*ALL* of the city maintained parks in Los Banos should speak highly of our town and its people. Sadly a few parks mumble the word "mediocrity"... let's address that.

One of the most wonderful things offered to the families in Los Banos California is the large number of parks that our taxes pay for. This town is truly blessed to have a very large number of parks to select from and most of them are in pretty darn good shape. The graffiti abatement services particularly earn our special kudos as most of the city parks are really quite well kept in this regard.

In general the Los Banos Parks Department generally does a good job of keeping our parks in good repair. Someone over at the City Services building needs to get an award for how well SO many parks are kept. This is no small feat as Los Banos has dozens of parks and hundreds of acres of land that all need regular attention. Many bigger cities with fewer park facilities do far worse than Los Banos does. We love the park system here and our family regularly can be found utilizing the fantastic resources that the city parks provide us.

Having said that however nothing is perfect, and in this edition of "What This Town Needs" I want to venture forth the opinion that a few of our parks could use a facelift, some cleaning, or some attention of various kinds. This is not to say that the parks and recreation department does not do their job. On the contrary! I am actually very pleased and quite impressed with what we see in MOST of the parks in Los Banos. I'm sure that it is a numbers game - which park will get the new equipment or the most maintenance attention probably has an awful lot to do with budgeting. Still, after having just completed writing the extensive OurLosBanos.com parks section we walked away with a few opinions and observations about three parks that do not, in our opinion, do Los Banos justice.

Note: In doing this article I have specifically skipped the "parks that are not parks" such as Wolfsen, Flagpole, and Airport parks.... you can read my silly missive about those parks in another What This Town Needs article. This article focuses on 'real' Los Banos parks that need some TLC.

Here for your consideration are the top three improvements we would like to see to the Los Banos City Park System. In our opinion, these three facilities really could use some attention.

JoLin Park has an awful lot of promise, but - unless you just want to kick a ball around a grassy drainage basin - it has little to offer at this time. In fact, except for those into lawn games it is hard to see why anyone would even bother to visit this park. In my opinion JoLin could really use some good play facilities. It is certainly large enough to support playground equipment, restrooms, and a water fountain or two. Heck it might even be a good place to put up some Tennis Courts! JoLin also seems to be a park that would naturally lend itself to some BBQ facilities. JoLin Park could be a real jewel of the Los Banos park system if investment were made to take it from the diamond in the rough that it is to a gem. JoLin is, to my mind, an example of the need to 'build it like you mean it', That is to say if you are going to construct a very large park make it a place which will draw as many taxpaying residents to it as you can. USE ALL THAT SPACE WISELY!

I think that Vineyards Basin 2 would be a great model for improving JoLin Park.

JoLin Park - Needs park equipment of ANY kind.

Cresthills Park was a real surprise to us. It is the only park in the area between the canal and Center street and is supposed to serve the residents of what are arguably the best neighborhoods in Los Banos. The problem is that as the only decent size park serving Cresthills 1 and 2 as well as Presidential Estates, Cresthills Park has completely inadequate equipment. Not only that but the equipment that IS in Cresthills Park is stained with spray paint and is in just a so-so state of repair. When we were at Cresthills Park we noticed chipping and peeling paint, a busted 'fire truck window' and a swingset that is broken - as it is missing all but the kiddy seats. Also for an area that appears to have lots of older kids running around there is a real lack of decent play equipment for the older children. Add to all of this that there are apparently plans in place to extend the city boundaries of Los Banos to the west in the Cresthills 2 area and it seems obvious that Cresthills Park should have its play equipment substantially upgraded and expanded.

I think that Medowlands Park 3 would be an absolutely ideal model for improving Cresthills Park.

Update 11-26-2006 the swings have been fixed!

Cresthills Park - inadequate and broken equipment

Catholic Park is probably the very best example of a Los Banos park that really needs some tender loving care. Catholic park is a really "sad" little "park" somewhat near the downtown area that seems kind of forgotten and worn-down. The play equipment is very small, pretty rusty, and certainly does not look like a place to have much fun. The park itself just screams 'shabby' and it could really use a facelift and some NICE equipment rather than the one teeny-tiny slide that the neighborhood kids have to make do with. Though this park is in the type of area it is in, I opine that if we are going to have facilities maintained by Los Banos they should speak well of the whole city. In short, either rip it out or make it nice.

I think that The Villages At Stonecreek 1 Park would be a superb model for improving Catholic Park.

Catholic Park - rusted and shabby

Update 11-26-2006 I am VERY pleased to report that this park did indeed get something of a facelift! Not only has the aged play equipment above been replaced but there are also two new trees planted and a tribute to mrs. Spevak for all of her work with the Arbor Day and tree planting initiatives in Los Banos. WELL DONE PARKS & REC!

The following Three Photos show the NEW look of Catholic Park!the NEW look of Catholic park. (November 25, 2006)

Here is what Catholic Park USED to look like before the improvements Note the rusty and junky equipment.

Jolin Park, Cresthills Park, and Catholic Park are the three anomalies of the Los Banos park system. In general the parks in Los Banos are simply wonderful places to take the family and to have a great time. Most are very well kept, fit in well with their neighborhoods, and speak well of Los Banos. That is not to say that with the exception of Catholic Park that these parks say BAD things about our town, and all three are apparently safe places to play, but they just do not seem in keeping with the high standards that our parks should be held to. Perhaps it is time for some improvement dollars to be funneled into improving these three facilities.

For a complete list of parks in Los Banos complete with photographs, maps, and helpful information, please click on over to our parks section.

We also invite positive and constructive feedback and opinions on this and any other What This Town Needs Article, you are welcome to express your opinions on the Los Banos Forums Pages.