The Game of Gnomes

Things have definitely changed in my times with the television set. Having gone from Captain Kangaroo and Leave it to Beaver to South Park and the Daily Show, we have seen what some might call a shift in the available viewing spectrum of shows. Some might say that nothing has changed and maybe even gotten worse- some might disagree. When I sit down at our cable controlled, Freecycle-sourced big TV I mostly find nothing to watch as I scroll through the multitudes of channels. Even the Weather Channel has gotten stupid with its tales of moronic gem hunters or the non-stories told by the lifeguards of Any Beach USA. Having nothing on is not necessarily a bad thing, as it leaves no excuse for not watching the docs and dvd dramas I find for cheap in the dungeons of the internets.

As it is, Wendy has joined the fray in bringing her interest in fantasy novels to my attention, and most recently, instead of paying extra  for a bunch of shows on those “extra” cable channels, she found and purchased the first three seasons of  “Game of Thrones” in fancily packaged box sets so we can join in the fun there. I would have to say that the use of the word “fun” in referencing this Throne Game thing is maybe a stretch by anyone’s metric. Apart from my fairly recent viewing of ‘Gravity’ up at out own Vashon Theatre where I had to find a wall to lean against in overall exhaustion- physical and emotional- after standing to leave at the end, nothing in recent memory has left me so drained as much as our evening sessions in Winterfell and King’s Landing and Casterly Rock has. I suppose one could say that there is not much of difference between the goings on in the Game of Thrones and the meanderings of Fred MacMurray and company in My Three Sons, but then I’d have to ask for a birth certificate indicating your proof of origin in this particular universe.

Fortunately, at ten shows per season, the pain and suffering, slashing, burning, raping and plotting has run its course for now- we are patiently and perhaps a bit cautiously awaiting the release into the wild of the box of season four, now in progress. Unfortunately that means that with evenings free, one has no excuse not to go to the Vashon Park District board of Commissioners meeting, although it seems once again, with attendance quite low, an excuse to miss this particular passion play is not hard to come by. Maybe if the marketing crew rebranded this particular meeting the Game of Gnomes we might see a bump in viewership. In truth however, while the Game of Thrones deals in noble families, from all I’ve seen (perhaps too much) there is nothing noble about the park district board, although at this last meeting there were some flourishes of defiance and opposition from our two new commissioners, a welcome change from the 5-0 votes of the recent past. With David Hackett gone though, it’s a bit like (apologies to Charles Dance) Tywin Lannister was written out of the script, perhaps sent off on a long ocean voyage to Essos and beyond on a personal quest in search of dragon eggs, and more than likely never to return.

All that being said, following the fireworks of Captain Joe’s reading of his rebuttal to commission chair Lu-Ann Branch’s recent op-ed declaration that all is well in the park district, we settled into  a bit of an homage to the throne type stuff, with a small garrison of skate park (BARC- Burton Adventure Recreation Center) representatives- parents and kids alike- giving a presentation about moving ahead with construction of a skate bowl in the hopes of getting a nod to go ahead with it from the gnomes in the throne room. In listening to what was being said, one could easily drift off into a comparison with the machinations surrounding the VES fields project, with the exception of a large presence  by the interested party and a proposal that included all the legwork in getting the proposal to reality, along with a go-ahead in hand for a grant that will cover all of the construction costs on the site. You never know, this might be the template for all Island Park and recreation activities and facilities in the future- direct and involved civilian participation in the management and operation of the various facilities, if the next park district levy is defeated, and this might not be bad thing. To varying degrees this has been happening already with Islanders pitching in at the horse park, the boat house at Jensen Point, the lighthouse and Captain Joe’s Keeper Volunteer Corps, and with Scott Bonney’s ongoing efforts to make the pool as self sufficient as it can be.

As someone who has been and remains an advocate for the Vashon Park District, it is a little odd talking about working to get out the vote against the levy passage, but having been present at Ober Park, week in and week out and listening to the utter nonsense that comes out of the Park Board, it just seems that giving carte blanche once again to a 3-2 majority who has already proven to be both disrespectful to Island interests as well as being untrustworthy in how they spend our money, I see no alternative but to defeat the park levy when it comes up for a vote, possibly as early as this November. This will send a resounding message to the board of gnomes that business as usual and forget the past and move on is not acceptable in the light of what they are slowly moving on from. As an example of how tenuous the current financial situation is at Parks, we kept hearing at this past meeting how the bids for finally completing the VES field to county and state satisfaction might still break their current facsimile of a budget. And it still seems to come as a surprise and a shock to at least one of the board members that the set of fields they created with money pilfered from the rest of parks is going to cost them even more in maintenance than they had expected. This is part of the ongoing learning curve that Mr. Ameling keeps speaking of: in May or October or December we will be smarter. That might have had some validity a while back, but after 26 years one would think he would have learned something, which as evidenced by all of this, he hasn’t.

A no vote would send a message. The message isn’t final. There could be a re-vote in time to keep the parks funded. But things would then have to show evidence of change- a list for this evidence is in the making. This new election would cost the parks another $10,000, which I guess is a drop in the bucket compared to $2.5 million Mr. Ameling has helped to oversee the wasting of on VES. In truth, the parks do not need more uncertainty at this point, but sometimes uncertainty brings positive change because it makes you work a little harder to bring about stability. What is certain though is that the majority of the current VPD board  believes all is well in the Vashon Park District. Voting no on the park district levy would send them a bold message that it isn’t, and we wouldn’t have to rely on the uncertainty of carrier crows or ravens to get it there.