The Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District (PVRPD) has done a great job keeping all of our parks safe and clean. The 55 acre sports park Pleasant Valley Fields is a beautiful and fully functional facility. The board of directors, administration and the residents of Camarillo all came together to see this wonderful park constructed. It took years of coordinating and planning for this project. Pleasant Valley Fields finally opened on Friday January 29th 2010. All the countless people that worked so tirelessly, to see this wonderful dream come true, it is beyond words.
Finding out on Monday March 15th 2010 that we, the residents of Camarillo, will not be able to use any of our parks including Pleasant Valley Fields was shocking. If any resident of Camarillo attempted to utilize any park, especially Pleasant Valley Fields to have a friendly game of soccer, Frisbee or football with your family and friends you would be in for a surprise. If you had 10 to 14 adults in your group you we will be escorted off the field by Park Patrol. Park officials have said repeatedly that Pleasant Valley Fields can not be reserved by the public or any other organizations, it is only for AYSO and Eagles soccer club. Try going to any park and kicking the ball around or have a friendly game of Frisbee. Take 10 to 14 of your adult family and friends and see what will happen when Park Patrol shows up. Please keep in mind that Park Patrol will now become Park Rangers and their will now have the ability to issue citations starting this summer.
PVRPD has put in place Ordinances 8 that spells out all the rules and regulations governing our parks. The ordinance is not being followed and it is being pulled and stretched to the limit in order to facilitate their own agenda. The ordinance clearly states in Article I, Section 110, Use Of Parks,
“A permit must be issued for the use of any park for pre-advertised assemblies or by groups consisting of 25 or more persons.”
Article IV, Section 412, Use of Reservable Athletic Fields, also clearly states
“Groups may use any designated reservable field on a first-come, first-served basis, however, such groups must vacate any reservable athletic field at the time a permit group arrives, except when the fields are closed”.
Additional ordinances details can be found at: http://www.pvrpd.org/PVRPD%20Ordinances.pdf
There is no room for interpretation in the ordinance, it is what it is, but PVRPD is constantly massaging it for their own benefit. As Camarillo residents, we do understand that if the fields are reserved, in recovery, closed for repair, games, tournaments, practices and the park is closed that the general public will not be allowed to use the fields. Most level headed thinking adults get it, when all those criteria’s are met and we still can’t use our parks there is something more to it, some hidden agenda that the public is not being informed about and for whatever reason. The public should be able to access current information about field reservations, closures and maintenance schedule. PVRPD is slow in updating their reservation website to the point that it has become ineffective. Attempting to contact Camarillo City Council we were told that they could not help us by one city official and to go to the ballot box in November.
All we want is for PVRPD to follow the ordinances they have created and put in place. If that happened there will be no need to attend board meetings and make repeated phone calls trying to get our questions answered. It is difficult because there are private groups playing pick up soccer in our parks and some how they have a free pass. Park officials are fully aware about these groups. So I end this story by saying we have beautiful parks in Camarillo and that most of us can only enjoy from afar.
We hope PVRPD hear our cry and respond to us in a positive fashion without giving us band aid solutions. These are public parks and the public should have access to them, it should not be monopolized by youth groups and a few selected adult groups. Furthermore, we the residents of Camarillo pay for the construction and maintenance of these parks, and not being able to use them, amounts to “Taxation without Recreation”.
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