In the heart of the beautiful Napa Valley, we urgently need accessible and affordable spaces to come together in the spirit of community, exercise and wellness. 

We have no shortage of parks and hiking and biking trails, but rising temperatures are making outdoor activities more challenging to endure year-round. 

Likewise, our community soccer and baseball clubs have nowhere feasible to play. Have you seen the decrepit Silverado Middle School fields and baseball fields on Pueblo? How do we inspire our youth to play ball?

Sadly, a significant number of residents lack affordable options for recreational pool activities. Over the past decade, we have seen the closure of community pool options at Napa High and Veterans Park. Likewise, waits to join pool communities like Meadowbrook are years-long and restricted to neighborhood residents grandfathered in. We see pool and recreational facilities at NVCC remain largely dormant and inaccessible to residents. So we are left with expensive and exclusive private gym and country club memberships with restrictive spaces and hours of operation, or to build our own facilities, which not only is cost prohibitive and wasteful of water, but limits our objective of building community. This affects our community's quality of life and our children's ability to stay active and healthy. 

It is time to reverse course. 

We believe that transforming the Harvest Middle School property into a Recreation Center and enhancing its gym, sports field, and pool, alongside Playground Fantastico, will fundamentally change this narrative. Such a development will not only provide an accessible space for families, but will also develop a sense of community and promote essential physical and mental wellbeing, especially among our young people.

The City of Napa is uniquely positioned to purchase the Harvest Middle School and repurpose it for the greater good. Many cities have leveraged similar opportunities, thus boosting community health and the local economy. For instance, the National Recreation and Park Association identifies a direct linear relationship between access to recreational facilities and decreased youth obesity rates in communities across the U.S. (source: NRPA report 2019). More studies on feasibility and the positive impacts of recreation facilities can be found HERE.

We therefore urge the City of Napa to prioritize this investment. It's time to translate our care for our community and youth into action and provide a much-needed communal property for residents of all ages to recreate, relax, and thrive together. Please sign and support this petition to prioritize the purchase and conversion of Harvest Middle School into a Recreation Center for Napa.