There were two Letters to the Editor this morning about problems at the Kroc Center. Did you read them? Two upset patrons of last weekend’s swim meet at the Kroc were venting their frustration at the severe restrictions and policies of the center, and what they claim was a dismal lack of customer service. You can read their letters here and here. Any thoughts or comments on this or any other topic?
March 4, 2011
Open Session, Friday
8 Comments
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Here’s an excerpt out of the middle of Peggy Noonan’s opinion column in the Wall Street Journal, titled, “Public Unions get too Friendly”:
…”When union leaders negotiate with a politician, they’re negotiating with someone they can hire and fire. Public unions have numbers and money, and politicians need both. And politicians fear strikes because the public hates them. When governors negotiate with unions, it’s not collective bargaining, it’s more like collusion. Someone said last week the taxpayers aren’t at the table. The taxpayers aren’t even in the room.
As for unions looking out for the little guy, that’s not how it’s looking right now. Right now the little guy is the public school pupil whose daily rounds take him from a neglectful family to an indifferent teacher who can’t be removed. The little guy is the beleaguered administrator whose attempts at improvement are thwarted by unions. The little guy is the private-sector worker who doesn’t have a good health-care plan, who barely has a pension, who lacks job security, and who is paying everyone else’s bills”…
Comment by mary — March 4, 2011 @ 5:51 pm
I would not be surprised about how the Kroc conducts any operation. The Kroc will do what the Kroc wants. Basically, any person or organization willing to trash any semblance of ethics to start with can’t at all be expected to function according to any other expectations in the long run. The same goes for Mike Kennedy living as a CdA renter to barely qualify as a resident in order to run for CdA office. He will go to any length to get what he wants… and…. he… does. Sadly there are way too many examples here locally and nationally.
The Kroc is a church. They do not want to be a sports arena for any venue. Period.
Comment by Wallypog — March 5, 2011 @ 7:49 am
Wally, I think many people don’t realize or remember that $4.5 Million dollars of taxpayer money were put into this private church and activity center. $1 million to buy the land, $3 million to fill the pit, and then LCDC threw in $500,000 to make the parking lot.
All of this was done without a vote of the people. And remember the council meeting where they approved the $3 million for the pit?…the city added that item to the agenda about an hour before the meeting…no one even knew about it, so no public voices were there to speak.
And as usual, NOT ONE question was asked by the council, at that famous meeting, even though the price for filling the pit went from the estimated $1 million all the way to $3 million, without any explanation.
Here’s the Press column called “Kroc Full of Questions” that I wrote in April of 2007, about the council’s vote to fill the pit.
I certainly hope the non-taxable Kroc center is not also going to be given a parking building at taxpayer expense!
Comment by mary — March 5, 2011 @ 9:25 am
Regarding the $25,000 proposal to bring borrowed art to the downtown: stuffing the city with bad art whether loaned, purchased or donated does not enhance the reputation of the city. I hope that the art be juried by a panel of local and non-local art professionals. This is a complicated issue – one the city should carefully consider.
Perhaps the time has come for the city to temporarily halt the Public Art fee.
Comment by Susie Snedaker — March 5, 2011 @ 9:48 am
The Salvation Army could have and should have used the pit to build a subterranean parking garage rather than paying to have it filled.
Comment by Susie Snedaker — March 5, 2011 @ 9:53 am
Susie,just a point of clarification: As you well know but our readers might not remember, the city couldn’t give the $3 million directly to the Salvation Army. That would have been a conflict because of the separation of church and state. So, in their now typical back-door fashion, the city gave the money to the Parks Foundation, which is a private entity. Then the Foundation gave the money to the Salvation Army.
I guess that makes the whole thing ok?
Comment by mary — March 5, 2011 @ 9:59 am
The City’s budget lists the Kroc Center as a line item. It does not list the Parks Foundation.
Comment by Dan — March 5, 2011 @ 11:29 am
The city’s practice of giving public property to private non-profit foundations must stop. These foundations are not accountable to the taxpayers and appear to operate in secrecy. Every time I hear the term public/private partnership it seems that the private sector covets something the public owns.
Comment by Susie Snedaker — March 5, 2011 @ 1:55 pm