There has been a great deal of confusion among the residents of Park Ridge regarding who owns, or paid for what, at the Park Ridge Senior Center. Elected officials and some blog commenter’s; and others who claim to know, have muddied the water with their unsubstantiated claims and opinions. Feeling somewhat confused myself, I decided to look into this issue a bit further, and to date, this is what I’ve found.
The following two part discussion will cover the building and those items residing within.
Part One - Park Ridge Senior Center Building
Believe it or not, after all this time, many Park Ridge residents I’ve talked to, still have no idea where the Park Ridge Senior Center is located. The “Park Ridge Senior Center” building is located at: 100 South Western.
A View from the front!
A satellite view of Park Ridge Senior Center and Centennial Pool - Google Earth 03/12/2012.
As you can see, the swimming pool and its associated building are attached and adjacent to the Senior Center.
For the purpose of clarity, I’ve cropped the non-essential items from this picture.
And eliminated surroundings.
The first PRPD/SSI Senior Center Lease agreement was implemented in 1980. That year, the Seniors spent thousands of volunteer hours cleaning and modifying the storage facility, turning it into a clean and inhabitable senior program space. Over the next three decades, thousands of additional volunteer hours would change the rodent infested building into the facility you see today!
1980
Under the leadership of SSI’s first President, Raymond Hollis, Senior Center membership grew and with that, the need for additional storage space.
1983
Additional storage space was added! SSI paid 100% of the construction cost!
Over the next seven years, membership and activities continued to expand, requiring yet another expansion, including a much needed kitchen renovation. Recognizing the value to the Park Ridge Senior Community, PRPD, led by Board of Commissioner President, Mary Herster-Tone, generously contributed half of the monies needed for the project. This collaborative effort dramatically improved the look of the building and effectively doubled the programming space.
1990
1999-2000 saw the renovation of the library, the building of the stage and installation of a state-of-the-art sound system. This 100% Senior Center Member paid project would not have been possible without the generous bequest from the late Eddie Fleck.
1999-2000
Historically, one of the unusual features of the Park Ridge Senior Center has been its independent status; unlike other Park Ridge Park District resident organizations. Independence, supported by a binding contract, gave the organization stability. Members knew, their Center was indeed theirs and the operation of their Center was not subject to outside interference or capricious political whim. As a result, some Members with strong emotional ties with the Center acted generously.
And of course, there’s Betty Kemnitz’s $330,000 bequest; the subject of a recently filed lawsuit.
Note: From the beginning, members of the “Senior Center” along with their associated 501-c3, Senior Services, Inc. (SSI), have been aware of their need to acquire additional funding by dues, fundraising, grants and bequests for the purpose of improving opportunities for seniors in Park Ridge.
Since contracts termination and PRPD takeover of senior center operations, dues and activity costs have increased, volunteerism has decreased, fund raising has diminished, grants have vanished (prior to contract termination) and, from my counting so far, over $1,000,000 in future bequests have been withdrawn.
The fight for dollars now revolves around WHO is the Park Ridge Senior Center?
The court will decide!
Part Two – Other Items Residing Within, Purchased by Seniors For Their Use At The Center.
Over the years, Senior Services, Inc.(SSI), purchased additional equipment for use by Senior Center members within the Park Ridge Senior Center building. Since early January, following Grodsky’s “retirement”, I’d been hearing rumors that PRPD management and SSI were having some sort of problem determining who owned what equipment residing within the walls of the “Park Ridge Senior Center” building.
Curiosity, again getting the better of me, I submitted FOIA-120207-001. There, I asked for a list of “disputed assets” valued at less than $5,000. Without boring you with the full email-string, let me cut to the chase.
FOIA Officer, Ms. Lucarz wrote the following.
| “…. for purposes of responding to your request, absent contrary information provided by you, it will simply be assumed that the following items, legal title to which is presumed by the Park District to be held by ‘SSI’ are items you are referring to: |
I hope these facts help you better understand this aspect of the PRPD/SSI Senior Center story.
15 comments:
Mr. Butterly,
Thank you for doing what the local papers will not!
It's about time this information was brought to light. So much for the seniors standing there with their hand out, as Bob Trinza, keeps eluding to in his blog, among others. As Anonymous said in her "You make me laugh" post on this blog several weeks ago, "The seniors were looking for a free place to put their stuff." It looks to me like the reverse was true. The Park District was looking for someone to spend untold hours cleaning up their rat infested building, expand that building, add a stage, sound system, lighting and a new lovely wooden bookcase library, with sofas, TV, table and chairs and then add everything under the sun, including a baby grand piano, pool tables, etc., etc. to make it a functional senior center for them. If you add it all up, the seniors have put close to $1,000,000 in the senior center. The seniors put all this hard work and money into the building and now it belongs to the Park District and all they want us to do is pay our dues, pay for the programs they pick out for us and shut up. They want total control of everything. We have not a word to say about anything. Does this sound fair to you??? Sure doesn't to me. Furthermore, if the seniors removed everything in the senior center building that they paid for themselves, the place would be empty.
Also, Gayle Mountcastle assured the seniors at her open meeting that programs might possibly increase up to 8%. I've been told that programs have increased much more than that. Possibly as high as 16% to 25%.
My question is why haven't we heard one word about this in the newspapers? All the information that has been brought to light on this blog never appears in the papers. The local newspapers are so slanted toward the Park District it's unbelievable. At the top of the list on slanted news is Jennifer Johnson, Park Ridge Advocate. And Jennifer, if you aren't always taking the Park District's side, I dare you to print this information in the Park Ridge Advocate for all the citizens to see. At least they will then perhaps begin to understand why the seniors feel they have been taken advantage of.
As a long time proud board member of Park Ridge Senior Services, I commend the entry identifying capital improvements made from private money from the seniors. We were proud to support senior activities through the purchase of the equipment and furnishings and recognize such purchases represent a considerable savings to the Park District. Curious that in a review of the minutes of PRSS, I could find no acknowledgement of thanks from the PRPD Board of Commissioners. I know they were aware of the capital improvements as approval was obtained prior to any construction occurring. Curious or just a long standing example of ignorance regarding Senior activity?
The public appreciates the admission that the substantial improvements to the property were due to the bequest of a very few key individuals, not due to the work of the foundation that until this post has claimed credit for raising the monies. However, clarification is needed on the library's funding origins -- it has been said that Walter E. Smithe, the furniture retailer, donatedthe furnishings for that room. Did they donate the furniture or just install it once the funds were made available?
Anon: March 19, 2012 8:52 AM,
Who are you addressing your response to?
To you and/or whomever you are getting your information from, of course. We should credit Walter E. Smithe if they actually donated the furniture in the reading room, don't you think?
Anon: March 19, 2012 8:52 AM,
You said: “The public appreciates the admission that the substantial improvements to the property were due to the bequest of a very few key individuals, not due to the work of the foundation that until this post has claimed credit for raising the monies.”
My response: Without the “foundation” (you mean SSI) and without their actively raising funds no matter the source, do you think those “few key individuals” as you call them, would have seen fit to bequest that much money?
Do you think they would have generously given it to the PARK DISTRICT, a taxing body?
But of course, you missed the point. A lot of the money (vast majority) originated through the fund-raising activities of THE SENIORS and not TAXPAYERS. As a taxpayer, you should be overjoyed.
You said: “However, clarification is needed on the library's funding origins -- it has been said that Walter E. Smithe, the furniture retailer, donated the furnishings for that room. Did they donate the furniture or just install it once the funds were made available?”
My response: Why should clarification be needed? Are you suggesting, that donated furnishings, have no dollar equivalency? Have you never donated something (other than money) to a charity or your church or a 501-c3 and taken the donation off on your taxes?
Let’s assume your hypothesis is correct, (which I now know for sure) it is not, some SSI/Senior Center Member would have had to approach Walter E. Smithe for said donation.
Would have been quite a coup for those crafty seniors! Know what I mean?
-- Finally --
What you didn’t say: Wow, I didn’t know those old farts did all that.
My response: I’m not surprised!
I am not in the habit of referring to people over 65 in such a disrespectful way. Those who are difficult were no doubt always so;
aging is not for sissies but I know people in their nineties who are cheerful, grateful, interested in younger folks' lives, and sympathetic in sharing their wisdom. Aging is a circumstance, and as somebody famous once said, "circumstances do not make the man; they reveal him to himself." Same goes for the ladies. The aggrieved, resentful, embittered, manipulative and miserable are not so because of their chronological condition.
And you can't have it both ways: If "the seniors" bought stuff "for their use" as you highlight in orange headlines, then they should be glad that somebody else is paying the heavy costs of keeping the place their stuff is stored in good working condition; heat on, lights on, kitchen functional, bathrooms functional, floors mopped, windows washed, phones answered, events staffed, classes planned, etc. etc. etc. etc.
And by the way, that place is the Senior Center.
P.S. You misunderstand and find a reason to be aggrieved, as usual: I was not implying that if Walter E. Smithe provided the furniture for free, that somehow didn't count as a donation as much as cash would count. I fully recognize "in kind" gifts as having full cash value. What I was asking was, did the retailer donate the furnishings or did the foundation buy it with their funds? No underlying message or plot here;just curious about what local vendors are generous.
Boo hoo! The horror.. SSI made improvements to a building they did not own and then when the Park District wants to turn a profit/offer more programs at a PARK DISTRICT building, people complain because a groups monopoly on that building is no longer in effect.
NO SYMPATHY! Get your own clubhouse if you want to run it like a clubhouse.
Will the senior center still offer programs primarily for seniors, I bet they will and would put up a fight if they changed the overall scope but I believe that other programs should be offered there like using the center for teens.
Anon: March 20, 2012 4:07 PM and Anon: March 20, 2012 8:41 PM,
Well, I was going to answer each comment separately.
And then it dawned on me that neither commenter chose to discuss, what was for me, the most important component in the post; PRPD Board’s on-going attempt to acquire the $330,000 Kemnitz Trust.
As I see it, the Boards act represents, in my opinion, the most blatant expression of the it’s, or for that matter, Park Ridge’s, desire to bankrupt Senior Services, Inc. A final FU so to speak. A move, I believe, designed to punish those seniors who chose not to roll over and play dead. A move, if successful, that would eliminate (as I'm sure some Board members see it) the last remaining vestige of the old senior center, the “club” or “clubhouse” as you say.
Now, to be fair, I have heard over the years, quite a few Park Ridge folk discuss the “center” in that way.
Keen observes and deep thinkers that you are, I’m sure both of you have an opinion on this subject.
Expressing that opinion now, would be most helpful to my answering your prior comments.
Mr. Butterly...please get your facts straight and stop spreading lies.
The Park Board did not take any action whatsoever to engage in this lawsuit...in fact they are a named Defendant. The lawsuit was instituted by the Trustee to the Kemnitz estate.
Look it up...it's a public document.
"Park Ridge’s, desire to bankrupt Senior Services, Inc."?? See black helicopters hovering over your house often? I bet you even think someone's tapped your phone and email..
Yeah, why worry about running a Park District when you can try to bankrupt a group of people..
We should thank our lucky stars that Anon with the P.S. does not, hopefully, work with the senior population or have any responsibility for their well-being.
I cannot accept the description that "aging is a circumstance". Circumstance is a static condition or event.
Aging is a fluid normal process which we are or should be blessed to enter and achieve wellness.
The seniors I have encountered at the Senior Center used to look forward to spending happy hours in this "process" and exhibited enthusiasm in participating in healthy aging recreation activities.
Their days were fluid, not static!
Thanks, Ken, for the opportunity to participate.
Mr. Butterly, excellent!
I have been waiting months for someone to describe the history of the center building.
Many thanks!
Anon of March 21, at 1:00 PM, stated that Ken Butterly might think that someone tapped his phone or email. You never know now, do you. The Park District hacked into Teresa Grodsky's private email, i.e. emails that were not resident on the Park District servers between AOL, Yahoo and Comcast. Pretty scary when you think about a public body breaking the law and hacking into private email systems. What else are they capable of?
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