June 28, 2022
Public Works
DATE: June 28, 2022
TO: Mayor Butt and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Joe Leach, Public Works Director
Greg Hardesty, Parks & Landscaping Superintendent
Subject:
Request to Temporarily Display a Plaque at Shimada
Friendship Park
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact to the General Fund.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
-
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The Department of Public Works is seeking approval to
temporarily display a plaque at Shimada Friendship Park until it can be permanently installed at its formal location at Miraflores Sustainable Greenbelt.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
APPROVE a request to temporarily display a plaque at
Shimada Friendship Park until it can be permanently
installed at its formal location at Miraflores Sustainable Greenbelt – Public Works Department (Joe Leach 620-
5478/Greg Hardesty 620-6920).
DISCUSSION:
At the special meeting of the Recreation and Parks Commission on April 20, 2022, the Commission approved a request to temporarily display a plaque at Shimada Friendship Park until it can be permanently installed at its formal location at Miraflores Sustainable Greenbelt.
AGENDA
REPORT
June 28, 2022
Background
Miraflores Sustainable Greenbelt is the site of the Richmond Rotary Club’s Centennial project. To celebrate their 100 years serving the Richmond community, Rotary donated $50,000 to help the City of Richmond interpret the history of the Japanese American families that ran nurseries on the Miraflores site. A series of sculptural interpretive elements will be placed throughout the park and will convey the full arc of the Japanese American story in Richmond from 1905 to the turn of the twenty-first century. The interpretive nodes employ themes such as “Arrival”, “Creating Home,” and “Making a Living” that allow the Nikkei experience to be communicated alongside those of other Richmond communities, reinforcing links among various people.
The project will provide an important node where Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park can communicate the impact of WWII on Japanese Americans in a place directly affected by wartime policies and programs.
The project includes a granite plaque dedicated to David Ninomiya. Ninomiya, President of Richmond Rotary in 1978-79, was four years old when his family was forced to vacate because of internment during World War II. He became a respected leader in the horticulture industry and is fondly remembered for his dedication to the ‘rose’ that would become the national flower of the United States.
Due to the delay in construction of the interpretive elements, a temporary site for the dedication plaque is needed. Richmond Rotary Club and staff are requesting that the plaque be installed at Shimada Friendship Park in the Marina Bay Neighborhood due to the historic connection between the two sites. The timeframe for the temporary placement is approximately two years.
It is Rotary’s hope that the placement of the plaque at Shimada Friendship Park will keep the Miraflores interpretive project at the forefront of community and City awareness until the project is completed. For more information, see the link to Richmond Rotary’s website about the centennial project:
https://richmondcarotary.org/miraflores/
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Application to dedicate plaque to David Ninomiya Attachment 2 – Recreation and Parks Commission Special Meeting Minutes from April 20, 2022
Attachment 3 – Plaque drawing
Attachment 4 – Plaque photo
Attachment 5 – Letter requesting temporary plaque placement Attachment 6 – Miraflores Sustainable Greenbelt presentation