CYPRESS : City to Develop Park Cleanup Program

Volunteers soon will be able to sign up to clean city parks.

The City Council this week directed the Recreation and Parks District to draft plans for an “Adopt-a-Park” program by next month to encourage people to take charge of cleaning any of the city’s 17 parks.

The Recreation and Park District has been working on such a program for years but has been pushed to speed up the process by a local business that wants to adopt Veterans Park, city officials said.

Rick L. Gaede, general manager of the Ramada Hotel Cypress, said four to six managers of the hotel are ready to clean the park at Denni Street and Ball Road on a weekly basis.

City officials said they would be delighted to have hotel employees clean the park and hope that other businesses, community organizations and individuals will do the same.

The program would focus on promoting conservation awareness, recycling, litter cleanup, community involvement and volunteerism, said Ron Thomas, the district’s administrative analyst, who is in charge of developing the program.

He said most of the city’s parks average about four acres and are tucked in residential neighborhoods.

They are: Baroldi/Sycamore Park at 6616 Cerritos Ave.; Cedar Glen Park at 10201 Moody St.; Eucalyptus Park at 5900 Orangewood Ave.; Evergreen Park at 9300 Moody St.; Hettinga/Manzanita Park at 6500 Orangewood Ave.; Laurel Park between Rexford and Cathy avenues; Maple Grove Park North and Maple Grove Park South, which are across the street from each other at 6221 and 6220 Orangewood Ave.; Pepper Tree Park at Tahiti Drive and Luau Lane; Pinewood Park at 9675 Juanita St.; Rosen/Acacia Park at 5681 Newman St.; Texaco/Chestnut Park at 5131 Ball Road; Willow Park at 4501 Orange Ave.; and Nature Park at 4201 Ball Road.

The larger city parks are Veterans Park, which covers 6 1/2 acres; Oak Knoll Park at 9600 Graham St., which is 22 acres; and Arnold Cypress Park at 8611 Watson St., which is 15 acres.

The program “is an outstanding idea,” Thomas said. “It will allow individuals, organizations, community groups and businesses to become involved in the care and maintenance of the city’s parks.”