Comments on: Batting cages belong at Oakton http://www.publicwatchdog.org/archives/2004/12/07/batting-cages-belong-at-oakton/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:15:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Lil Canopi http://www.publicwatchdog.org/archives/2004/12/07/batting-cages-belong-at-oakton/#comment-2 Lil Canopi Mon, 13 Dec 2004 18:49:43 +0000 http://www.publicwatchdog.org/archives/2004/12/07/batting-cages-belong-at-oakton/#comment-2 Why is the Park Ridge Recreation and Park District (PRRPD) in the batting cage business anyway? In fact, why is the PRRPD in ANY business that can be supplied by the private sector, like swimming pools, or health clubs, or golf ranges, or meeting rooms? Services that can be supplied better, faster, and cheaper by private sector businesses ought NOT be usurped by public entities using funds involuntarily(?) collected from taxpayers. If a tax-supported entity does find itself in an activity that can be supplied by a public sector business, it is duty-bound to its constituents to charge facility/activity users sufficient fees for the program to be entirely self-supporting, including the pro-rated cost of support personnel and taxpayer-supported facilities. Any PRRPD program or activity that cannot be cost-justified, any PRRPD service that has a private-sector counterpart, any PRRPD asset that does not contribute in a demonstrable way to the advancement of the community as a whole, should be eliminated. Anything less amounts to an involuntary, de facto subsidy by the whole community to a specific subset of the community, and it smacks of welfare for the rich or privileged. The PRRPD should invest heavily in – and limit itself to -- parks, those large, bucolic open spaces that individual residents can’t acquire for themselves or that preserve a natural setting that might be lost to development or environmental degradation, and to recreation areas having no private-sector counterparts. If the PRRPD finds itself the leader in development of a taxpayer subsidized facility or activity that the private sector then concludes can be profitable, the PRRPD should divest itself of that facility or activity to the private sector. Fiscally responsible stewardship of public funds and public spaces for the ENTIRE community should be the ONLY job of the PRRPD. Anything more is usurpation by fiat – not the role of ANY public body. (Where are the TRUE Republicans -- the small government, fiscally responsible Republicans -- when you need them?) Lil Canopi Why is the Park Ridge Recreation and Park District (PRRPD) in the batting cage business anyway? In fact, why is the PRRPD in ANY business that can be supplied by the private sector, like swimming pools, or health clubs, or golf ranges, or meeting rooms?
Services that can be supplied better, faster, and cheaper by private sector businesses ought NOT be usurped by public entities using funds involuntarily(?) collected from taxpayers. If a tax-supported entity does find itself in an activity that can be supplied by a public sector business, it is duty-bound to its constituents to charge facility/activity users sufficient fees for the program to be entirely self-supporting, including the pro-rated cost of support personnel and taxpayer-supported facilities.
Any PRRPD program or activity that cannot be cost-justified, any PRRPD service that has a private-sector counterpart, any PRRPD asset that does not contribute in a demonstrable way to the advancement of the community as a whole, should be eliminated. Anything less amounts to an involuntary, de facto subsidy by the whole community to a specific subset of the community, and it smacks of welfare for the rich or privileged.
The PRRPD should invest heavily in – and limit itself to — parks, those large, bucolic open spaces that individual residents can’t acquire for themselves or that preserve a natural setting that might be lost to development or environmental degradation, and to recreation areas having no private-sector counterparts. If the PRRPD finds itself the leader in development of a taxpayer subsidized facility or activity that the private sector then concludes can be profitable, the PRRPD should divest itself of that facility or activity to the private sector.
Fiscally responsible stewardship of public funds and public spaces for the ENTIRE community should be the ONLY job of the PRRPD. Anything more is usurpation by fiat – not the role of ANY public body. (Where are the TRUE Republicans — the small government, fiscally responsible Republicans — when you need them?)

Lil Canopi

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