Let me start by expressing my thanks to the Girls Scouts of the San Francisco Bay Area. On Monday they honored the City by presenting the Girl Scouts’ “President’s Award” given to outstanding organizations for their support of the Girl Scouts. It was very nice to be recognized for our support of youth programs in the City.
I recently received a copy of a letter sent to the Mayor in which an individual complained how Foster City does not have any place for children to play and how we do not value our children. I was flabbergasted. Foster City is one of the best cities on the Peninsula, if not the State, to raise children. I know; I raised all three of my children here.
The City provides a tremendous amount of support to youth groups and organiza-tions, many times free of charge. The Park and Recreation Department not only maintains our beautiful parks, but they stripe the soccer fields and maintain the baseball fields.
The City provides low or no cost meeting space to the Boy Scouts and the Girls Scouts, including allowing the Girl Scouts to use the Fire Apparatus “tent” to receive and distribute nearly 5,000 cases of Girl Scout cookies at the end of February. Boy Scouts’ Scout-a-Rama has been held at Leo Ryan Park for at least the last 3-4 years.
Now, if your child is not into team sports or scouting, there are still many activities in which our children can participate. The Teen Center, the Vibe, is a huge success with our early teenagers. The City’s Youth Advisory Committee plans an activity for teens almost monthly. Most recently, the Battle of the Bands (I think they called it the “Underground”) was a huge success.
For smaller children, there is a kite flying day, family bike rides, family “camp outs” at the park and, my very favor-ite, the sand castle building contest. The library has wonderful reading and story time programs. Overall family activities in-clude the recently successful Pacific Islands Festival, the Arts and Wine Festival, the 4th of July Celebration, Concerts in the Park, Oktoberfest (many held in conjunction with local service clubs and businesses) and many other activities. And, I have not even touched on the scores of programs through the Park and Recreation Leisure Update, which lists both free and paid activities.
With summer fast approaching there will be more, not fewer, activities in which our children (and adults, too) can participate. I hope you will all take the time to review the City’s website and your Leisure Update bulletin and check with local community groups to learn about and enjoy the many, many activities in Foster City.
Last year, I was sitting with my husband at one of the Summer Concerts. We were talking about the last of our chil-dren going off to college and where we should think about moving to retire in another decade or so. We both looked at each other and almost simultaneously asked “But, it is so great living here, where would we go?” While there is always room for improvement, I would put the quality of life in Foster City up against any other city in the country. I hope you feel that way too.
Councilmember Wilder can be reached at dwil-der@fostercity.org.
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