South End residents press Beaumont council for Alice Keith multipurpose center and more youth services

A line of speakers during public comment at a Beaumont City Council meeting urged council members to fund a South End recreation facility and increased youth services, saying children in the neighborhood lack safe places to gather and learn.

"What I wanted to speak on today really is just trying to make sure that we have something in the South for the kids in the South to do," said Jarey Rideau, who identified himself as a lifelong Beaumont resident and longtime volunteer coach.

Multiple speakers said the city has prioritized construction projects such as an updated police station and other facilities but has left the South End without a recreation center. "This city is prepared to invest $55,000,000 in a police station, $7,000,000 in a fire station, $6,000,000 in an animal shelter, all important. But our children are worth at least that much," Joyce Vaughn told the council.

Former coaches, AAU organizers and parents described decades of volunteer youth programming in Beaumont and said the loss of organized space harmed children’s opportunities and safety. Jeanette Bridal described the region’s correctional‑facility footprint and contrasted that with the city’s single recreation center: "We have built more capacity to lock people up than to lift people up," she said.

Several speakers named the Alice Keith Park South End recreation facility as the project they hoped the bond package would fund. Activists and volunteers said the facility should include basketball courts, classrooms, a kitchen and job‑training space rather than being a single-use sports complex. Nathan Hawkins and others presented schematic drawings during the meeting and told council members they had local volunteer and fundraising support.

Why it matters: South End advocates framed the discussion as a long-running equity and service gap: residents said families without reliable transportation cannot reach downtown amenities and that program costs and distance make existing options inaccessible.

Council response and follow-up: Council members discussed categorization of the Alice Keith project during the bond deliberations: some members pushed to include the South End facility under parks and recreation; others supported classifying it as a multipurpose facility within the public-safety/facilities proposition so programming, classroom space and job training could be reflected in the ballot description. Council ultimately approved including the Alice Keith facility under the facilities/public safety proposition for the November ballot; staff was asked to finalize the wording with bond counsel and to confirm a $2 million grant referenced in the meeting.

Speakers during public comment also pressed for other near-term fixes — safer bus service, maintenance of playgrounds and more reliable after-school options — and asked that councilers factor those needs into the bond prioritization.