Huntington Park announces May events, Art Walk details and new assistant city manager

Huntington Park leaders used departmental reports to highlight upcoming May events and introduce a new senior staff member.

City Manager staff introduced the new assistant city manager, Stephanie Santine, who greeted the council and public and said she looked forward to serving the city. Parks & Recreation reported a successful community movie night with added telescopes for stargazing, announced the Keller Park groundbreaking scheduled for May 7, and said a graduation photo stage will be set up May 8 and remain through June 21. Parks staff also reminded the public that Avila scholarship applications for graduating seniors close this Friday.

Communications staff announced a city operating‑budget workshop to follow the Keller Park groundbreaking on May 7 and said a citywide verification initiative received coverage from Univision. The Art Walk Festival, set for May 17, will feature stage programming, Sister City Rosarito’s Casa de Cultura, school contest entries, culinary and carpentry displays from the high school, car clubs and local vendors. Organizers said vendor space typically caps at about 30 spots but that organizers often can accommodate last‑minute changes; an additional set of 10 canopy booth spaces will be used for special activities.

Council members also discussed exhibiting children’s art entries from the festival (noting last year had roughly 140 entries) and members asked about artist selection for a utility‑box art program tied to the city’s 120th anniversary; staff said they solicited three artists and selected one (identified in the meeting as Victoria) experienced with utility‑box painting in other cities.

Council closed the open meeting and recessed into closed session to discuss four labor‑negotiation items per legal counsel.