Washburn: Whoops, There Goes Another Rubber Tree

Rumor has it that they are in the process of filming an updated version of “Groundhog Day.”

The working title is “Beaver Meadow.” As they say in bridge, let's review the bidding.

After decades of neglect, the 4,400-square-foot Pro Shop and snack area needed replacement. The administration came up with a plan to expand the footprint to 9,500 to include a massively expanded Pro Shop and 140-seat restaurant/function area. Also included in the plan was an upgraded parking lot, which had been long neglected.

The first stop was with the state who if they could get conned into it could fund part of the plan as a “community center.” The state politely said no. Next came the 2023 public balloon hearing which resulted in overwhelming public rejection. In 2024 the council approved funding for the much-needed parking lot improvements. For some reason, the project was not completed in 2024 but should happen in 2025. In 2024 the administration hired architects came forth with three options, all based in expanding the 4,400 sq ft to 9,500 sq ft building also including $3 million in additional options. These additions were a purposeful distraction from the base building.

With our artful dogger anointed mayor as a member of the finance committee, he successfully included the same 9,500 building in the Capital Improvement Budget (CIB). Adoption of the CIB requires a majority council vote. It is interesting to note that a city councilor is referring to the greatly expanded Pro Shop and 140 seat restaurant and function area as a “community center.”

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Eventually, a public hearing will be held on the proposed bond issue and a two-thirds vote will be required for passage.

Once again, yet another tax protest group has emerged because our representatives on the school board and city council are not as a group being representative.

For full disclosure, I am a golfer who infrequently plays at Beaver Meadow. I recognize and support building a reasonable replacement for the current Pro Shop. I also believe a 140-seat restaurant is an unnecessary luxury taxpayers can ill afford. Expanding a facility from 4,400 sq ft to 9,500 hundred sq ft is absurdity on steroids.

Also mentioned in announcing the new taxpayer’s relief group was the inclusion of the new police station.

If only it were just a police station. It's not. Included in the current proposal provides space for the city prosecutor's office and the welfare department. I’m sure I am not the only one who sees the irony in including the welfare department with the prosecutors and police department, but that is another story. A city staffer is boosting this plan because it will save an annual rental fee of $15,000. How long would a staffer last in the private sector if they recommended spending several hundred thousand a year in operating costs and debt service to save $15,000?

And now we have the proposed Concord’s multi-million-dollar bridge to nowhere.

I can in vision Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing to “Stairway to Heaven” on this bridge. At one point in time restaurants used to post “Please Watch out your hat and coat” above coat racks. Perhaps we need a sign over the doorway leading to the city council chambers “Please watch out for your wallet.”