Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Duane Long talks SPARK Camp and Dixon Park District programs

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Talk Line: Duane Long talks SPARK Camp and Dixon Park District programs · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Stuck Valley, and welcome back to the Waking
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: crew here on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: sixty WIXN. It's eight fifteen on your Tuesday, July fourteenth morning,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and that means it's time for talk line and I'm
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: joined in the booth once again by our good friends
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: from the Dixon Park District, Dwayne Long in the studio
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  Speaker 1: this morning. Sir, how are you, Good morning, and thanks
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: for having us. We appreciate it, always love having you here.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Love what you guys got going on out there. You know,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: with the weather getting nicer, you're talking about trying to
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: stay cool. Yeah, trading our long pans for shorts. And
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: you know, this is a really busy time of year
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  Speaker 1: for you guys, not that it ever stops at the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: at the Park District, but you guys are kicking off
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  Speaker 1: with Spark Camp today, right.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: That is true, and Spark Camp is going to take
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: off today. If you remember we had Spark Camp, oh
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: about a month ago, it was seventy degrees and we
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: were questioning, you know, water slides, no questions. Today it's
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: gonna be ninety plus. Tried out the water slide yesterday.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Actually we had seth go down in his work closed
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  Speaker 2: yesterday Waterlie.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Is there a video of this? We do have a
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: video open. I'm being told not to release. Might have
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: to blackmail. I don't know. We're gonna get some rousing pressure.
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  Speaker 1: We're gonna get a petition passed around. That would be great,
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  Speaker 1: love it.
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  Speaker 2: But hey, I just want to announce today that we
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: do a park status every week, and this is the
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  Speaker 2: first time in about two years that I'll be able
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  Speaker 2: to announce that all parks are open, including Page Park. Finally, yay,
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  Speaker 2: so we are open, ready for business down a Page Park.
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  Speaker 2: The dedication went off without a hitch. We had over
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  Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty people there at the dedication during
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  Speaker 2: a weekday, which is amazing.
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  Speaker 1: Project Rock is completed.
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  Speaker 2: You know, there's some landscaping to be touched up down there,
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  Speaker 2: and we're ready for grass to grow down there, but
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  Speaker 2: it's open.
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  Speaker 1: And it's used. So we're just so happy it's done
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  Speaker 1: and over with and we're ready to enjoy. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely,
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  Speaker 1: It's always good when these things come come to Frue
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: and then you actually get to you just get to
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  Speaker 1: enjoy light at the end.
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  Speaker 2: Of the tunnel some days, but it's here and it's
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  Speaker 2: good and Page Park looks awesome.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, it does, absolutely love it. We went to touch
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  Speaker 1: a little bit on some of the recreation programs you
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: folks have available today.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we have game on Sports Wednesdays starting July eighth.
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  Speaker 2: And then that's something that our intern Bawl and Jake
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: have started. And they did Blue Park last week and
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  Speaker 2: they had thirty kids show up. So when I was
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  Speaker 2: a kid, this is what they used to do with
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: the Dixon Partner strict. They'd have three different parks. They'd
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: have college kids at the station's and you drop off
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  Speaker 2: your kid and you play for the afternoon organized kickball
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  Speaker 2: with the ball. Well, we're bringing that back a little
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  Speaker 2: bit and they have thirty some kids show up at
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  Speaker 2: Blue Park on a hot day last week.
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  Speaker 1: So impressive. We're letting the young kids run programs. See
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  Speaker 1: how they do. They're doing a great job. Show up
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  Speaker 1: for that at Blue Park. It's great.
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  Speaker 2: We have kids tables to day July twenty first, and
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  Speaker 2: in the kitchen Thursday, August sixth learn how to make
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  Speaker 2: healthy snacks and going back to Spark Camp. Today is
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: to day, Today is Tuesday, and Thursday will be Spark
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  Speaker 2: camping it'll be done for the summer.
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  Speaker 1: We've had a lot of calls here the last couple
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  Speaker 1: of days.
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  Speaker 2: Can I sign up my kid? Hey, get your kid
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  Speaker 2: there today, worry about sign ups later. Get them there,
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  Speaker 2: enjoy it. If you can't make it today, slip them
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  Speaker 2: in Thursday. We don't care. We want everybody there.
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  Speaker 1: We don't want my mom forgot that is not anybody's problem.
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  Speaker 1: Get them there.
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  Speaker 2: We make up for it. We want everybody there. We
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  Speaker 2: had over four hundred kids at our last one. We
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  Speaker 2: expect that many and more for this one with the weather.
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  Speaker 2: So get out there and enjoy what Seth and Michelle
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  Speaker 2: put on. It's quite extraordinary what they do and what
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  Speaker 2: they have to offer. So get out there and do
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  Speaker 2: Spark Camp. For sure.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely there you go, no excuse, is Duyne said. They
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  Speaker 1: will take care of it. Just get your kids there
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  Speaker 1: and make sure they and they'll make sure they enjoy it.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, they'll come home tired. That's always some of
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  Speaker 1: the best part of that, isn't it It is? It is,
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  Speaker 1: And you know it's only from nine to two. We
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  Speaker 1: give them a lunch. We have a little cooling inside,
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  Speaker 1: we have air conditioning inside. If we absolutely get too hot.
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  Speaker 1: But when you've got three water slides.
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  Speaker 2: One forty feet in the air, yeah, the kids are
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  Speaker 2: pretty entertained the whole time, and they're not wanting.
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  Speaker 1: To go home at two o'clock usually, no matter how
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  Speaker 1: hot it is. So that's good. That's good.
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  Speaker 2: Suth does a good job up there. A lot of
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  Speaker 2: respect going on how to treat people at spark Camp.
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  Speaker 2: It's a big deal, and we really we shut down
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  Speaker 2: our offices and do Spark Camp today.
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  Speaker 1: Hence I'm dressed in shorts today. I love hearing it.
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  Speaker 1: Spark Camp is so cool, just part of the many
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  Speaker 1: different programs that you guys have going on, whether you
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  Speaker 1: know it's it's at the main building across all the
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  Speaker 1: different parks or your recreation center. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, we have a lot going on there, you know.
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  Speaker 2: And we got a dedication coming up here late fall
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  Speaker 2: yet our last project of the year. E. C.
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  Speaker 1: Smith Park. Yes, and you have volunteered mc that dedication,
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  Speaker 1: if you remember, I think I voluntold you.
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  Speaker 2: Actually you did, So we're going to do a dedication there.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to actually we've been getting a few phone
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  Speaker 2: calls on EC Smith. We're actually going to start construction
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  Speaker 2: September first, so that's the playground portion of it. Cool,
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  Speaker 2: and then we are writing a grant to finish off
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  Speaker 2: that park. So we want to put in a sunshade there,
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  Speaker 2: sidewalks to get to the tennis courts, repave the tennis courts,
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  Speaker 2: and put lights up on the tennis courts, slash pickleball,
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  Speaker 2: slash basketball. So we want to really end that park
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  Speaker 2: with a grant. Hopefully win that grant. Well know, you know,
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  Speaker 2: probably January if we win that grant, and then next
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  Speaker 2: spring hopefully start construction on that park. There you go,
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  Speaker 2: that's going to be exciting. Yeah, that's good stuff. That's
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  Speaker 2: good stuff. Improve the whole park in the neighborhood park.
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  Speaker 2: I know several years ago Rockford did a survey and
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  Speaker 2: they asked the people, do you want us to keep
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  Speaker 2: Magic Waters or do you want us to put money
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  Speaker 2: in your neighborhood parks. Well, history's been told they got
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  Speaker 2: rid of Magic Waters.
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  Speaker 1: And they put their money in their neighborhood parks. We
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  Speaker 1: have an abundance of neighborhood parks in this town. We
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  Speaker 1: are no way getting rid of those neighborhood parks.
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  Speaker 2: No, that are so important Now as I was a
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  Speaker 2: maintenance person for years. You see the families move in
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  Speaker 2: the neighborhood, move out of the neighborhood. You see the
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  Speaker 2: parks busy, You see the parks slow, but those parks
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  Speaker 2: are there for the neighborhoods. And we're slowly working away
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  Speaker 2: and improving them all in the last eight years.
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  Speaker 1: And you guys do a fantastic job. You always are
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  Speaker 1: out there trying to find grants, trying to find any
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  Speaker 1: way that you can see, where can we put money,
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  Speaker 1: Where can we do this ourselves? And you either keep
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  Speaker 1: expanding or improving upon what you already have.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you have to maintain what you got. And we're
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  Speaker 2: behind on playground improvements. You know, we've done seven playgrounds
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  Speaker 2: the last eight years. To stay on that schedule. We
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: got a lot of parks. We've got twenty three parks
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  Speaker 2: in Dixon. We need to improve and get up the speed.
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  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 2: The other project we want to do is the Shelter,
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  Speaker 2: restroom and Page Park. So we're waiting on a few donations,
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  Speaker 2: a few words to come in. But Reagan Run has
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  Speaker 2: We've accumulated Reagan Run money over the years and we're
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  Speaker 2: up the fifty thousand dollars of accumulated Reagan Run money
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  Speaker 2: we get from the Reagan Run, and Jim and Nancy
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  Speaker 2: just presented a check yesterday for seventy five dollars to
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  Speaker 2: the Dixon Park District. So we're looking about using those
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  Speaker 2: funds for a shelter restroom to pay for half of
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  Speaker 2: that shelter restroom and page we'll be looking for the
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  Speaker 2: other half.
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  Speaker 1: To see if we can start construction.
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  Speaker 2: So a lot going on. I know it's winding down.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody says after July fourth it winds down. It just
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  Speaker 2: gears up for the park.
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  Speaker 1: District, that's yeah. I was gonna say maybe for everybody else.
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  Speaker 1: But I just see more and more people out utilizing
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  Speaker 1: their local parks. People want to be outside, and when
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  Speaker 1: you have this many options in a community this size,
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  Speaker 1: it's there's no reason not to see anybody out there.
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  Speaker 1: So I love seeing how busy it is. Gosh, you know,
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  Speaker 1: what is something, Dane that you hope during your time?
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's something you've got in the works, but we
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: can't talk too much about her. You would really like
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  Speaker 1: to see during your time before you see, you know what,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to enjoy my time to me and retire.
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  Speaker 1: What would you like to see appen. Oh my long
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: lost dream. And I tried. And the one of the
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  Speaker 1: only thing I fail that in my tensure of the
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  Speaker 1: executive director is trying to get an aquatic center or
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  Speaker 1: a pool in Dixon. You see it on Facebook post,
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  Speaker 1: what about a pool? What about a pool? Believe me,
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  Speaker 1: I am the person that wants a pool, wants an
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  Speaker 1: aquatic center so bad.
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  Speaker 2: It's fourteen million. It's twelve million to fix Memorial Pool.
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  Speaker 2: So we just don't have that kind of money at
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  Speaker 2: the Dixon Park District to be able to even take a.
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  Speaker 1: Loan for that and make the payment of it. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it's it's out of our bounds. Believe me. You just
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  Speaker 1: said that the Part District finds grant, we find way
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: to do things. Believe me. I've looked for grants. I've
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  Speaker 1: asked the Hood federal government for a grant to help
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  Speaker 1: us with aquatics. I've done everything I could to try
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: to make this go. And I just don't believe in
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: raising taxes at the Dickson Part District or even going
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: to referendum for a swimming pool. It's hard.
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  Speaker 2: It's people are trying to put food on the table,
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  Speaker 2: so I have to keep things in perspective a little
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  Speaker 2: bit too. But my dream is to get an aquatics
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  Speaker 2: center at the Dixon Park District. It's it's a dream
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  Speaker 2: because I've tried extensively. We've got all the blueprints, we've
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: got all the engineering, we've got the land, We've got
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: everything except the money.
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  Speaker 1: You know. And I feel so much for you on
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: having this dream and carrying a torch for it, only
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: because during my time as a reporter for SHAW, I
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: really got to dig into the history on this topic
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: because I remember that. Yeah, and you're right, I mean
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  Speaker 1: number one, As you said, you guys do a fantastic
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: job of finding grants. Folks. There's grants out there fourteen
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: million for a pool. I maybe I'm not well versed
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  Speaker 1: in it, but I'm not sure there's a grand out
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: there that covers that kind of thing. And this is
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: really is what it is such a hard sell on
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: this is because when it costs so much to get
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: it done two, you know, people will say, well, other
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: communities might have it, they already have it. We had one.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: And then what happens is sooner or later you usually
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: end up coming to a point where there's a repair
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: or an upkeep point that is so costly you can
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: afford to do it. And these pools usually a lot
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: of times will operate on some kind of a slight
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: negative that you know your park district will find a
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: way to offset and just balance. But they're certainly usually
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: not profiting. And any of the ones that are profiting,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: it's usually already not much. And if it is, it's
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: because they've already they still have their pool, it's still functioning.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: They haven't hit that point to where they're the repair
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: cost for them to keep going it has outdone it.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: And so I cross my fingers for them. I say
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: good luck, good on you, because if you ever find
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: yourself in that same situation, please share the answer with
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: the rest of us. Percent of the pool that's my soapbox.
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  Speaker 1: I love it, and you've done your research.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Eighty percent of the pools in Illinois Part district government
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: ran lose money. Yeah, Like, for instance, our facility makes
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: money every year, we put money away for those capital improvements.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: It's easy to do that when you're making money, but
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: if you're breaking even or losing every year, it's hard
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: to put money away for those capital improvements. So it's
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: really difficult but you know, here's the thing with the
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Dixon partnershere. You run in such a tight budget. If
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: somebody walked in tomorrow with twelve million dollars, it would
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: be very difficult for us to even operate a swimming
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: pool and aquatic center with our budget. Yeah, where do
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: you find an extra one hundred and fifty thousand dollars?
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: That's the question. Believe me, I've had a lot of
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: nights awake. My wife hates me some nights, and I'm
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: trying to figure out ways. I've met with every politician
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: I can think of to ask them. The problem is
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: there's not many grants out there for building aquatic centers
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: because the life of them is so short.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: So if they want to give.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: A grant money a b amount of money, they want
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: it to be there for fifty hundred years. The vessel
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: life on a pool is thirty years before it needs redone,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: so it's a short span if you're putting twelve million dollars.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Remember it's only open fourteen weeks a year.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah that, yes, That's where I was going to go.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: And yeah, absolutely, you were really trying to operate in
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: this very narrow window. And I would see a lot
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: of this at the same time, as I know, not
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: quite the same, but with like haunted houses and places
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: that were a long the same. I know that's much smaller,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: but it is. You have a very short time window
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: to make any kind of money. If you are making money.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Right, and the solution from the public is well and
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: close it and make it a year round pool, then
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: you'd be open longer. Well, then you lose money longer
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: year around two So it's kind of the double edged sore.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: You're open fourteen weeks, so you minimize your losses. If
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: you're open year round, you're exposed to a year round
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: loss possibly, So it's it's tough. Does this town need
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: a pool and aquatic center? Absolutely? One percent. When they
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: say that on Facebook, I agree with them one hundred percent.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: I just don't have a way to get there without
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: asking the taxpayers for you know, twelve million dollars. Then
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: a payment on twelve million dollars is around seven hundred
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: thousand dollars a year, So it's it's just out of
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: bounds for our part district. Keep in mind, our part
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: district is only the city limits of Dixon. It might
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: be a different story if we are the school base.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Like all the subdivisions around Dixon, it might be a
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: different story at the Dixon Park District. I'm not prepared
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: at this time that asks the taxpayers to add taxes
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: or raise taxes for a swimming pool. I just you know,
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: people are struggling right now.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Fuel prices are going back up because of the war,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: and here I am, you know, worrying about a swimming
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: pool and Dixon.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: So we got to look at the big picture a
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: little bit. It's hard for me somedays because I'm so
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: involved in the Dixon Park District. I would love to
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: see an aquatic center at the Dixon partner Drick, Believe me,
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: all the plans are drawn up. We are basically shovel ready.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: We have an engineer ready to go on this. We
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: just need twelve to fourteen million dollars. So whenever you
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: want to make a donation to that, we can start tomorrow.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: I love it. There you go to all of our
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: listening philanthropists. There's your next mission. Otherwise, if you're the
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: big brain with the whiteboard, get your marker out, figure
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: us out a solution. They'd love to take it. Dwayne,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming and sharing this information,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: all the fine work that you guys do, you know,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: creating these parks up, keeping them, improving them. And again,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: as Dayne said, all with the forethought and mind of
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: not asking for more money, you know, out of the
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: residence and having been there and covered so much of that,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: he's right on the money on how y'all feel about that,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: So again give us the answer, Dwayne. Thank you so much,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Faiths for having us, and I can't wait to be
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: talking to you next month. A lot of exciting stuff
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: going on at the Dixon Park District, a lot of
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: park improvements, and we're here for you. Remember, if you
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: have any suggestions or ideas, please get a hold of
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: me personally at the park District.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Come talk to me. I'm an open ear. I don't
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: have all the answers. Sometimes fifteen thousand people do