Friday night karaoke

I just called the CC and the barmaid who answered the phone had no idea if there was going to be any juices, water, etc for those who either dont drink OR are on the wagon. She also didnt know if there was going to be a cover charge or a drink minimum, or not. It doesnt seem very organized at this point. In the paper it says that those who ONLY want to eat will be charged $17.50. Are those people going to be prevented from listening to karaoke if they want? I have also heard that there will be a $10 cover charge at the door that will include two drinks, but nobody seems to know if thats the case or not. That would penalize those who dont drink but still want to socialize. Will juices, lemonade, and water be available to them? It will be interesting to see if this concept works because I know of at least THREE other karaoke places in town that you can go to with NO drink or dining charges on Friday nights. Food and drinks are available at those establishments but you not required to eat or drink, and they seem to draw a crowd pretty well, so....

waiting for Godot, or Bardot

I think it is reasonable to wait until the end of the year for the new Pool Director to see what she can really do. A re-evaluation at that point would be done then. Rome wasnt built in a day, etc. No such leeway can I find for City officials that have squandered our tax monies repeatedly and continuously for the past 3 1/2 years, at least. They have had a chance to show what THEY can do and its been a series of financial and managerial disasters followed by fiascos that are followed by catastrophies. If they arent managing the CC so horribly that Santana receives the building wrapped in a bow, they are making two-wall enclosures at $600 a square foot, bathrooms at over $400 a square foot, and new gyms that, if their pattern holds true, will cost us MILLIONS more than usual and customary construction costs SHOULD cost. We have NO reason to believe the gym project will be ANY different than the others because it is the SAME cast of characters involved and its obvious they havent learned A THING over the years. IF they have learned anything its how to waste MORE of our tax dollars ie the bathrooms, which are MONTHS behind schedule and HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of our tax dollars over the usual and customary costs for that project, with MORE cost overruns and change orders on the way. They have raised their usual level of incompetence and ineptitude, which is considerable in the first place, to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL!!! And THAT is giving them the benefit of the doubt that there isnt anything more nefarious or corrupt going on.

frowns

Thank Goodness for people who are starting to think for themselves!!! I was concerned that people would start to BELIEVE the BS coming from City hall !!- $600+ a square foot is normal construction costs, 200k+ bathrooms at over $400 a square foot are usual and customary costs too, bathroom sewer hookups cost 33k, moderate bathroom elevations cost $38,500 instead of the usual 5k,etc And yes, unfortunately, it IS the same old song- City officials are STILL throwing our tax dollars away by the truckloads when they pay TRIPLE, QUADRUPLE and more for basic construction services. They HAVE NO RESPONSES to those questions and cant deny the numbers so they launch personal attacks or make up fictitious stories about actually doing DUE DILIGENCE, for instance. Except for Dotson, the Council is more interested in making a legacy for themselves than helping the community to improve itself in a way they can still afford. The City has indebted the residents for well over 400k so far for the bathrooms and I predict the costs will STILL go significantly higher AND it will be several more months before they become operational. Is there ANYBODY in the Springs who has a 200k+ bathroom? Absurd. Nobody is suggesting that anybody preach anything- let the numbers speak for themselves and they will speak VOLUMES about repeated costs overruns in the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of tax dollars that disappear with EVERY project they undertake. NOBODY can be that stupid on EVERY project, can they? Sooner or later the sensible people in this town will wake up to these blatant boondoggles and start thinking for themselves. Then will come the changes. They just need to be educated with regards to the facts involved. So, by all means, please look at the numbers and decide for yourself whether a repeated pattern of mismanagement, ineptitude, and/or worse is happening in our City. I am voting for the Trifecta. The numbers dont lie or mislead, which is more than I can say for our City officials. Most people frown when they are being robbed, dont they? The robbers only frown when they are exposed and caught.
I tried to post this THREE TIMES on MS.com and was rejected each time, after carefully copying the captchas. Wonder why. I will try to post it again tomorrow.

BS me once...

it seems that the Council and the mayor are attempting to press forward with this annexation issue just like they did with the new gym issue. Lets state our intentions and make some proclamations, etc. so that it will appear that everybody is on the bandwagon. At the annexation meeting we will pack the crowd with people who stand to benefit from annexation and make it appear that there is a GROUNDSWELL of support, just like last time. It worked so good last time lets try it again! of course most of the Pelican Players last time are in junior high and don't vote or pay taxes. Most of the others were contractors who stand to make a HANDSOME PROFIT from a new gym and they didn't care who knew it!! the mayor is again TALKING about doing DUE DILIGENCE in this matter but why would we believe he is telling the truth THIS time when DUE DILIGENCE wasn't done LAST TIME? Fool me once shame on you. Fool me TWICE, shame on me. I have NO reason to believe that the Mayor or Council will do DUE DILIGENCE this time either and I am tired of being BS'd. Bain got his legacy plaque, Best got his theater, now Youngs will get his annexation legacy project and Garcia will be able to pay off his campaign contributors, so everyone (on the Council) will be happy! The residents will be stuck paying the bills for these expensive self-serving agendas for DECADES! Dotson is the ONLY one with any sense in that whole group. Dotson for Mayor! Who has that recall petition?

The Mayor is calling for a movement forward in this annexation issue and says DUE DILIGENCE will be done. Bullfeathers!! Like it was done LAST TIME? All of the options were NOT explored last time (no matter WHAT the Mayor says) and I doubt they will be explored THIS time in any depth ! They didn't even PRETEND to look at the Pistorino option. They paid the engineer to give an evaluation and then they totally ignored it when it didn't come to the conclusions they wanted to hear. Buried it deep. What the Mayor means when he even suggests that DUE DILIGENCE was done is that all the options that HE wanted to look at were reviewed. In his infinite wisdom HE decided which options are viable and could get him that legacy plaque he covets badly, no matter WHAT the cost is to the residents or whether its really needed. What IS really needed is, the Mayor really NEEDS that legacy plaque, and he apparently doesn't care if he has to mislead, deceive, or be dishonest to achieve that goal. I have NO use for people who dont tell me the truth.

further comments

Dont get me wrong. I like the Rhodes Bros personally and enjoyed going to the CC during that time. As performers and personalities they were, and are, excellent. However, as managers and the main attraction for customers, the numbers suggest something considerably less-than-excellent. We just couldnt afford them. They should have been given a minimal contract with a percentage of the receipts that would have kept growing as the business grew. That would have given them incentives to keep striving to make it work and protected the residents investment at the same time by NOT putting us in such a deep hole to start with.
Their base pay was too high at the start and even tho it was subsequently reduced, it was too late by then and too much up front for a new business just starting out. A moderate contract with lots of incentives would have worked out better for them and the City. One of the Rhodes Bros once said that HIS NAME alone was worth 80 grand. If that was actually the case it would have been reflected in the numbers. Again, it was NOT necessarily the Rhodes Bros fault as much as it was another example of poor City management.
There is plenty of blame to spread around if one wants to go there but maybe more importantly, what have we learned from that experience? What will we do DIFFERENTLY, and better, once the Santana contract is done?

CC comments

There is NO doubt the CC was horribly mismanaged in the past. Who was in charge of that mismanagement? who hired the Rhodes bros and agreed to pay them 100k without any regard or concern about how much business they actually could bring in? Who did NOT insist on adequate oversight and safeguards to be in place to protect the tax payers investment? The buck stops with the City officials, doesnt it? Santana practically BEGGED for the CC contract and, once it was his, began running it like it was his little fiefdom and he was the resident dictator. The numbers he demonstrated to show his supposed LOSSES are highly suspect at best. We need to do an audit of his books to get the real picture. Giving away the CC was NOT the solution to the problem; getting rid of the City mismanagement team that was responsible for all those losses WAS. If we need to shut it down or limit its operations for 6 months or so, so be it. Very few of us get to use it anyway.

Santana

A couple months ago Mr. Santana ordered a local senior citizen out of "his" building. The citizen had been walking around and admiring the facility the citizens bought for him, about an hour or so before a wedding reception on a Saturday. There was no other adults present and when the resident refused to leave, saying he was one of those who paid for it, he was told it was HIS private business and that HE would decide who could, and couldn't, be there. The resident wasn't sure of the legal status and left, but asked the City Attorney for a legal opinion a few days later and was told he only gave those at the request of City officials.

HE truly believes that the Country Club IS HIS, except for that little enclosure that cost US 500k. What arrogance! We, the residents, pay for ALL the golf course AND all the Country Club! We cant walk around OUR place? disturbing nobody, interfering with NO business, and we have to ask HIS permission to walk around OUR HOUSE??? Incredible. ANOTHER City giveaway and more mismanagement that we are paying for and regretting later.

Somehow Mr. Santana felt that I believed that the City gave him a sweetheart deal beyond belief. He is right. And now we find out that we may very well have been paying for his utilities all this time. Somehow the City didnt know that there were three electric meters; one for the golf shop, one for Santana, and another for Santana. City officials say they thought there were only TWO meters- one for the golf shop and one for Santana. Shouldnt they KNOW how many meters there are and who is paying for what? The amount is close to 90k a year, I hear. MORE incompetence and ineptitude at City hall. The hits keep on coming.

Is there ANYBODY in the Springs who couldnt make GREAT money if they had someone paying for their rent, taxes, and utilities for them? Less than 1% of our residents actually USE the Country Club but 100% of us pays the bills ! Whats wrong with THAT picture? I DID NOT vote to buy the golf course and CC to make Mr. Santana a very nice living.

It might be easier to accept if he were not so blatantly arrogant and discriminatory.