I See Park Vandals

Back in March, at our Mayor for Life's urging, Massillon councilmen David Hersher, Ron Mang, David McCune and Larry Slagle voted to spend $199,000 of our Parks Tax money to purchase the concessions contract at the Legends of Massillon Golf Course. The vote was a 4 - 4 tie, but Council President Glenn Gamber voted in the affirmative, making the Massillon Taxpayers the proud new owners of the Club Legends restaurant. Council members Tony Townsend and Kathy Catazaro-Perry voted against this purchase, and then questioned why our parks were in such poor condition, while our golf course was immaculately maintained. Could it be that our Parks Tax money was being used to subsidize the golf course and our parks were being neglected? No, according to Parks Director Kenn Kaminski, the deplorable conditions of our parks was the result of Park Vandals.

It wasn't that our Parks Tax money was hijacked to buy a restaurant, subsidize the unprofitable City owned golf course, and help pay the staggering $7.2 million dollar golf course debt. It was vandals. Kaminski even promised to take the elected officials of Massillon on a tour of the City parks to show them the havoc these vandals have wrought. Kaminski has not yet gotten around to his "Vandals 2010" tour, so The Massillon Review, with the help of our readers, exposed the vandals responsible for ruining our parks. Let us recap;



We have Vandal #1, Wear and Tear. Routine maintenance and upkeep could never fix Wear and Tear.



Vandal #2 - Oxidation.




Vandal #3 - Neglect



And finally, Vandal #4 - The Legends of Massillon Golf Course, the most insidious of all the vandals. The Legends of Massillon Golf Course has hijacked our parks tax money which should have been used for the basic maintenance and upkeep of our parks.

Instead of using the Parks Tax money from the .3% income tax narrowly passed by the voters to fix our parks, we now charge Massillon Youth Sports Organizations to play on the fields that our income tax was supposed to provide and maintain.

So what of Kaminski and his "Vandals Tour?" Well, rumor has it that Kaminski is planning a secret tour for the elected officials, so that he may show them vandal activity without the prying eyes of the taxpaying public. We certainly hope this is not true. If you are going to have a tour, make it open to everyone. What is there to hide? Unless this "Tour" is more scripted than a Broadway play.

Of course there is some vandal activity in the parks. It is not, however, why our parks are in the deplorable condition they are in. If something is broken, fix it. That's why we have a Parks and Recreation tax, not to run a golf course. If there is to be a tour, invite everyone. After all, it is our tax dollars you are spending. Invite the public, let them ask questions. Unless, of course, there is something you are trying to hide. We anxiously await our invitation.