Today, I attended a T-Ball game in Temecula, CA. My grandson plays for the Diamondbacks (D-Backs).
They play at the Ronald Reagan Sports Park. It wasn’t so named because Reagan bogarted the money out of the taxpayer’s pocket to build it.
“There are similar stories right here in California, the folks in a rather small town, Temecula. They got together and built themselves a sports park, held fundraising barbecues and dinners. And those that didn’t have money, volunteered the time and energy. And now the young people of that community have baseball diamonds for Little League and other sports events, just due to what’s traditional Americanism.” – Ronald Reagan, at a Luncheon Meeting of the United States Olympic Committee in Los Angeles, California March 3, 1983
It’s not government’s role to do it all for us. It’s up to us to do for ourselves. Coincidently, the sport’s park isn’t full of trash and graffiti either. I wonder why? Maybe it’s because people have a stake in the outcome of what they build. After the baseball game, I saw people picking up trash that they may have or may not have been responsible for in an effort to keep the facility clean.
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| Alyssa standing next to a statue of President Reagan |
It’s the opposite from the Obama “You didn’t build that” doctrine. One of the reasons that the inner city is always such an open sewer is because people don’t have a stake in anything. The government “free” money is treated as an entitlement and not as something that people sweated and sacrificed for.
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| Building America’s youth through sports and developing character without government money or interference. |
Temecula is a multi-cultural town and in that it’s typical of most of Southern California. It’s a melting pot of races, religions and national origins. Where it differs, particularly in this case, from many cities is that people decided to BUILD IT.
Reagan ROCKS! Still.
It's great to hear those stories, but sadly today they are FEW and far between!
Skynet's equity sensors have detected an imbalance in the lifestyle field. Fairness calculations require that half of the ball fields and at least 2/3 of the shrubberies be transported immediately to a vacant lot in El Centro.
They probably won't want the Reagan statue, though, so it can stay there. I doubt they would know who it was in any case.
About a quarter mile from my house is Citrus Park, a community park that features a soccer pitch. In 2008, local people wanted to include a "splash zone" area for kids to play in the hot summer months. The City didn't have the budget to make that happen, so the neighborhood did the same thing that the people in Temecula (about 45 miles away) did.
The Vasquez family own a local Mexican food restaurant. They graciously donated $250,000 as a gift to help construct the park. The parks total cost was approx. $700,000 to build, and mostly funded by private donations, many of which came from BBQ's, bake sales, and so forth. The construction was overseen by the city's parks and recreation department. The water is recycled so the recurring cost to the public is minimal.
activerain.com/blogsview/661255/grand-opening-citrus-park-splash-zone-august-18th-2008
President Reagan inspired, he encouraged, and he had an AMERICAN heart. Obama's heart has never been an American one. His journey has not been an American journey. Therefore he doesn't understand — even though he is a community activist by profession.
Precisely!
The government can do anything. But the higher up the decision tree that you go, the more that it costs because and less that it benefits the people it's supposed to benefit. If the federal government was going to build the park these days (a) it would have to be named after a civil rights leader – and Reagan's name wouldn't come up (b) there would have to be a number of studies done (c) it would be built at vast public expense and then left to rot.
This is the perfect example of a community (not a government) seeing a need and then stepping up to meet the need that the community had.
Exactly! In this part of the country there is a city park with a baseball field. The field has a fence, dugouts, etc. and is LOCKED when registered groups are not playing. But the field SUCKS. Visiting team's parents and coaches laugh, because it is considered an affluent area, but the lawn gets mowed, infrequently, and that is all. The dirt is uneven, the fences have holes. The field is EXTREMELY BUSY with teams playing on it, but its a crapy field, crapy infield.
Everyone wants to use it, nobody wants to take ownership. When the sprinklers came on during a game, and nobody had the key to turn them off – people started talking. "Its the city's job…it's the city's fault…"
Stupid City.
Our Mind-set is definitely different than that of the Obama Gimme Party.
Commander Mike Abrashoff, USN, wrote a book about his command of the USS Benfold, titled, "IT'S YOUR SHIP". I recommend the book highly. It's about his experience and his journey of leadership and how genuine 'ownership' comes from buy-in at the very lowest levels. I've bought the book for people taking command because it's the model of how to do it.
The Navy is not a city, but it's not as different as people think that it is. When it's YOUR BALLPARK, and not the city's ballpark, it's a different perspective. The city of Temecula maintains the park (which is LARGE with six baseball diamonds and roughly ten soccer areas. However, the people who built it (because THEY BUILT IT) holds their elected officials accountable for maintenance, etc.
In Temecula it wasn't about having money to donate. Those who couldn't pay cash, stepped in with SWEAT EQUITY. But personal equity and 'skin in the game' is what built the United States.
Yes, Odie. After the hurricane in New Orleans (Katrina), many New Orleans residents simply sat around waiting for the government to come and feed them, set up toilets, give them a place to sleep, etc. It was an entitlement culture. The mindset was fed by President Johnson's great society to establish a docile voting block.
Obama is trying to create a more reliable voting block in his effort to 'fundamentally transform America' into an ObamaNation.
For those reading Race Bannon's comments, he lives in an East Coast state (nameless here) with a Republican Governor – but just about everyone else is a Democrat.
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