I wanted to take a moment to thank fellow Blogger PublicWatchdog.org – Park Ridge . They ran a post on the Park Ridge Senior Center today titled: Time For A Senior Center Reality Check that was eye-opener. I think seniors should see for themselves how PublicWatchdog and their readers feel about seniors and the Senior Center.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Park Ridge Seniors dissed….
Thursday, January 20, 2011, Long After Midnight
Thursday, January 20, 2011 marked my 56th Public Board Meeting since 2003. It was cold outside with temperatures in the single digits. It was however, very warm inside Park Ridge Park District’s (PRPD) Board Room. Angry seniors who only minutes before braved the cold and ice to attend the late night meeting were made hot under the collar after they realized they’d just been snookered. The seniors thought they were going to witness an up or down vote on the newly revised contract. Instead, they got a civics lesson in local politics and the opportunity to witness first hand the dysfunctional operation (micro-managing) of the PRPD Board.
Political Cowards!
A decision not to vote, a purely political act.
At last weeks PRPD Board Meeting, a quorum of commissioners elected not to vote on the newly revised PRPD/Senior Services Contract, citing the absence of two members.
This week, the full board, after placing the same item on the agenda, copped out again, removing the vote and sentencing the agreement to agenda-limbo for an undetermined period of time. Only one Board Member, Mr. Vile, had the political acumen and courage to demand an up or down vote. He was soundly defeated 6-1.
Mr. Vile needs to read your emailed thanks!
Click on name to open email window.
In the end, not only did Park Board Leadership cause a group of 80 year olds to brave late night ice, wind and freezing temperatures, they refused to give these seniors the satisfaction, courtesy or decency of an up or down vote.
Why? To what end?
The Board’s failure to take an up or down vote tonight was clearly, based on my experience, a political decision.
Some members are seeking reelection. They obviously didn’t see Senior Citizens as their primary constituency. Marty Maloney and Mary Winn Ryan recommended again, the agenda items removal. Said they “had questions”.
Board members have had access to the completed board-attorney negotiated document for weeks. Board and Senior Services attorney’s and Senior Center leadership were available to answer Mr. Maloney or Ms. Winn Ryan’s questions all along.
Senior Center/Negotiator/Attorney Jack Owens made an impassioned plea to complete the process, then-and-there. Yes or no! He also offered to address those “questions” that night. The item was ultimately removed and sent into agenda-limbo to be addressed at some later date.
In my opinion there were no questions that could not have been answered, if in fact it was answers Mr. Maloney or Ms. Winn Ryan were seeking.
No questions from any of the Board Commissioners were forthcoming!
There were, in my opinion, no questions from this Board - because there were no questions.
In the end, it appears, at least to me, that these Board Members just didn’t have the political-balls to make the decision and take the heat.
It’s funny. These guys wanted the job. Wanted the bragging rights. Wanted their little bit of power. Some even finance their own campaigns to get it. But when it came to making the controversial decisions in an election year…… “take it off the agenda”.
What do the Seniors do now?
I’m not on the Senior Services Board so I can only speak for me. I’m not sure what I am about to present is ultimately the way to go. That said, I am livid!
If I had some say-so, I would recommend:
- Senior Services Board (SSB) and Senior Center Senate tell the Park Ridge Park District Board to suck pond water (call their bluff)
- SSB tell PRPD’s Board that we will no longer be fobbed or abused
- SSB tell PRPD’s Board; as far as we’re concerned, the contract ended December 31, 2010 and that we no longer feel bound by the agreement
- SSB demand PRPD pony-up the estimated $300,000 repayment for contract termination
No contract – no money!
- SSB stop making those $10,000 quarterly payments designed to defray operating costs and place those monies in an escrow account
- SSB start looking for a possible new home – a home where they will be wanted!
Will those recommendations solve the problem? I don’t know. Senior Center Leadership have tried playing “nice nice” without success. It is time, in my opinion, to fish or cut bait.
My friends, these six politically-inept Board Members need to hear from you, and they need to know how you feel. One way or the other!
Senior Center Members came to the Board Meeting tonight to complete the renegotiating process and close a PRPD inflicted wound. They (we) thought we had a deal. We were wrong!
If the Board is stupid enough to renege on it’s “board attorney” negotiated agreement, as I believe some of these six would prefer, then it’s “Katy bar the door”, and I have no idea where things will end. That said, I am convinced, if need-be, there will be other venues available to us, that would be happy to take in Park Ridge Senior Center refugees – especially if we are willing to pay our own way as we do now.
But that’s just my opinion!
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