MUTH’S TRUTHS

Readers of Nevada News & Views know I haven’t exactly been waving pom-poms and cheering the level of service and programs delivered by the Carson City Department of Parks and Recreation. It started earlier this year with my opposition to plans to build a multi-million dollar Taj Mahal super-recreation center out in the boonies rather than provide smaller, more convenient neighborhood facilities.

The Super-Wreck, to be located out on the northwestern fringe of the city on the grounds of the community college, would have included fitness facilities which would have competed with privately owned and operated fitness centers in the Carson City area. Super-Wreck was also to include a brand-spanking new indoor pool facility, even though the current aquatic center is presently closed on Sundays, ostensibly due to lack of interest. The obvious question, then, is why would you spend millions of taxpayer dollars to build a new pool when no one’s using the old one? Duh.

And then there’s the department’s after-school program for kids. The afternoon latch-key program at each of the city’s elementary schools has had a waiting list of kids who want to participate since the beginning of the school year. And their parents pay a user fee of $33 per WEEK for the service, so this isn’t much a drain on the department’s budget. Indeed, I was told this program actually MAKES money for the department.

Compare that to what the private Boys & Girls Club charges for a similar program: $15 per YEAR. Nevertheless, the Parks & Rec can’t seem to figure out how to provide daily recreational programs to meet the demand of a paying public.

So when four openings on the Parks & Recreation Commission came up a month ago, I applied. As it turned out, there were eight applications, and each applicant appeared before the Carson City mayor and supervisors on Thursday for an interview.

Under questioning I disclosed that my motivation for applying for the position was rooted in a belief that the Parks & Recreation Department wasn’t providing adequate services to the community and I thought it could do better. I stated that I wanted to try to help fix the things I saw as lacking, rather than just sitting in the peanut gallery heckling. I added the fact that I actually had experience working for the Department of Parks and Recreation some years ago in Baltimore, so this sort of thing wasn’t exactly foreign to me.

I noted that I have three children, all of whom would benefit, along with the rest of Carson’s kids, from a more responsive, focused recreation department. When asked whether I thought the department should devote more attention to building ballfields or hiking trails, that was a no brainer. Ballfields. Heck, as a kids we just went hiking. We didn’t need a “trail” to go exploring. In fact, the lack of a trail made the exploration all the more fun. Kinda like junior Lewis and Clarks.

And I again reiterated my strong belief in providing neighborhood rec centers and playgrounds where kids can walk to and fro rather building a mega-center far from their homes where kids would have to take a bus or rely on mom and dad to get them there and back. I also explained that in prioritizing programs in tight budgetary times, I would place programs for kids over programs for adults, acknowledging the reality that adults have better abilities and more opportunities to find recreational alternatives than kids do.

Alas, those strong kid-focused opinions, strong motivations and strong experience apparently weren’t good enough for Carson City’s elders, who selected four others for the vacant positions on the commission. It would seem independent thinking and contrary opinions to the status quo are not qualities the supervisors were looking for in a Parks & Wreck commissioner. Go figure.

Well, at least they can’t say I didn’t try.

Posted on December 23rd, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Carson City