Room to play
Toolbox
Published: October 17, 2009
The greater Rutland community needs to support the new proposal for a recreation center at Giorgetti Park, unveiled this week by the recreation department and the local Boys & Girls Club.
It's a must. It moved from being an interesting idea or a debating point with the news later in the week that Cinema North was closing its remaining theaters, including the downtown movieplex, having already closed its West Rutland theaters some time ago.
Most people agree the theater wasn't a great place to see a movie because it wasn't well enough maintained and supervised. That's in part because a lot of people used it as a temporary babysitter for their kids; a drop-off spot to keep them entertained and off the streets for a couple of hours.
Now there's one less place for those kids to go. If it didn't seem like there was enough stuff for young people in Rutland to do last week, it's just that much worse now.
The Boys & Girls Club does what it can in its smallish space downtown; likewise the rec department in the crumbling remains of the Dana Center. But neither are a replacement for a well-staffed, well-run center where kids have room to run, adult supervision and a full range of offerings.
And it's not a city issue. It's a regional one. Programming at the center would serve a wide range of interests and across the county, just like the newly rechristened Spartan Arena serves skaters and hockey players from around the area, not just Rutland Town residents.
The choice is as stark and obvious as having youth active in recreation programs in a modern facility versus hanging around looking for something to do, and that's not to mention the adult leagues and events such a building could support.
The cost of the original proposal for a recreation center was $22 million. Eliminating a land purchase, turning construction of a gym into erecting a bubble and removing a pool from the plan has brought it down to $4 million. It's not going to get substantially lower.
Mary Giorgetti's bequest to the city will cover the maintenance costs and user fees and Boys & Girls Club fundraising will pay for the programming. Those fees need to be discounted for city residents who are being asked to foot the bonding for a capital bill of around $17 per year for an average, $160,000 city home.
But $17 isn't a steep investment for providing Rutland with a safe, clean place for youth and adults to play.
The cost of not getting the kids off the streets will be immeasurably higher.
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