The committee will share updates about the design and construction of Corona’s memorial splash pad
By LA RISSA VASQUEZ — city@theaggie.org
On Jan. 21, the Natalie Corona Committee will be tabling at the Davis Farmers Market from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. to share design and construction updates about the memorial splash pad, Natalie’s Corner, in Central Park.
The Natalie Corona Committee is a community-based organization formed by Davis City Council to discuss, plan and build a memorial for Officer Natalie Corona who was shot and killed on duty on Jan. 10, 2019.
Brett Lee, a former city council member and liaison for the committee for three years, explained how the splash pad idea came about.
“The idea was [to] make sure whatever’s proposed to remember Officer Corona is kind of in sync with what the community is interested in,” Lee said. “There were a variety of different ideas that came forward and the one that seemed to be the most popular, both a few years ago [and then] the committee reconfirmed, was [to plan a] splash pad feature in Central Park.”
The splash pad will be the latest design in water efficiency and sanitation by UC Davis Civil and Environmental Engineer Dr. Bassam Younis. Younis explained how his design works to clean the water that will be in the splash pad.
“I provide the technology for disinfecting the water produced by this splash pad before it is applied on landscaping,” Younis said. “The water produced in this splash pad contains pathogens; these pathogens have to be inactivated before the water can be safely reused. There are many technologies to inactivate pathogens. One of them is using ultraviolet light and I have a new system developed with my graduate students at UC Davis in order to inactivate pathogens using UV light. It’s a unique design feature of how to treat water with ultraviolet light and it will be installed at the splash pad.”
Younis will be showing a model of the system at the tabling event.
Jenny Tan, the community engagement director for the city of Davis, oversees all public communications about construction activities for the installation of the splash pad. She said that as of now, the construction of Natalie’s Corner is set to begin in Oct. 2023.
“The committee is looking for monetary donations and construction materials [and] services related to the project,” Tan said. “We recommend that residents stop [by] the Farmers Market table to learn more about the effort.”
Lois Wolk, a retired state senator and former Davis mayor, is now the chair of the committee. He explained how the project is being funded and carried out.
“We were very fortunate in that we got a state grant for $2.7 million, and that was really a wonderful thing, so [the city is] obligated by the state grant [to] participate with some funding,” Wolk said. “One of our jobs is to get volunteers and to get in-kind contributions and monetary contributions from the city, from people in the city [and] ordinary citizens who want to help.”
According to Wolk, community input into the development of Natalie’s Corner is an opportunity for the design of the splash pad to reflect Officer Corona’s personality and legacy of service to the Davis community.
“Right now we’re in the process [of talking] about design and fundraising, like the benches or the tables or the ceramic tiles where people can put their names,” Wolk said.“The idea was that the splash pad [should be] something that would reflect families, would be free to the community, it would highlight friendship, and […] be open to the community. It should reflect [Officer Corona’s] personality. For example, she loved sunflowers, and with the splash pad, there’s a real opportunity for a design that reflects sunflowers.”
The community can learn more about the project at www.cityofdavis.org/r/splash-pad or by contacting Committee Chair Lois Wolk at lgwolk@dcn.org or Committee Member Brett Lee at brett2001@gmail.com. To donate to the Corona remembrance feature, visit sacregcf.org/nataliescorner.
Written by: La Rissa Vasquez — city@theaggie.org
