward it to the mayor, a city council member, or the city manager.

3. Skate Park: It was great to see that there were children and teenagers present who had ideas about the above two categories but also in regards to the skate park. A common theme of the night was the lack of maintenance. Those who use it regularly mentioned that because of a lack of maintenance the skate park is difficult to use, crowded, and covered in graffiti. There was a small discussion regarding the need for an all concrete skate park. A presentation was made by two young men who use the skate park regularly and gave both long-term and short-term solutions to help the park. The BMX track behind the library was also lumped into talks of the skate park. But again, that track is now considered unusable due to a lack of maintenance.

4. Racquetball Courts: Many attendees expressed confusion about the racquetball courts and suggested a different purpose, layout, or system of use. This prompted the mayor to ask for a raise of hands to see who uses the enclosed courts for their intended purpose. This author saw 1 hand. Pickleball courts were lumped in with this conversation saying that there was a need to better facilitate the growing sport.

5. The Pool: For those who brought up the pool, there was a common theme that the pool is in such disrepair, the city needs to consider demolishing the facility and starting from scratch, speculating that repairs at his point may be a lost cause. This led to some financial discussions citing that other cities have done this, but it has cost those other cities $5-7 million for a new pool.

6. Walking Paths: There were multiple comments about implementing a walking path around the grounds. With one comment mentioning that it may lead to more running or walking events and be a nice alternative to the county’s.

7. A Completely Fresh Start: There were multiple attendees who expressed that the city needs to consider the entire area, from the baseball fields to the pool, to the skate parks, parking lots, etc. Everything that city owns in the area (and potential empty space that is owned by the county) and consider doing a complete reconstruction of the entire property. The argument for the reconstruction is that it would allow the city to better implement the ideas from the people and to do it in a high-quality way rather than taking a band-aid approach. That when taking this fresh-start approach, Holbrook could consider an all-comprehensive community rec center, fields for tournaments, better designed running/walking paths, a more thought-out pool and skate park, safer parking lots, better playground and much, much more.

8. Okay, but how are we paying for this? The mayor mentioned efforts by her and the city manager to acquire grants and spoke of a $10,000 grant that was recently rewarded and expressed that if other cities are able to receive funding from the county, why not Holbrook? Councilman Nilsson expressed concern that when discussing projects that are in the multiple of millions of dollars like these, if funded by the city, this could have a concerning ripple effect of higher taxes for the citizens of Holbrook. Councilman Dixon said that he acknowledges that these are great and needed ideas, but he doesn’t want to go into debt as a city for quality of life efforts like park reconstruction.

   The public responded by asking city council members to consider the renovations as an investment. That something like a 4-plex of baseball fields could lead to state-wide baseball and softball tournaments that can boost the economy. It was mentioned that similar cities have funded rec centers and other facilities through sponsorships and donations by wealthy citizens and businesses. One member of the public mentioned that if they don’t see change or in an investment in quality of life in Holbrook, “then we’re going to go,” and live somewhere else that does.

   To conclude the open town hall, the mayor encouraged all citizens of Holbrook that if they have additional ideas regarding Hunt Park to either speak to her, a member of the city council, or the city manager.

   End of Meeting.

[END]

Thank you for reading! I recently heard a compelling argument to stop using the royal “we” and “us” when writing these because this is in fact a one-person show and this one person makes A LOT of mistakes. With that being said, I read EVERY response and wish to help residents of Holbrook by providing an ever-improving newsletter. The best way to support this newsletter is to invite others to subscribe or to provide event information that you feel is helpful for everyone. Did I miss something? You can always reach me at [email protected]. Thank you,

Michael Nilsson, Hey Holbrook Publisher