Archive | CARD aquatic center RSS feed for this section

Chico Unified, CARD getting ready to dive into your purse

16 Aug

We will have at least two new taxes coming at us this coming year, including Chico Unified School District Bond Measure K on the November ballot, and a mailed assessment from Chico Area Recreation District.  

CARD will have a speaker from “Every Body, Healthy Body” discussing efforts to include Nance Canyon in the assessment area. That’s Thursday night, 7pm, at the CARD center at 545 Vallombrosa.  

The best way to fight these grabs, is get involved early.  I’ll try to keep you posted, but I wish I could get somebody to attend the school board meetings and report here. 

 

 

Why hasn’t CARD posted minutes of their board meetings since December 2015?

12 Aug

Digging into various issues, I find myself all over the internet, using a lot of city, county, state, and other public entity websites. Compared to some of the sites I’ve been to, our city, county, and other local agency websites fall pretty short.

It’s not the website’s fault, it’s the way these agencies use them.  They spend hundreds of thousands a year on “IT”, but you can’t find what you want on their websites because they aren’t updated. Each entity is also very subjective in what they think they have to put on their website. A lot of useless information, a lot of out-of-date information, and a lot of button pushing just to find yourself back at the page where you started. 

They aren’t consistent in what they post. For years I bitched at Debbie Presson, why didn’t she have the council minutes posted in  a timely fashion? She whined about staff shortages, work work work. The city of Willows has their minutes posted through July of this year.   

The reason it takes a month is that minutes need to be approved by the agency board, they can question their clerk’s memory of events, ask for the tape, even ask that stuff they actually said be “stricken” from the record. Some  agencies only meet once a month, so it’s not unreasonable for the clerk to take a month or so to post the minutes.  

Debbie Presson suggested I should watch the provided video.  Hours of crap, fast-forward-fast-forward-wait-back-it-up – just to see what they voted on and how they voted? That’s a 2-minute scan of the minutes, why should I have to sit there digging through a video? 

So, when I went to the Chico Area Recreation District website to see what the board has been up to the last few months, I was frustrated to find, they haven’t posted minutes of their monthly meetings on the website since December 2015. 

http://www.chicorec.com/About-Card/CARD-Resources/Board-of-Directors/index.html

The city of Chico council and committees all review their minutes regularly, so does CARD. When city agencies review their minutes, the minutes are posted to the agenda on the city website – a roundabout way of reading the minutes.  But until recently, CARD has not posted the minutes with the agenda, so, up until about May, the only way a taxpayer can  take a look at the minutes for four or five meetings is present themselves at the CARD center and wait while a staffer bumbles around trying to figure out how to comply. I get a kick out of the look on these people’s faces when you ask for something they are supposed to make available anyway.

We shouldn’t have to do that, but as city clerk Debbie Presson and CARD manager Ann Willmann will tell you – they are not legally required to post the minutes on the website. 

And of course, they’re right. It’s not a legal matter, it’s an ethical matter. 

 

Stop the presses! CARD employees to begin paying toward their own benefits! (having paid NOTHING up to now…)

26 Jul

Ooooooo! Chico Area Rec District director Ann Willmann will pay 5 PERCENT out of her $100,000-plus salary toward 70 percent of her highest year’s salary, available at age 55!  

Let me be the first to say, “Big Fucking Deal Mrs. Potato”.  She’s been stealing from us all these years, and she thinks she can just wash her hands and give us that “Who? Me?” look.

According to this morning’s Enterprise Record:

CHICO >> A balanced 2016-17 budget for the Chico Area Recreation and Park District was passed last week, but the financial document for the special district is a little different from the preliminary one.

Guided by a board and staff that wanted to see savings because of long- suspended maintenance costs and other expenses, the budget process has resulted in cutbacks and in changes, that include employees for the first time paying for a portion of their retirement.

While that w ill save CARD revenue, there are other matters that mean more expense, like aging facilities that need work or repairs, and personnel costs from the rising minimum wage. There are also new allocations for long- discussed priorities, according to Chair Bob Malowney during a phone interview. Paying a portion toward their Public Employees Retirement System costs, employees will be looking to contribute from 1 to 4 percent of their pay, depending on the positions, according to CARD business manager Olivia Wilson. The amount of savings was not immediately available.

General Manager Ann Willmann will start to pay a portion as well. The board also approved a 5 percent raise for her that will start in December that was previously discussed by the board. She’ll be making $105,000 a year, according to Wilson.

Excuse me, but that’s crap. Why are we paying benefits and retirement for people who make more than twice the median income?

Just a show for the public because  they are still kicking around the idea of a swimming pool tax. They know it looks bad that they don’t pay anything, so they are making a very petty show. They’ve budgeted $80,000 for a consultant, just to get that on the ballot.  They want us to pay down the rest of their nearly $2 million pension deficit. That’s two million dollars for less than 30 employees who get pensions.   

In the story, they admit they’ve “suspended maintenance costs” to pay down their salaries, benefits and FULL PAID pensions all these years. 

How will you celebrate “The Fourth”? Try acting like an American

4 Jul

I always wonder, how many Americans have even read the US constitution? How many of you have read the California constitution? The city charter?

Good homework for “The Fourth.”  

I’ve been reading up on the laws regarding tax measures, how they are enacted, and how the public citizen can resist an avaricious government.

First, we must “Watch the skies!”   Actually, we have to watch the agendas. That is where the initial discussion of putting a tax measure on the ballot is supposed to happen.  We all know it actually happens in private meetings, but, legally, it has to pass through a public discussion before it can be handed to the county clerk, so there’s a place for the observer to begin. I’ve been watching agendas not only for council meetings and county supervisor meetings but the smaller committee meetings in between.

I have to admit, I’ve been distracted with Chico Area Recreation District, trying to figure out whether their tax grab will appear on the November ballot or whether they will go the slimy way and deliver assessment ballots by mail.  Assessment elections aren’t the same as regular elections – they are rigged with bigger property owners getting more votes, the “weight” of each property owner’s vote being determined by the very board that is asking for the tax. These shouldn’t be legal – that’s our fault. We need to try to get rid of the entities that can attach us this way, starting with CARD, and including the Butte County Mosquito and Vector District.

I haven’t heard an elected official at either the city of Chico or Butte County mention a sales tax increase, but with municipalities all around us seeking, and in some cases, getting a sales tax increase out of the voters, I’m worried. Ex-city mangler Tom Lando, the guy who came up with the MOU that attached city salaries “to revenue increases but not decreases,” has been stumping for a sales tax increase for a few years now, saying he wants this and that amenity for the public, as well as better paid cops and fire fighters. 

Wow, what’s better than a base pay of $62,000/year with automatic step increases and mandated overtime that can as much as double that base salary? Not to mention paying only 12 percent toward a retirement of 90 percent of your highest year’s pay at age 50? What the helllllll could be better than that? 

Ask Lando, a guy who is in the regular habit of dropping a C-note for lunch.

I don’t believe Lando is worried about the public, I think he is worried about his $12,000/month pension payments.  Can you imagine living on $134,000/year, without having to work? Just getting a check for the rest of your life.  Ask Barbara McEnepsy – how’s life out on Keefer Road Hon? I don’t even know what Barbara McEnepsy did for the city, but she receives an even higher pension than Lando. 

Here’s the real stinker – these two individuals retired before the rules were changed to make employees “pay their own share” – neither Lando nor McEnepsy paid a dime toward their pensions.

If you are not outraged about paying these pensions, I’ll say – you’re not an American.

 

What is “entitlement”? CARD director rents Lakeside Pavilion to aquatic center supporters for less than a third of the regular rate

27 Jun

Entitlement – (according to Google) – the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.

Our economy is sinking into another recession because public workers are getting too entitled.

At Chico Area Recreation District, we have Director Ann Willmann, who makes over $100,000 a year but feels entitled to 70 percent of her salary at age 55 even though she pays nothing from that $100,000+ salary toward that pension. That’s a good example of “sense of entitlement”, but she takes it even further. Willmann seems to feel she is allowed to rent CARD facilities to her friends at cheaper rates than she would give them to the public at large. 

I told you about the event held at Park Pavilion by a non-profit group called “Everybody, Good Body.”

CARD still talking about a parcel tax or property assessment to build aquatic center – now they say they might fix Shapiro instead, but they’re going to get a tax one way or the other

Later I e-mailed Willmann to ask her how much EBGB paid for the pavilion.  She responded,

“Hi Juanita, the group paid $500 for their 5 hour rental. Thank you, Ann”

I thought that sounded cheap, but there is no rate schedule on CARD’s website.  A couple of years ago I inquired about the fees for the much less grandiose CARD center on Vallombrosa, and  got this response from facilities director Ed Johnson:

CARD Center, Main Room

$500 deposit that is refundable to you

·         Friday or Sunday (hall for 15 hours plus table and chairs that we set up and use of the kitchen ) $1200 separate from the deposit

·         Saturday (hall for 15 hours plus table and chairs that we set up and use of the kitchen ) $1700 separate from the deposit

·         Monday thru Thursday it is an hourly rental and is $125 per hour

Arts and craft room and Room 3

                $100 Deposit that is refundable to you

                $30 per hour and provides only tables and chairs

So I asked Johnson about the pavilion, and was not surprised when he came back with this response:

It is a $500 deposit that is refundable to you. For a Saturday it is $3400 separate from the deposit and for a Friday or a Sunday it is $2800 separate from the deposit. We can do an hourly rate which is the same deposit and has a minimum of 8 hours and that is $225 per hour.

Lakeside is $225 Per hour weekdays and weeknights. There is no discounted rate for this building.

I wondered why EBGB got a discount, so forwarded the information to Willmann and asked her about the $100/hour rate with no minimum given to EBGB.

Hi Juanita, I authorized the $100 hr/fee. As CARD’s general manager, I have the discretion to adjust facility rental rates for use by community agencies and organizations particularly when they have objectives and purposes similar to and compatible with those of CARD. If there are no pending inquires for use of a facility or no programming taking place, we would recognize the opportunity for some revenue where otherwise there would have been none.

I asked Willmann for communications she’d received from representatives of EBGB, she only had the one e-mail from Chico Swim Association’s Brad Geise, who runs Aquajets. Willmann’s son swims for Aquajets, so they’re pretty friendly.

Hi Ann,

 Hope all is well with you.

 Any slight chance we might be able to hold the EBHB social event at Lakeside Pav?

 Brad

I saw that Geise did not request a discount, and asked Willmann whose idea that was.  I also asked her, if my group requested use of the “pav,” and there was no other scheduled event, would we receive a discounted rate?

Hi Juanita, a discount was requested in the follow up phone call with staff.

We would evaluate any groups request the same.

They did not pay a deposit, however did provide a certificate of insurance. Ann

How does this woman expect to run an organization the size of CARD if she is making up the rules as she goes along? Why isn’t there a rate schedule available to the public? Does she give applicants a look up and down and decide on the spot how much she will shake out of them? 

But her friends get a facility that has a minimum charge of $1800 for $500, with no $500 deposit. Why doesn’t she just make the rates affordable for everybody, all the time?

That’s “entitlement” kids, that sense of privilege that sets the “right kind of people” apart from the rest of us.

 

Strap yourselves in, this is complicated

22 Jun

There has been so much to talk about lately, it’s hard to know how to start.

I’ve been having a conversation with Chico Area Recreation District director Ann Willmann about rental policies for CARD facilities. CARD owns a lot of stuff, not just play fields, but buildings that are supposed to be available for public use, with a fee schedule. One such building is the CARD Center, appropriately located near the center of Chico and also near the center of the recreation district’s legal boundaries.  Besides housing CARD operations, the CARD center had been a popular place for private parties, mostly weddings, as well as public events like the “Pancakes for Peace” fundraiser held for many years by the Chico Peace and Justice Center. In fact, for many years, the center parking lot was packed for some or another event every good weather weekend from early Spring to late Fall. I had friends who got married there, it was affordable to working people.

A few years ago I noticed the center wasn’t being used as much.  I also noticed it was a meeting place for the homeless – all along Vallombrosa between Mangrove and Arbutus, every public green space was covered with a little encampment of creepy people, laying filthy and half naked with scroungy dogs, drinking, acting generally scurvy.  Yeah, at the last wedding I attended at the CARD center, there were a bunch of homeless people milling in the crowd, they were really drunk, they went down to the creek and went skinny dipping as the bride’s family tried to usher the guests back into the building.

That whole area got really bad. The post office annex closed between 10pm and 7am, citing “security concerns.”

A year or so ago, CARD board member Tom Lando made a public appeal to Chico PD to help keep the vagrants from camping, crapping and generally carousing around the CARD center.  I don’t know how far that went because quickly thereafter the board made a unanimous decision to move CARD meetings to California Park Lakeside Pavilion. California Park sits at the outermost edge of the district, and the pavilion is located deep within this bastion of private property, loud red “NO TRESPASSING” signs displayed prominently on any patch of grass not directly connected to a private home. I don’t know when exactly the board purchased the pavilion, but I would have loved to be at the meeting to hear how they rationalized the purchase. I’m going to guess somebody made a pitch about how much they could make renting the place out for fancy weddings.

Which would seem to be a breach of the district’s policy and mission, to provide affordable recreation options and facilities for everybody. They have also cited concerns about some projects in past, saying they didn’t want to compete with private businesses. How does the pavilion fit their mission?

“Fancy” just isn’t a word for Chico. Chico has long been an anti-snob town, a place where jeans and work shirts have been considered far more stylish than three piece suits and Ferragamo shirts. But we’ve got a new class of people here in town – public workers who make more than five families put together.  These people have been pushing a “class up this burg” movement. Tom Lando is one of the people behind this push – as retired city manager, he makes one of the biggest pensions that adds up to our city’s 90 million dollar plus pension deficit.

Lando has cried aloud that Chico doesn’t have a fancy sports stadium. He said he ran a survey that said taxpayers would support such a venture, but he wouldn’t publish the results for the rest of us.  Lando wants a tax of some sort to pay for this stadium. He once said, it wouldn’t add up to more than a dollar on the average lunch tab.

Wow, would somebody do that math for me? He’s saying, the tax increase would amount to a dollar on the average lunch tab? How much does he pay for lunch?

People like Lando think Chico needs to grow up and be fancy.  They want richer people to move here, to pay higher property taxes, to support their pensions, is what.

I’d say, they all need to grow up, and pay for their own retirement at age 55 on 70 – 90 percent of their highest year’s income.

Lando was also the guy who brought in the Memo Of Understanding that linked city salaries to “revenue increases but not decreases.”  Then council-member Larry Wahl told me he signed that MOU because he didn’t understand it.  Council proceeded to approve all those subdivisions that are still taking a giant crap all over our local economy. With that late 90’s building boom, Lando’s salary went from around $60,000 to over $100,000 in just a few years. But when things went bust, none of those salaries went down, due to the simple but legally binding wording in that two sentence memo. Today the city manager makes about $200,000/year, and pays only 9 percent toward his own pension.

And that’s what happened when the public  became aware of the MOU during that hot and heavy two or three years that bankruptcy was breathing down our collective neck.  Yes, it was outrageous – I wish people would pay attention more often. But, the public was lulled back to sleep with the following agreement – sure, we’d hold the line on the raises from now on, but the city would pay a whopping share of the “employee share” of pensions and benefits. For many years, it was the entire share for management and public safety workers.

You remember that whole conversation, don’t you? How there was the “employee share” and the “employer share”, and the “EMPC”, or, “employer-paid member contribution”. That means, we paid their share, get that? For those employees we were paying not only “our” share but theirs as well. Only the last couple of years has management and public  safety begun to pay toward their own pensions. At first, only 4 percent, now 9 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

Excuse me – big fucking deal – why aren’t they paying the 50 percent mandated of new hires?  Excuse me again – did I say 50? I say, they pay it all themselves, and if they’re real good, we start picking up a small percentage.  But this practice of getting something you didn’t pay for – ENTITLEMENT – has got to stop.

According to Ann Willmann, her friends are ENTITLED to rent publicly owned facilities under her supervision for less than the public would pay.

Bill Cosby, the comedian, used to tell long, involved stories, and then say, “I told you that story so I could tell you this one…” There is where I will have to leave you for today, I’ll try to get back asap.

 

 

Short Attention Span Theater – we have the government we deserve in Chico

18 Jun

I’ve just been having a frustrating conversation with a friend about public participation. 

Sorry if I have been rude, Friend.

Friend tried to explain to me how overwhelmed most people are in their lives, they can’t pay attention.

That just got my skivvies in a bunch. I pay attention, and let me tell you, I got stuff going on.  I won’t bore you with my epic problems of the past months, but through it all, my close friends have been annoyed with my constant complaining about what the city and county and various local agencies are doing. My husband keeps telling me the government stuff is stressing me out, I should concentrate more on what’s going on at home. At least we can do something about our private problems, he says.

I have a hard time keeping it all under my hat.  Every morning, when I give my dog her insulin shot, I have to mentally prepare – “don’t think bad thoughts, don’t think bad thoughts…” as I skewer that needle into a lump of flesh behind her collar.   She lays on the floor behind me as I read the paper, read e-mails, she can hear me grumbling about stuff. I have to be careful or she’ll slip into the bedroom and stick her head under my husband’s side of the bed. I can feel the tension in her neck, makes it hard to get loose skin, sometimes she lets out a yelp and a half.

What bugs me is how people are so quick to use any excuse to stick their head in the sand, but they still expect to be allowed to complain when something finally gets under their skin.  I won’t mention names, but I’ve watched the local gadflies make big stinks about stuff, after a few months, the stink dies down, and the problem still exists.  All that blab about volunteers for the park – the park still looks like shit. The work they did at the One Mile parking lot last year has become completely overgrown with non-native invasive plants again. An area they did earlier this year is also going back to a mess.   Whole sections of the park are sub-code – if it was your yard, you’d get a notice to clean it up or pay the city to do it. 

And this conversation about keeping public restrooms open has been going on for two years now. Meanwhile, the million dollar One Mile restroom is pretty hit and miss – here’s the conundrum – if it is open, will it be usable? 

Short Attention Span Theater.

I’m going to tell you Esplanade lovers – don’t go back to sleep! Isn’t it pretty obvious, they’ve shelved the roundabouts until after the election? I’m hoping Cheryl King and friends are quietly looking for somebody to run for council, but I’m not going to bank on it.  

I’d like to see somebody run for CARD. Why don’t I do it? I would if I had some support – I ain’t going into those meetings without a posse anymore.  If they pass their bond, it means the people of Chico are completely gone fishing.

Tony St Amant said it in this morning’s paper – we have the government we deserve.

 

 

Somebody needs to run for Tom Lando’s CARD seat in November

7 Jun

When I was a little kid, a teacher told my classmates and I that if we could convince every person in America to give us a penny, we’d never have to work again.  Even a fraction of the population, he said, could make us very rich.  All we had to do was talk them into giving it to us – simple enough?

Well, I could also form an assessment district. Like Butte County Mosquito and Vector Control, or Chico Area Recreation District. Did you know – Paradise and Oroville have cemetery districts.

When you live in an assessment district, that means these agencies can stick a fee on your property taxes. These fees require a vote, but usually, just property owners, and – get a load of this – votes are “weighted” depending on how much property is owned by the individual/company/group. That’s fair, really, since the larger property owners will pay more. 

Ballots are sent by mail, looking like junk mail, and there’s no requirement that these agencies advertise or notify anybody ahead of time.   So watch your mail box – CARD is thinking about putting a property assessment in your mail box.

I wonder how many are returned and how many end up in the trash. I wonder a lot of stuff. I wonder how many homeowners have their property taxes paid by their mortgage lender, and therefore never bother to look at the itemized bill. I wonder how many people just send the check without looking.  I wonder how many people just grit their teeth and pay it, afraid to ask any questions,  cause every question just makes their heart beat harder, their blood pressure push higher, their hair fall out faster.

I’ll tell you two things that are on a ballot in November – two seats up for grabs at CARD.  One of them is currently being smothered under the elitist ass of one Tom Lando.  Mr. Lando had an agenda when he took his CARD seat – appointed, because nobody else bothered to run.  Lando’s agenda was to raise taxes, using CARD’s assessment powers to bring in more revenues to pay CalPERS every increasing demands.

See, Lando is a retired public employee – former manager of the City of Chico, in  fact.  As such, he yanks in one of the biggest pensions that ever inflicted  liability on our fair city – over $135,000/year, almost $12,000/month, in pension.  

If CalPERS goes bust, Lando is out, you heard me – almost $12,000/month. So, it’s absolutely reasonable to assume that this guy would do just about anything to keep the money pouring into CalPERS. 

You’ve heard the old Yiddish proverb:  When the fish stinks, it’s the head of the fish that stinks.  Tom Lando is your stinking fish head, you need to wrap him in newspaper and put him in the bin next November.  In order to do so, we will need a viable candidate. 

 

 

CARD still talking about a parcel tax or property assessment to build aquatic center – now they say they might fix Shapiro instead, but they’re going to get a tax one way or the other

5 Jun

While I’ve been chasing the elusive new non-profit group formed to discuss building a “megacility” in Chico, Chico Area Recreation District has put their “Aquatic Facility Advisory Committee” to bed.  But, even after having had to reduce staff to make ends meet, the  board is still talking about floating a parcel tax or property assessment to build an aquatic center.   According to the Enterprise Record and CARD board member Tom Lando, the board is finally talking out loud about an  alternative –  “rebuilding and expanding Shapiro Pool.”  That discussion has fallen along the wayside for too long – in 2009 a consultant told them that pool was in bad need of attention.

I don’t believe Lando, or Sneed or Mulowney are sincere about fixing Shapiro. They have been pursuing the aquatic center, along with ex-CARD staffer and board member Jerry Hughes.  In the article below, Lando admits, “ I think the community needs a facility including a decent pool,” Lando said.

wow, “a facility including a decent pool…”   Is he talking about a “megacility“?

I’ve been in touch with CARD director Ann Willmann about the “event” sponsored by everybodyhealthybody.org at Lakeside Pavilion. EBHB is a “non-profit” made up of a couple of out-of-town consultants and a board of local folks who’ve been involved with Chico Swim Association/Aqua Jets.  I asked Willmann how much they paid to use the Pavilion. It took her a week to respond,

“Hi Juanita, the group paid $500 for their 5 hour rental. Thank you, Ann”

I replied, asking her where I could find the rental information for the Pavilion – the CARD website only posts a picture of it and says it’s available, there’s no rate schedule or description of exactly what you get. She never got back to me on that inquiry, so I e-mailed CARD “facilities manager” Ed Johnson.

Hi Mr. Johnson,

 I would like the rates for rental of Lakeside Pavilion, weekdays, per hour, deposit, etc.

 At your convenience, thank you for your anticipated response, Juanita Sumner

He also took forever to get back to me, I had to e-mail him again before I got this response.

Lakeside Prices are as fallows. [sic]

 It is a $500 deposit that is refundable to you. For a Saturday it is $3400 separate from the deposit and for a Friday or a Sunday it is $2800 separate from the deposit. We can do an hourly rate which is the same deposit and has a minimum of 8 hours and that is $225 per hour. Sorry for the delay in getting the too you have a great Friday.

Was I not clear? I thought I asked him for week day rates.   A friend of mine who I’d cc’d had to ask again.

Mr. Johnson,  I don’t see rates for weekdays or weeknights at Lakeside Pavilion.  Do you have a published rate card anywhere?

To which he replied,

“Lakeside is $225 Per hour weekdays and weeknights. There is no discounted rate for this building.

My friend didn’t know what to make of what seemed like evasiveness – or what, incompetence? – on the part of the facilities manager. I think we both asked pretty clear questions – did he read our e-mails before responding?  But I had my answer – the regular rate is $225, and there’s an 8 hour, or $1800 minimum, but EBHB was allowed to use it for $100/hour for five hours.

What gives? If I wanted to rent that place you know they’d stick it to me. Look at those rates.  Whose friend do you have to be to get it for $100/hour, no minimum? Sounds like a good question for Ann Willmann.

Hi Ms. Willman, 

I contacted Ed Johnson, who told me that rental for the Pavilion during the week is $225/hour.  He also mentioned a minimum of eight hours, but I’m not sure if that applies to week nights or just weekends.
I’d like to know, who authorized the rental of the Pavilion for $100/hour for Everybody Healthy Body?  Did the board approve this, and if so, where can I find the minutes to that meeting? 
When and where can I view communications between Everybody, Healthy Body, and CARD?

Thank you again for your anticipated cooperation, Juanita Sumner

We’ll see if she gets back to me.

Aquatic center still a question for CARD

Staff Reports

CHICO >> Even with the budget’s positives and negatives, the Chico Area Recreation and Park District board still faces its biggest decision: Whether to pursue an aquatics center.

Long in its master plan and recommended by an ad hoc committee, an aquatics center is still a question mark for the board.

Director Tom Lando said last week he was still wrestling with building a proposed aquatic center or rebuilding and expanding Shapiro Pool, which the board ha s closed down last year because of age and repair problems. Earlier this year, a consultant and an ad hoc committee offered recommendations on an aquatics center. The consultant’s recommendation included a 30- meter by 25- yard pool, while many on the committee wanted a 50- meter pool.

Any of the several prop o sa l de si g n s wou ld mean additional costs to CARD. None of the proposals or designs offered by the consultant would bring in enough revenue to cover operational and maintenance costs.

As far as paying for the construction of an aquatics center, a consultant suggested choosing between a set per- parcel tax or a ‘ benefits assessment” tax on property owners based on property valuation. Those affected would either vote on the measures in a general election or by a mailed ballot, respectively.

Preparing for either option would cost CARD about $ 65,000 for consultant services, General Manager Ann Willmann said.

“ I think the community needs a facility including a decent pool,” Lando said. And, if CARD wasn’t going to pursue a new aquatic center, he wanted to see more money helping with the renovation of Shapiro Pool or to the Humboldt Neighborhood skateboard park renovation.

Lando said he also thought the board should pursue the update of the master plan with all the big projects it has been discussing, not all of which are included in the current plan.

Aquatic center proponents form non-profit, hire consultant, plan “Megacility”

11 May

Has CARD dropped plans to put a bond on the November ballot to pay for a new aquatic center?

Monday I was forwarded an invitation to a presentation at CARD’s new headquarters, Lakeside Pavilion.

You’ve been invited to participate in an event on May 10th which could be a milestone for Chico, involving large scale recreational facilities as a major community amenity and economic driver.   

 

It’s far from a new topic.  The adequacy of Chico’s facilities, the strain and economic drain travelling someplace else for events and tournaments, limited programing, limited funding, limited facilities and limited opportunities for people of all ages, etc.  All far below what could be accomplished if local talent, leadership and resources were tapped and channeled to accomplish what has been accomplished in other communities, many of which lack the talent, leadership and resources which already exist in Chico.

 

What is new is that out of this long running and seemingly endless conversation, a  catalyst non-profit has been formed to move the ball downfield.   Doing that requires community involvement and support.  Partnership and collaboration is essential!!!

 
DATE: Tuesday, May 10th
TIME: 6:30 PM

LOCATION: Lakeside Pavilion.  2565 California Park Dr, Chico, CA 95928

 

It’ll be an informative and enjoyable event on the Lake in Cal Park.  

 

Looking forward to seeing you there,

Brad Geise
EVERYBODY, Healthy Body
Collaboration and Partnerships for Athletics Facilities and Programming

530-715-0035 

Of course this invitation was not intended for me, but addressed to a local elected official who forwarded it along to me, knowing I’ve been trying to follow the aquatic center conversation.  This invitation confirms what I’ve suspected – as the public, and even the local daily newspaper, has failed to support CARD’s bids for public funding for this venture, the tiny but well-heeled group of aquatic center supporters has turned to a consultant, and formed a “non-profit” group. Ostensibly they are looking for private funding, but a quick look at their website shows a pattern of private ventures that quickly turn to the public for major funding. 

Under “FAQ’s” you will find this link:

http://sportsplanningguide.com/rise-of-the-megacilities

Here’s the bait …

Spooky Nook Sports was funded privately by its owner, Sam Beiler, for approximately $11.25 million. After traveling for his daughter’s various sports tournaments across the country, the family decided to create an indoor facility that offers quality customer service, ideal playing and spectator conditions and additional activities during downtime.

the usual sales pitch about how these facilities are a benefit to the entire community  … 

There’s no denying the impressive impact of sports tourism these days; destinations are taking their sports inventories to the next level. These herculean sports venues, or what we like to call megacilities, have generated an estimated combined economic impact of more than $200 million to date. They open their doors to competitions of all calibers where players, coaches and spectators alike will have to pick up their jaws from the state-of-the-art floors and fields.

 and here’s the switch – from the 2015 Pennsylvania Urban Land Institute report …

Although by all accounts the Nook has been deemed a success, that success has not been quantified in terms of fiscal or economic impact. 

The report goes on to detail the major traffic problems brought about during tournaments at this facility in Pennsylvania, finally recommending “The Nook” apply for public road funds to fix their inadequate private parking lot. The report describes the development of the site as “haphazard,” and recommends that the governing authorities take a harder look at the actual benefits of this development and ways to curb the problems it is causing.

Read on about a facility in Georgia – 

LakePoint Sporting Community was privately funded until it received a $32-million bond to support the next development phase: the indoor facility.

According to the Rome News-Tribune, “Bartow County Commissioner Steve Taylor said the Bartow County Development Authority issued $37 million in bonds to finance construction of the pavilion.”

According to wikipedia, Bartow County is, well, kind of poor.   The median income is only about $44,000 a year – much like Butte County. How in the hell will they pay those bonds? 

Read on about one facility after another in one state after another – entirely funded with taxpayer money.  Revenue bonds, city self-financing and hotel occupancy taxes, just to name a few sources of revenue that have been tapped to pay for facilities that have so far failed to prove any sustainable economic benefit for the surrounding area. They all create traffic problems that are addressed with more public money.

I expect the aquatic center group to follow the same tack.  They will try to impress us with their ability to attract “stakeholders,” but in the end they will try to get into our purses with this thing.

Meanwhile, CARD must also find some way to fund itself. Now they’ve privatized the backside of the CARD center and will charge money for weddings and other events. This is a conflict of their mission.  CARD was formed to facilitate recreational opportunities for taxpayers, not to compete with private enterprise to pay their own salaries, pensions and benefits. But, I will be keeping my ear to the railroad tracks, waiting for CARD to roll out another tax campaign of some sort. 

So, the aquatic center is not off the table, it’s turned into a “Megacility”.  A consultant and a group of local proponents has formed a covert group aimed at using private money to attract public money, just like a lot of other scams. It’s up to us to remain vigilant against this kind of misappropriation of public money.

The system is only as good as the taxpayers who support it.

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →