By Daniel Vasquez Rodriguez
Special to the NEWS
In a meeting of the San Benito City Commission Tuesday evening, officials have postponed taking any action on a public swimming pool and skateboard park project until more information could be gathered.
This item on the agenda was brought up late in the meeting when City Manager Manual De La Rosa deferred the matter until the Commission could participate in a workshop, where city officials can meet with building consultants to discuss financial and economic options. The workshop may be scheduled as early as next week.
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SB is the only school in the district without a swimming team. The ID and city would be wise to combine resources to build one . If Los Fresnos can do it we can too. Go Spurs Go. Race for seis!
FINALLY A MOVE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
There are parts of this city that looks like the aftermath of a full scale war and the Mayor wants facilities to have fun in the sun. When is the last time you cruised the three major barrios in this town Mayor? You need to come out of the safety of your home and drive the streets (is that what this pothole of a road is called) and alley ways and maybe your priorities will change. The rock group Pink Floyd said it best…”how can you get any pudding if you don’t eat your meat…” In other words Mayor, you have your priorities one-hundred and eighty degrees backwards. You need to take care of the infrastructure of this town before you take care of the “fun stuff.” Get the streets paved and the drainage systems improved before you do anything else. Then and only then the fun can begin.
While I don’t totally disagree with your comment, your comment should actually be directed at the entire city commission.
The Mayor is only one vote. It is the entire city commission who is responsible for the city. It is also no secret that some commissioners have been working behind the scenes to commit the city to fund a swimming pool without providing a solution as to how to pay for it.
Why not have both if the taxpayers are willing to pay for them? Fun and Growth can occur at the same time but the taxpayers have to be willing to pay for it. The school district should also commit to funding part of the cost of a new swimming pool. The city spent huge amounts of taxpayer dollars for reconstructing Shafer Rd that the the school district will benefit from. I would like to know how much funding the School District provided for Shafer Road.
Go SPURS…
Why on Earth would the school district pay any of the pool? Might as well build one themselves for school swimming events and open it to the public during the summer. Why get the city involved? It’s more of a hassle for both of them to do things together. It can also become a legal issue between the two if something happens.
The better idea would be for the city to build the skate park and the school district to build a swimming pool. More and more this is becoming a bigger sport in the valley.
As far as Shafer Road goes, it was on the road improvement plan. Had nothing to do with the school district. I don’t know why you think the school district owes them something.
Therein lies the problem with the City of San Benito as a whole. It is an “Us vs Them” mentality.
The reality is the taxpayers fund BOTH the school district and the city so it should not matter who builds it. It should be the result of a cooperative effort.
The intent of my comment was to foment some kind of unison between the two entities for the benefit of the taxpayers. The building of an olympic size swimming pool coordinated by both tax-payer funded entities would unite the citizens.
In answer to your comment ” I don’t know why you think the school district owes them something.”, the school district does not owe anything to the city as an entity. However, “We the Taxpayers” ARE the CITY. Why should the young people (teens) wish to stay in our city when the adults can’t get along.
If we don’t start working together and check our egos at the door, the City of San Benito is destined to remain stagnant with our pot-filled streets and no promise for the future of the city and our next generation.
Don’t forget to vote, early voting ends Friday February 26.
marco is wrong as always. this pessimistic dude needs a girlfriend. do you have any idea what it costs to fix the streets, drainage (years and millions) compared to a pool, skate park (months, maybe weeks, and thousands)? gotta go for the long hanging fruit, get some easy wins, and build momentum for the bigger, larger scale projects. i don’t think this dude has ever said a positive thing about any topic. thank god he is no longer a teacher (at least he claims to have been one, maybe was just a sub); he was part of the problem with the SBCISD system and a hurdle to the kids not getting the quality education, encouragment they deserve.
Make a mall too at least
A pool makes more sense for the general public because more people would use this facility than probably the 100 daily skaters (a generous estimate) that would skate on a daily basis.
Unless the town is willing to raise taxes, how will these project be funded? Do we have any generous donors out there? Does SB have enough liability insurance to withstand a lawsuit or can the city claim immunity (I’m guessing the latter)…..
A pool makes more sense for the general public because more people would use this facility than probably the 100 daily skaters (a generous estimate) that would skate on a daily basis.
Unless the town is willing to raise taxes, how will these project be funded? Do we have any generous donors out there? Does SB have enough liability insurance to withstand a lawsuit or can the city claim immunity (I’m guessing the latter)…..
That would be great to have the pool and skate park opened before summer, our youth need activities to keep them busy. If our Mayor gets this done it will be great progress in our city, and we need positive changes.