Cerritos Mayor’s Column: Pulido Touts Community Park and Rec Programs

Hews Media Group-Community Newspaper is thrilled provide Cerritos Mayor Mark Pulido’s “Mayor’s Column.”  The feature will be a regular segment in the Los Cerritos Community Newspaper Print and On-Line edition on a regular basis.

Official seal of City of Cerritos (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Mayor Mark Pulido

Growing up in Cerritos, I felt privileged to have access to the many parks and recreation facilities available throughout the city. Today, I am delighted that my children are able to experience these same parks and facilities, which continue to be as fresh and beautiful as they were when I was growing up.
The City is committed to providing residents with the best recreation opportunities possible. Cerritos has 25 parks and recreation facilities, including neighborhood parks, community centers, the Cerritos Swim & Fitness Center, the Cerritos Iron Wood-9 Golf Course and the Cerritos Sports Complex. The gymnasiums at Cerritos and Whitney High Schools offer two additional facilities for recreation.
As part of the City’s ongoing efforts to keep its parks vibrant and updated, new playground surfacing was recently installed at Joe A. Gonsalves Park and at the Cerritos Sports Complex. The new surfacing is made of a rubberized material and is part of an ongoing project funded by Community Development Block Grants to upgrade playgrounds throughout the city with materials and equipment that adhere to Americans with Disabilities Act standards and Consumer Product Safety guidelines. All neighborhood parks will gradually be upgraded with the new playground surface.
Playground resurfacing at Heritage Park will be completed in June. The park also will soon showcase new playground equipment and a reconstructed picnic shelter. The new playground equipment will include colorful slides and swing sets, and a decorative colored concrete walkway also will be featured.
Camp Liberty, the City’s largest outdoor covered venue, is in the process of being upgraded. Constructed in 1988, the previously existing wood frame structure has been demolished and a temporary shelter has been raised. The City plans to build a replacement structure in the future.

Cerritos Mayor Mark Pulido

In honor of its efforts to provide outstanding recreation programs and facilities for children, Cerritos was recently named a “Playful City USA” for the seventh consecutive year.
KaBOOM!, a national non-profit organization that is dedicated to saving play, in partnership with the philanthropic Humana Foundation, honored 212 communities from across the country with the designation Playful City USA. Playful City USA is a national recognition program that honors cities and towns across the nation that make a commitment to play and physical activity by developing unique local action plans to increase the quantity and quality of play in their communities.
The “Community Services Program” in the February, May, August and November issues of “The Cerritos News” offers a wide variety of fun parks and recreation classes for you and your family. The City’s website at cerritos.us also offers extensive information about fitness programs and facilities under the “Recreation” link. I encourage all Cerritos residents to participate in the City’s parks and recreation programs to improve their health and happiness.