I HAVE A DREAM Over the last couple of years, I have seen several posts concerning the Odenville Park, specifically a new park. There have been several people to comment on the progress or lack thereof. After giving this great thought I have come to the decision that I would commit to helping our beloved town have a new park. The scripture tells us that the “people without a vision perish”, and while that scripture refers to our spiritual being, it also holds true concerning secular matters. Everyone dreams of a park, or at least those with children do, we often visit towns in our area that have nice parks and we become frustrated that we don’t have the same. Dreaming will never build a park!!!!!! The difference between a dream and a vision is simple; a vision is a dream with a plan, and with a vision all things are possible; something about a mustard seed and a mountain apply here. The first thing to a plan is deciding on a plan and understanding who is responsible for its construction. Most folks that have commented seem to want to place this responsibility on the town fathers; this is ridiculous!!!! We aren’t much more than a village and most like it that way, having said that the town at present has little money to spend developing a park. The town fathers are our friends and their work is strictly voluntary and one of the councilman is like a member of my family; I consider him to be my baby brother, and he has done more to bring progress to our town than anyone I know. Bashing volunteers is both counterproductive and morally wrong, and I will have no part in it! I am very confident that the town fathers will cooperate and assist the citizens in every way possible. So you ask how would this park be built. Why it is simple; we all pitch in and bring our time and talents to the table, and together a dream will transform into a vision! 1. The first step is to identify if there is a desire to have a park from the majority of its citizens. Let me say this; this park would be available to the entire area and commitment shouldn’t be limited to those who live in the city limits; but to all those it would serve. In order to identify the will of the people a facebook page could be set up and maybe named FRIENDS OF THE PARK. The first post would simply be asking for those who would commit their time and talents to the park and signify this by a comment on the page that they would commit to attending a first meeting to organize the group, set goals and elect officers and assign a committee to meet with the town fathers and the park board in a special meeting. If this post doesn’t get 100 volunteers to attend this meeting then forget the rest of the post; THE PARK WON’T HAPPEN IT IS JUST A DREAM. 2. The next step is to provide a cost analysis for the park, as drawn and approved in concept by the town fathers and the park board. I have spent 30 years as a civil estimator and once I have a set of plans I could, in cooperation with the park board prepare a cost budget for the park. Most parks in our area have cost thousands and even millions of dollars and have been built over a period of time. 3. The next step is to call a meeting of the FRIENDS OF THE PARK. It is here that we leave with a vision or we all go our separate ways with our own daydreams. The phases have to make overall sense in the development of the park and there has to be given priority to which phases occur first. The first phase is obviously land development- clearing and grubbing, roughing in streets etc. This first phase will give us absolutely nothing; no ball fields, no walking tracks, no tennis courts etc. The following phases will occur in cooperation with the town fathers, the park board and hopefully the will of the people. So someone who is an avid tennis player and wants tennis courts to occur first might well see that his phase is down the road; the question is will we commit to the park development even if our first desires aren’t the first phase. 4. The next phase is identifying the resources needed to complete each phase. The obvious need is money. There are grants that could be sought out and applied for, the group should solicit funds from the St. Clair County Commission or at least seek a donation for “in-kind” services such as heavy equipment to clear and grade with. This group should petition our legislators and even the governor’s office for funds; after all we are on a “pork barrel” budget in our state. In-kind services are very important and this is where the 100 people come-in. I have built parks both in my professional capacity and as a volunteer with the Moody Miracle league. What those dedicated citizens of Moody accomplished is nothing short of amazing. That park built by contractors would have cost $500,000.00 but with their perseverance, dedication and sheer will power this project cost only approximately $200,000.00 or 40% of what hiring the work to a contractor would have cost. Corporate donations are invaluable and corporations will often times donate their materials or at least sell them at cost; resulting in savings. So many things could be accomplished with volunteer labor and this will reduce the cost by 50% of any one item. For instance sod normally cost 4-5 dollars per syd to have installed but sod can be bought for $1.50 syd and some hardy souls could install it with free or with voluntary labor. The list goes on and on as to what the FRIENDS OF THE PARK could do. We have in our area people who are experienced in carpentry, plumbing, fencing, grading etc. These resources could be solicited to volunteer some services. The last but not least resource is voluntary contributions; there are those who would love to make a donation to the park in honor or memory of someone, of course this would be tax deductible, and finally fund raisers should be scheduled twice a year and maybe these fund-raisers could be for a specific phase, such as tennis courts, or ball fields, etc. So know we have identified WHO. WHAT, WHERE. WHY SHOULD BE SIMPLE- Because we love our town and we desire to provide our children, our parents and yes even ourselves a beautiful park to enjoy, not only for us but for the ages. When is answered when daydreams become visions. If I receive fifty commitments from people who will give their names, contact numbers e-mail etc and commit to that first meeting, I will solicit a volunteer to create a page or some form of electronic forum to manage communications and from there we can schedule this first step. Speak now or forever hold your peace. Signed Tommy An Odenville Son
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 14:30:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015