The primary proposal involves building a new pool and community center on land occupied by the Collins Field and Tsuruta Tennis Courts — which is substantially larger than the pool’s current location. The proposal has a cost estimate of $60.1 million and would include a recreational pool, a competition pool, gymnasium, various locker rooms, administration offices, classrooms, party rooms, multipurpose fitness rooms and new parking spaces.
The primary proposal involves building a new pool and community center on land occupied by the Collins Field and Tsuruta Tennis Courts — which is substantially larger than the pool’s current location. The proposal has a cost estimate of $60.1 million and would include a recreational pool, a competition pool, gymnasium, various locker rooms, administration offices, classrooms, party rooms, multipurpose fitness rooms and new parking spaces.
The mission of the Hood River Valley Parks and Recreation District is to provide recreational opportunities to the citizens of the parks district, with focus on the youth of our community. During my seven years on the board, we have tried to fulfill this mission in the most fiscally responsible way. But we are now hitting the wall.
After seven years of stakeholder interviews, focus groups, talking to property owners, community surveys, public work sessions, tabling, and working with consultants, your Parks and Rec District is ready to move forward for this community. We need operating dollars to maintain existing services, and a bond to build a community center and acquire land. The two funding measures on the May ballot will fund parks, trails, and recreation for everyone in our district.
We know there is some misinformation and confusion about the ballot measures, the costs, and the role of Parks and Rec. We are a Special District that exists to manage parks, trails, and recreation in Hood River, Odell, and Parkdale (Cascade Locks opted out when our district was formed). We are not the city, and we are not the county. We must find our own funding. Property taxes are based on assessed value only. Please take the time to get the facts at our official Parks and Rec website: www.hoodriverparksandrec.org, or our campaign website: www.yesyespnr.com.
The journey to our two ballot measures, a bond and a levy, has been taken with an eye on the clock. The pool is failing. The plaster is cracked and peeling; the pipes are from 1948; the tent panels tear; and the boiler is on hospice. The board first learned of the pool’s problems in a comprehensive pool study in 2017; dozens of people saw this firsthand in the multiple pool tours our staff has given this month.
Yes, we need to build a new pool for our community, but our plan is for so much more than a pool. We plan to incorporate indoor recreation space that can be affordably accessed by all the people in our community. We want to develop Westside Park to include flex fields, which are fields that can be used for a variety of sports, not just a single sport; these fields can be used by many types of athletes of all ages. We are already in the process of opening a new ballfield this spring which can be used for baseball or softball.
We plan to build a true community center that will serve all ages throughout the valley. While it’s no mega sports complex, it will have a gym, fitness area, and recreation space for after-school programming we hope to add. Most importantly, we could continue to provide one of our most important services: Free or low-cost swim lessons for every child in the school district, three times, in grades K, 2, and 4. This facility would serve the entire community. The cherry on top will be purchase of the property in downtown Parkdale, known informally as the Red Barn Park, thereby keeping the park in Parkdale a PARK forever.
It’s no surprise that Hood River has a high demand for parks, trails and recreation. We swim, walk, hike, work, and play outdoors in this community. Your Parks and Rec District needs operating dollars to meet this demand. Our current property tax rate was set in 1997 to maintain a basic, outdoor, seasonal pool. Since then, we have added an enclosure, numerous parks and trails, and an entire recreation program built from the ground up. We are doing all of this on that same original tax rate, one of the lowest in the state.
If you live here, even if you never use the pool, you are still part of our mission. We want to bring people together in fun, affordable, healthy ways. Let’s face it: One of the things we love about living here is that we are part of a community. We aren’t a giant, selfish, Me-First kind of place. When somebody in this town needs something, the people here step up, even if they don’t know them. Our community exemplifies the “others before self” philosophy. And what this funding does is to nurture that philosophy; it makes our amazing home even better.
This community demands top-notch recreation, and we want to provide it for all of our constituents, especially the little ones. Will this be kind of expensive? Yes. Yes. But it’s sort of like living here: It’s not cheap, but it’s worth it. Please vote Yes-Yes this May.
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