While I don’t know the actual number of articles, I’d guess that the most talked about subject on the Kent Reporter front page over the last year has been the “Great ShoWare Center Disappearing Cash Act” performed by the political magicians on our City Council.
Now, while I believe we need places like the ShoWare to make Kent a nice place to live, I also believe there needs to be some changes to how it is operated. To that end, I was stunned to see the Nov. 7 article, “ShoWare operator gets contract extension”. Our city council unanimously agreed to keep the same operator we’ve had all along. This operator manages booking, budget, vendors, etc.
After all the press, complaints and discussions about the ShoWare, are you really telling me that not one of our councilmembers had misgivings about utilizing the same operator? Were any other options even considered? If so, there is no mention of that in the article.
Does the council really care? Is it cronyism? Megalomania? Whatever it is, it’s really stinkin’ up the joint.
While we’re on the subject of the ShoWare, an article in a previous week commented about our politico’s saying that the value of the ShoWare transcends mere dollars. That it brings value elsewhere, to the community. It probably does, but where was that sentiment during the discussion to save the par 3 course? Didn’t it also bring value elsewhere? And it’s operating losses paled in comparison to the NoWhere Center.
We deserve better from our council.
– Thom Ehrhardt
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