Public land easily sold in PT
Peterswood Park is for sale. At a price of $240,000 you can buy three to four acres of improved land with no future tax burden or maintenance expense. The taxpayers of Peters Township will pay upwards of $750,000 for the improvements you specify. To qualify, you simply need to secure a spot on the Parks and Recreation Board so that your personal agenda can be pushed through by your friends. Do not worry about the Peters Township Council. Despite having authority to override the Parks and Recreation Board’s decisions, they won’t, for fear of setting a precedent that they may have to weigh in on future issues. If this sounds too good to be true, watch the proceedings of the Dec. 10 council meeting. There, you will see that the Peters Township Soccer Association accomplished just that! Kudos PTSA. Your negotiations rival that of the Louisiana Purchase!
Shame on you, Peters Township Council, for allowing yourselves to be blackmailed by a special interest group who pushed through their agenda, under the auspices of creating a multi-use field, and then threatened to withhold their payment when asked to share the field with other established users. Despite a letter from Shaw, the turf manufacturer, supported by detailed testimony, showing clearly that the PTSA’s fear of potential turf damage was unfounded, you neglected your fiduciary responsibility and allowed your previous decision to be overturned at their whim. The PTSA was not asked to substantiate their fears of damage. They simply needed to say they did not want other users on the field. There has been no response to concerns posed about folding chairs, coffee, Gatorade, dogs, etc., which the manufacturer states will absolutely cause damage to the playing surface, because those concerns are not being voiced by someone with a check. If the intent is purely to protect the investment made in the field, why are these issues not being addressed? Why is the focus on use of equipment that has been proven will cause no harm?
While the cross country team can now look forward to a new course in another soon to be beautified area of the park, I walk away baffled that public land can be sold so easily.
We don’t have to look very far to understand the problems we have in Washington!
Barbara Wehn McMurray
If Franklin is a liaison to the Sports Advisory Board he can't vote.
ReplyDeleteSome research would quickly explain that Mrs Wehn's complaints are not about turf. It is about the SB cutting the funding for her kid's cross country team. She is the president of their booster club.
ReplyDeleteYes, you are correct. Kelly Fraasch needed clarification after reviewing the minutes of the previous meeting. John Bendel couldn't remember how his motion was ultimately stated since the motion had been amended several times. Prior to the meeting, Kelly listened to the podcast and verified that the Parks Advisory Board liaison had no vote. So the minutes were revised to reflect that.
ReplyDeleteFranklin will get a vote if he also represents a sports group. His wife will get a vote through YSA. Don't worry. He will be heard.
Elaine
Her REAL issue....
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing testimony from representatives of the township’s parks and recreation board and the school district’s cross country team, council decided to go with the parks and recreation board’s recommendation that no metal spikes be used on the artificial turf on Field 5 in Peterswood Park. Barbara Wehn, president of the high school’s cross country boosters said that not being allowed to use the 3/8” spikes that the team uses would be like having a football player play without a helmet. She brought a letter from the field’s manufacturer saying that using spikes would not void the warranty on the turf. Wehn added that the field was billed as a multi-use field and it should be used for that purpose.
Parks and recreation board member Jeff Crummie said that in a meeting held with the board as well as council member James Berquist, the manufacturing representative in attendance said that using spikes on the field would shorten the life of the field, although it would not void the warranty. Crummie added that golf courses no longer allow metal spikes. “No one ever said that cross country couldn’t use the field, but they have to abide by the rules,” Crummie said. He added that only the “elite” runners use spikes and that not all cross country team members use them. Council president Robert Lewis said that the council was not put in place to make parks and recreation decisions, which is why the parks and recreation board was created. Ball added that he would go with the parks and recreation board’s recommendation, but said, “I still have a hard time imagining what a 3/8” spike would do.” “We have no intent to override the decision of the parks and recreation board,” to ban metal spikes from the artificial turf field, Lewis said.
http://www.thealmanac.net/alm/story11/12-12-2012_pt-zoning
" Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point, answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only? Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead, but if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!" - Scrooge
ReplyDeleteDon't know if we are seeing ghost of agreements yet to come, but we certainly should be revisiting the ghosts of agreements past!
December 31st is approaching fast, so have all the payments been made according to the Joint Maintenance Agreement extension?
"Joint Maintenance Agreement Amendment: RESOLVED, That the Amendment to the Joint Maintenance Agreement dated as of July 1, 2010 is amended in the form presented, and the Superintendent is authorized to execute such Amendment on behalf of the District.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Joint Maintenance Agreement between the District, the Municipality and the Youth Sports Alliance is extended for a period of six months, through December 31, 2012, with the District paying $35,700 to the Municipality for services similar to those provided previously, and the Youth Sports Alliance paying between $10,000 and $11,000 to the District (based on the number of participating children), and with other terms and schedules to be specified in an Extension Agreement acceptable to the Superintendent and the Solicitor, and to be signed by the Superintendent."