Hundreds of Los Al citizens, some of whom had been coming to its Community Center on Oak Street for decades, joined the City Council and other officials to rededicate the newly renovated gathering place.
“Thank you for joining us today for this historic moment as we re-dedicate the community center,” said Los Al Mayor Jordan Nefulda.
“The Community Center was built in 1970,” he said, noting that “hundreds of thousands of community members have walked through its doors in those 54 years,” the mayor said.
“The community members have walked through these doors to enjoy a quality of life that only Los Alamitos can offer, from youth classes to senior activities, from creating memories and establishing lifelong friendships over the years,” said Nefulda.
The mayor said the building was in bad shape “and repairs were severely needed.”
Nefulda said the community center’s roof had sustained serious damage. The damage to the roof resulted over the years, repairs were severely needed, most notably when the winter storms of 2023 damaged the roof.
In addition to the roof damage, he said there was electrical damage, wall damage, and damage to the floor,” the mayor told the crowd.
“Now, out of this negative, out of this negative event, we turned it into a positive, because we used this damage as a catalyst to design and improve a modern community center that will continue to be the heart and soul of this community,” said Nefulda.
He thanked Senator Janet Nguyen for “working diligently on behalf of our city” to obtain a $2.5 million state appropriation for the community center.
Sporting a modern look, citizens enjoy food and fellowship as a standing room only crowd gathered for the big reveal.
“I have to admit,” said Nguyen, “though this project started back at the beginning of this year, we are only in October, and you made it happen. How does that happen in government,” asked Nguyen?
“This tells you that your staff is very diligent and made it a priority,” she added.
Nguyen thanked Council member Tanya Doby, who was Mayor last year when the appropriation was requested.
“She (Doby) was complaining to me, like, Oh my God, we’ve got this community center. We don’t know what to do. There’s nothing we can do. It’s devastating,” Nguyen said Doby told her.
The state Senator said the city asked for $1.5 million but she made a request for $2.5 million thinking she would get less and hopefully, the $1.5 million the city needed.
Sen. Nguyen said when the call came to notify her that the $2.5 million had been approved, “I was like, what?”
“It’s hard enough for me to get any funding in my district,” she said, “yet I actually got the funding that I asked for, not even what I thought could be. And I just want to say I’m so happy I was able to do that,” she said.
“This marks a new era for the city,” said Nguyen, calling the Community Center “the heartbeat of the city. A safe-haven for enrichment in support of the city.”
Lynne Lees, a spokesperson for the KYA Group, the construction company with which the city contracted for the interior renovations, said the company was “grateful to have been a part of this project.”
In general, she said the Los Al Community Center has a new roof, resilient flooring, interior and exterior painting, modern lighting, and new audio/visual technologies to support a variety of other programming.
The renovated center also supports a dedicated dance room, a redesigned lobby, new kitchen facilities, greater access for citizens with disabilities and even a new look and landscaping as citizens enter the center.
Authorities also thanked the Los Alamitos Community Foundation for donating the landscaping for the project.
Epson America, one of the world’s top technology companies, moved to Los Alamitos a couple of years ago and donated all of the projectors for the project, authorities said Friday.
City Manager Chet Simmons, said overall, the project cost will ultimately be more than $2.5 million, because when contractors attempted to fix the hole in the roof, they realized the entire roof needed replacement, which was a major factor in the project’s increased cost.
In any case, he said, the city’s share of the cost will be low thanks to other governmental funds.
Beth Piburn, who said her kids frequented the Center when her kids were young and she still serves on the Youth Center Board, who uses the facility for its BINGO games, said the renovations were “really nice.”
“I love the neutral colors. It’s bright, it’s clean, stainless-steel fixtures. I would give them a A plus,” she said.
Citizens were treated to a meal of chicken wings, mac and cheese as Caricature artist Dan Weeks was on hand to give anyone who wanted a free drawing of themselves to take home.
“We are excited for you to see the much-improved Los Alamitos Community Center, which will be a hub for the community for decades to come,” said Megan Shimada, a city employee who served as MC for the event.