Soccer Park Concession Stand - Another Wetlnd 47 Just Waiting To Happen
We found out this week that the Gateway Services District, under the fine leadership of Chairman Bob Nielson, has been operating the full concession stand without a single health department permit. If you've ever been inside the large concession stand at the soccer complex you know it has restaurant quality equipment. A large grill with a stove, a deep fryer, a bay-marie for subs, commercial ice machines and refrigerators. It's loaded. You probably did not know that you owned it all. At some point in the not-so-distant history, you, the Gateway resident, purchased the equipment.
Up until the recent regime change at the CSA (Christian Soccer Association) that organization gave off the impression that everything was theirs. Even though the CSA has had sole custody of your baby for many many years it's still the responsibility of the district to have health department permits. After all, burgers, fries, hot dogs, nachos and other food is being prepared and served to kids and parents alike. Food preparation is a serious matter. If the health department ever inspected that concession stand guess who would pay the fine? Can I hear Wetland 47 anyone? But, as usual, with Bob Nielson's cast of characters, this gets better.
This week it was discovered that not only are their no permits, the place would most likely have never passed inspection. There was caked up old grease on the side of the refrigerator from the deep fryer. There were plastic Pepsi cases holding up the fryer. The refrigerator was propped up by 2-by-4's instead of the wheels that came with the unit (wood is not supposed to be in the cooking area). The soda syrup lines were left as is following the conclusion of the last soccer season. I'll leave the part about the spiders out.
What cracks me up is this? Not only is Bob Nielson the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, he has been involved in the CSA for year. Must be one of those hear-no-evil see-no-evil things.
There is good news. The CSA, under the new leadership of Fred Edman, is trying to fix what is clearly a broken ship. Kim & Vic Blackwelder and their $60,000 a year salary, to run the CSA part-time, are gone. And Edman has brought in different people to focus on different areas of the organization. And, even better news, signups for the Spring league are up. Edman also got lucky. He happened to find a parent and a former bakery owner, Pat McGowen, who spotted all the errors in the concession stand this week. The place has been completely cleaned out and it's being painted this week. The menu is being updated and McGowan is looking for kids who need volunteer hours at the schools to help out. Your chances of a $4.00 spider sandwich this season are pretty low.
I believe the concession stand is one of the most under-utilized benefit of living in Gateway. It just takes a little vision. People love our parks, despite the lack of a $7 million Bob Nielson Tennis Stadium. They come to the playground. They go to the Dog Park. They play sports on the fields all the time. The district should run the concession stand and run it like a business to try and recoup some of the money spent on all of that equipment as well as the $170,000 per year to maintain the fields. Until Bob Nielson is gone and new board members take over it will be the same as it always has been. No vision. Government is only good at spending money not executing innovative ideas to generate revenue to offset what the spend and waste. Why? Because they have the power to always come back for more!
