“We found that a lot of those children don’t have an after-school program to go to,” Thompson said, adding many lack the transportation to reach other centers.Ĭonstruction began in 2011. Still, Bayside’s need remained apparent, Thompson said.Īn average 72 percent of students at the three public schools near Williams Farm received free and reduced lunches in 2005, according to a Parks and Recreation news release citing data from Virginia Beach Public Schools. The foundation considered the Virginia Beach site but chose Norfolk’s Broad Creek area. The following year, the Ray and Joan Kroc Foundation and the Salvation Army researched communities throughout Hampton Roads in need of a new recreation center. The city acquired 57 acres of the Williams Farm property through its Open Space Acquisition Program in 2004. “This was really built to be a place for kids,” Thompson said. The pool area boasts a rock climbing wall, channel current, water fort, a spray pad that shoots water from the ground and the slide, named Tidal Surge. The recreation center features an indoor gym and track, fitness classroom, exercise machines with individual touch screens and an outdoor court where athletes can play basketball with hoops donated by the Good Newz Rehab Center.Ī multimedia center for teens includes video-editing stations and a sound booth. The 71,000-square-foot center, located off Newtown Road across from Bayside Middle School, is part of a $24.7 million project that included adding restrooms, picnic shelters and a walking trail to Williams Farm Community Park and the construction of a 25,000-square-foot in-ground skateboarding park, which also opens today. I happily obliged.E-Pilot Evening Edition Home Page Close Menu He told me it was his birthday, too, and then asked me to dance with him. I told him that it was my birthday and I was celebrating. When Kevin approached me on the dancefloor on this one hotel's rooftop party, he asked me why I was so happy. We were lucky enough to run into quite a few celebrities at these luxury Miami hotels including soca artist, Kevin Lyttle, who at that time had a big hit on his hands with his crossover hit, "Turnin' Me On'. ![]() The plus side is that it was in close proximity for me to walk back and forth to the BET Awards after-parties! One of the parties was at a hotel on Beechwood Avenue and it was hella swanky. The only downside was that our hotel was puny compared to the luxury hotels the celebs were staying in during the BET Awards. ![]() The three of us grown folks had enough space to stay in one of the rooms, so I guess they gave me one of their biggest ones. Unbeknownst to me, this hotel was kind of like a hostel in the sense that patrons could room up with total strangers and save money on their rooms. ![]() It was so long ago, I don't remember the name of the hotel but I remember that it had a quirky vibe to it plus a pool that was oddly shaped, but lovely to look at. I found this tiny cheap hotel to stay in with my mom, brother, and me. One of my favorite birthdays was spent in Miami because I had scored red carpet passes to cover the BET Music Awards for work.
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