Cedar Rapids golf courses and recreational facilities deserve support

The Cedar Rapids City Council is thinking about hiring another consultant to tell us what to do with our golf courses. We have great minds and employees with many, many years of experience so why do we need to spend another $50,000 to tell us what our golf director should be able to tell us already?

Overpaid consultants don't always know best. First of all, the $50,000 could help pay for some of the expenses the golf department incurs. They have tons of statistics to show us which courses are played most frequently and what time is the best time to play a course. Morning, afternoon or early evening, the stats are there. They know how many rounds each season pass holder plays. They have every stat you can possibly imagine. Use them!

We keep calling our city a Blue Zone city. To be a Blue Zone city, we need to have recreational activities for all. Our taxes help pay for trails, bike routes, city parks, ball fields and swimming pools. Why does golf have to be any different? Why shouldn't our taxes help pay for the upkeep, maintenance and salaries as they do for other activities? Upkeep on athletic fields, courses, trails, bike routes and parks are something we expect to pay for. These activities help our proud city recruit young professionals to our community.

Our taxes are paying for new streets and repairs and are used by many outsiders just like our parks, ball fields and pools. Why do we do that? To attract people to come to our city and spend money. Yes, LOST is paying for some of this but not all. Actually, if moneys were not diverted from the streets budget we would probably not have this problem.

We hire qualified people to be engineers and heads of the departments. Why not use their expertise? If they are not qualified, why did the city hire them? I believe our city staff is well prepared and willing to deal with issues so there is no need to hire someone to tell us what is best for us.

If we really are a Blue Zone, then let's support and back our recreational facilities with our taxes. Actually a true Blue Zone community would have public indoor recreational facilities. We have none. Everyone that uses the facilities has to pay to reserve a pavilion, a ballpark and swimmers have to pay to use the pools and golfers to use the golf courses. Next thing we know the city will be asking the users of the trails and bike routes for a user fee.

Come on city council, is it that difficult to figure out that golf courses need city support?

' Jim Voss is a retired teacher and coach in Cedar Rapids. Comments: coachjimvoss@gmail.com