Out of bounds

It's the kind of playground a kid dreams about. Lake Mary 's Trailblazer Park has a wild, wet splash pad with 32 jets of water and colorful playground equipment with all the twists and turns any young ...

[Fed Up]

They have to charge. How else can they continue to pay firefighters to work only 2 days a week and retire at 40.

[Alan]

If people didn't spend so much money on cigarettes and beer, they might have more money with which to entertain their children.

That said, "public" parks only mean that they are open to all comers. Doesn't necessarily mean free.

The sort of machinery that it takes to operate a water park of any kind is relatively exspensive to maintain. The chemicals are damaging to the insides of the pumps, the chemicals have to be monitored, etc. All of that costs money.

I don't think that a dollar a head is too much to ask for something like that. After all, it's not like they're asking Disney prices.

[For the Hell of it]

The fleecing of America! Public parks are just that..paid for by tax payers $$. Next thing ya know there will be a charge to drive on public roads...oh wait, that's already been thought of! Boycott the GD park.

[BUDDY do you care]

You do not have to go if you can not afford it. Very cleaver marketing if you ask me. It now becomes a status symbol. Little billy can say to his friends that he spent the day at that special place, where only trailblazers can go.

This is the face of America.

[THE SHADOW KNOWS]

THE EDITORIAL BOARD NEEDS TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE "BONUS TAX REVENUES"OSCEOLA COUNTY TOOK IN DURING THE TW0 BIG YEARS AND REPORT WHAT WAS DONE WITH THE MONEY. YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED.

[Andrew Ladores]

Great insight into a situation that most everyone is uneducated about, especially public servants like fireman, policeman, and teachers.The increase in property values and therefore taxes paid by homeowners supercedes the increase in the cost of doing business that municipalities have incurred over the same period. This begs the question, "Where did the surplus go?" My first hunch is in the pockets of those who represent us. An audit of all local governement monies is needed. Then the real outcry will begin!

[Interested Observer]

Better yet, Lake Mary should sell the park to private business and pay down some of its debt!

Cities and towns are becomming much too image conscious - at the expense to their very citizens! Who can't afford all the glamour.

If this new breed of city and town managers like to build glamourous cities, maybe they should all move to Hollywood. Most of them are unwanted by the average citizens.

Stop the madness!

[Richard Parsons]

Last night the Winter Springs comission voted to spend $178,000 on decorative street signs in Tuskawilla an upscale area of the city. Yet they want to charge us fees for fire protection and park usage. The sad part of all this is residents are totally ambivilant,or maybe just being kept in the dark.

[Orlando]

Fed Up wrote:

They have to charge. How else can they continue to pay firefighters to work only 2 days a week and retire at 40.

Two days at 24 hrs a day = 48hrs a week. I'm all for eliminating government waste, in fact I am a ulta-minamalist govt kind of guy and fireman is one of the last places I would start cutting.

[Orlando]

Alan wrote:

I don't think that a dollar a head is too much to ask for something like that. After all, it's not like they're asking Disney prices.

You missed the point. It's not weather $1 is too much, its the fact that the gov't taxed you to build something and now wants to charge you to use it.

Would you buy a refrigerator that required 25 cents to open in your home? Heck no you wouldnt. Why would you accept the same from the govt?

This is part of the problem...Americans have forgotten that taxes are THEIR money. That is YOUR park NOT the govts.

[Orlando]

Richard Parsons wrote:

Last night the Winter Springs comission voted to spend $178,000 on decorative street signs in Tuskawilla an upscale area of the city. Yet they want to charge us fees for fire protection and park usage. The sad part of all this is residents are totally ambivilant,or maybe just being kept in the dark.

PERFECT example. I love how every time a tax cut is proposed the govt employees band together and threaten everyone about how they are going to have to cut teachers, police, fireman. How about $178,000 in decorations? That should save 2 or 3 teachers jobs. How about landscaping? How about hunt down waste? Etc, Etc. Instead they threaten the most vital parts of govt to scare us into giving them more money. Sad.

[Alan]

Orlando wrote:

<quoted text>
You missed the point. It's not weather $1 is too much, its the fact that the gov't taxed you to build something and now wants to charge you to use it.
Would you buy a refrigerator that required 25 cents to open in your home? Heck no you wouldnt. Why would you accept the same from the govt?
This is part of the problem...Americans have forgotten that taxes are THEIR money. That is YOUR park NOT the govts.

Bad analogy there, O-ie, no I wouldn't buy such a fridge, but then again I am not REQUIRED to use either that fridge or the park.

The other thing is this.... we are being taxed tremendously to build things all of the time that we will have to pay to use, stadiums, performing arts center, etc.... the fact of the matter is that ANYTHING that is done by the government, at whatever level, is paid for with taxes, how much of it do you actually get to use for personal benefit???

If they charge a minimal fee for usage, I have no qualms, but if it goes to the point where they start to try to make a profit, well, then that would be another story.

[prime time]

Gee, I thought the Sentinel encouraged everyone to vote in favor of the tax cut. Did it not occur to anyone that this sort of thing was going to happen???

[orlando native]

Orlando wrote:

<quoted text>
Two days at 24 hrs a day = 48hrs a week. I'm all for eliminating government waste, in fact I am a ulta-minamalist govt kind of guy and fireman is one of the last places I would start cutting.

hahaha.....boy is this guy (or fireman) wrong...24 hours X two...equals 48 hours.....did you ever go by a fire station...sleeping eating and playing cards...hahaha

[Absurdities]

I feel I have a valid voice in this debate, being a citizen of Winter Springs AND a government employee in a nearby municipality. I have no qualms paying the $1 for my child to use the park. I realize that there's an ongoing cost associated with a water park that's not common of typical public parks. At the same time, the neighborhood where Torcaso park is located is not one of the typical affluent neighborhoods most often associated with when referring to Torcaso park. For some of those kids, it's the highlight of their summer and I think the added financial burden could be considered significant. I'm not sure how that could be resolved in an equitable manner.

As far as the constant onslaught of opinions by the Sentinel Editorial Board, I'm really quite curious how much time they've put into evaluating the pay/benefits of local government employees. Data from a recent labor board study was given to support their claims, however, I would venture to say it's a very skewed survey based on an OVERALL comparison of government pay/benefits. By that, I mean that the rank and file employees are lumped into the same "municpal employee" clump as all the elected, appointed, and upper management employees. I'll be the very first to say that there are individuals within the government who are making entirely more money than they are worth. At the same time, there are more than enough of the lower rank employees who aren't being paid nearly enough for their contributions to the organization. Again, what's the answer? There's a means of justifying outrageous salaries just because someone has the degree to support it. Meanwhile, they've engaged in every unethical and inappropriate behavior imaginable and have lost more money on thoughtless business decisions than most of us will make in a lifetime. These stats, perpetually being asserted by the Editorial Board, should be examined more closely.

On another note, Orlando...I couldn't agree more with your statement. I think the government uses the public safety services as a leveraging device when it comes to issues involving taxes.

[Jami]

I thought that the Sentinel was in favor of the tax cuts. What did ya’ll think was going to happen, everything would remain status quo. The Parks and Rec departments all over the state are going to have to subsidies the money somehow. Just watch and see what else they have to start charging for and raise the prices of. The reasonably priced summer program that you count on will no longer be reasonable.

[LMR]

I say raise the prices...it should keep the riff-raff out.

[fstopfitz]

When this park was in the planning stages I am positive it was highlighted that the cost of running the place would be $$$. Also I am sure the citizens were informed of this cost. Or maybe not???

[underdog]

Alan wrote:

If people didn't spend so much money on cigarettes and beer, they might have more money with which to entertain their children.
That said, "public" parks only mean that they are open to all comers. Doesn't necessarily mean free.
The sort of machinery that it takes to operate a water park of any kind is relatively exspensive to maintain. The chemicals are damaging to the insides of the pumps, the chemicals have to be monitored, etc. All of that costs money.
I don't think that a dollar a head is too much to ask for something like that. After all, it's not like they're asking Disney prices.

Then why don't you build your own park and charge all the admission you want. And what does it have to do with beer and smokes. Crawl back in to your cave old man.

[Alan]

underdog wrote:

<quoted text>
Then why don't you build your own park and charge all the admission you want. And what does it have to do with beer and smokes. Crawl back in to your cave old man.

It has to do with the fact that people will, cheerfully, trot out to the store and pay LOTS of taxes on alcohol and tobacco, and then sit and gripe and complain about having to shell out a single dollar (per child) to take their kids to a government subsidized water park.

People want everything for free these days.

Sorry, it's not that way. Instead of being happy that they now have a LOW COST alternative to someplace like Wet and Wild, or the various and quite distant Disney parks, they COMPLAIN about it.

Typical.