Steve, last year during a workshop several claimed it was almost break even as well.

Problem with that is it included Hotel/Motel tax as income. It isn't. It is subsidy. Nor did it include costs that were absorbed by the Tourism Budget. Nor the Bricks & Mortar that are part of the City Budget.

They have done furloughs due to lack of income to pay wages at times.

Not looking at loss of offerings here, but expansions, including tournaments and more. Still preferences for our citizens.

You know I began the push to do something about the Tennis Center, The Fred and Kedron Center last year, for which the majority actually laughed at me. This is occurring because the budget issues became to much to disregard any longer. We are looking at over half a million savings at least to the tax payers total when all is in place.

We have to get government out of managing such facilities. We do not have the talent to run it and politics keep getting in the way.

As with the Fred. Finally got the majority of the management style needed in place, but not fully yet. It looks like we would have ended up at break if Cyndi and the majority had not demanded the Gold Ticket holders be protected, meaning two performances instead of one, which will be the reality next year due to the projected losses from it this year. But even then we are doing better.

Nothing wrong with public/private partnerships. Very successful in many cities. Still city owned, still a City asset and still resident preferences in usage and pricing where applicable.

Don Haddix
PTC Councilman
Post 1
donhaddix.com

I'll give them that. I enjoyed the Free Movie the other night, and the Beatlemania was a pretty good show for the price.

It really is hard to beat some of the entertainment for the price, free parking, closeness to home...etc...

Good post Don. Very informative, thank you.
The sentence fragments lead me to believe that you may have composed this on a Blackberry or some similar device so that can be overlooked - BUT - You just couldn't get through it without campaigning could you? No Haddix post is complete with out a jab at the rest of the council (Doug not included). And I guess that you must still think that Cyndi is running for Mayor since you singled her out of the crowd of "the majority". If Cal were to charge you the going ad rate every time you turned a "Good Citizen" post in to campaign ad he could over come his financial shortfalls during this tough time for commercial revenue.
Now, if you could just find a way to cut the umbilical cord with Doug and link up with Steve Brown you would be sitting pretty for the election.

Are your lips super glued to Haddix's butt or what?

Is your head in an unlikely orifice???
Did you even read the post???
Do you understand the the fine art of sarcasm???
And yes, I'm pretty good at it.

And a fine point it was too.

double post.

Are these the same folks that told you to turn the outdoor courts into basketball courts? Are these the same people that told you to stop hosting one of the biggest junior events of the year? Are these the same folks that told you that we want our center to be like South Fulton (ghost town)? Are these the same folks that told you that when our center hosts an event all the players stay in the homes of PTC residents and they don't spend money in PTC? Because these are a FEW of the things you told many publicly......THANK GOD YOU ARE NO LONGER THE MAYOR.... YOU ARE STILL NOT INFORMED OR KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!

My God Tennismom, can't believe you're blaming the problems with the tennis center on Steve Brown!!! That place has been PTC's private den of corruption for years.

If they didn't sneak those loans out of Tom Farr's bank all those years, the city would be about $2 million dollars richer. Most non-tennis players in town (99% of us) probably wouldn't mind seeing the place moth balled to stop the financial bleeding.

Go take a nice warm bath.

Vote Republican

The continued rips at Steve Brown...I used to let it bother me too, but I've realized that no one is perfect. Let it go, it will make you a better person.

And just who would you prefer as Mayor? Lenox? "No new taxes" Logsdon? When I moved to PTC the Mayor was Fred "developers buddy" Brown. I'm sure Fred feels good about the amphitheater being named after him but I betcha you won't get him to talk about the water demonstrations and carloads of people going to his house to take a shower. Steve Brown wasn't perfect - no one is, but ....... he was far better that what came before him (Lexox) or after him (Logsdon).

tortugaocho said it best; "We are tired of paying for the frivolities that you cannot afford." - so get over it.

I would assume that you want to lose $500,000 per year so you can be a tennismom?
You can bet that the new managers will have to clear about one million now above current losses in order to eliminate the half-million loss and still make a profit.

That translates into double or triple what it now costs the users!!!!

Which means it becomes a club too costly for our citizens for the most part! Kinda like the golf clubs.

That is why the city needed to run it with the staff they had in the recreation department. Should take names and kick a.. if they didn't!
These things are NOT job fairs!

This is the kind of thinking we have had in Washington for sometime!

Hey folks, did you read it? At no point in my writings did I say that I agreed how the center was being run in the past or that I didn't think things needed to be changed......merely that Steve's plans of action were far worse (cuz he is so misinformed) then what was already happening....he added to the problems....for he was trying to make decisions and change things without being versed in the running of a tennis center. So, please don't try to twist my words.....and for the record....I've spent 10s of thousands of dollars on tennis and the pros at the tennis center....so no welfare here....we pay our way. And for the record not only did I and do I support the center....but I spent many of hours volunteering there. How about ya'll have you done anything at the center or for the center????? Blah....Blah....know it prior to talking about it....FACTS FOLKs.....FACTs!

Well Ma'm what you need is a "private" tennis center if you can spend "tens of thousdands" on it.

This complex was built with public tax money--not your investment and is supposed to be for everyone. Also, affordable.

The city has two choices on the tennis center: keep it for "everyone" and continue throwing away money on operating it or contract it out and let the contracted company decide how it should be run.

You cannot go back in time and suddenly change the present situation. Everyone can argue back and forth about whether it should have ever been built, the DPAC debt, the original premise of having it, blah blah blah. That doesn't change reality a damn bit. That reality dictates that either city continue losing money trying to operate the tennis center or turn it over to someone else who will actually pay the city to manage it.

You are saying that the city of Peachtree City is incapable of running a simple Tennis Center! What a gouge at the officials!

I'm saying that to alloow a bunch of country club people to run it and make a profit is going to raise the prices of using it above most citizens here!

The great losses you attribute to the city running it is coming from the huge debt load---it has to be paid in one way or another unless you can get the old members of the association to pay for it personally! They can afford it, I think.

Thank God TennisWelfareMom's politicians and profiteers were forcibly removed from power. The bottom line is if you wanted bon vivante tennis, you should have paid for it your self. You people hoodwinked the City into to paying for a bloated boondoggle with a leaky roof, a failed site prep with loads of tennis pros, lawyers, bankers and insiders skimming cash off the top. The best laugh is the organization ALTA--- "Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association"--- because probably less than 5% of the membership has even seen a grass court much less competed on it. We are tired of paying for the frivolities that you cannot afford.

"So are companies like NCR. That doesn't mean the government knows how to run them or should attempt to."

Never a truer statement ever uttered..

"When the person who in possession of a government, shall say to a nation, I hold this power in 'contempt' of you, it signifies not on what authority he pretends to say it is..but an aggravation to a person in slavery"..Thomas Paine

Hopefully, Canongate will do well with it.

"The Pools" in PTC on the whole are not badly run. It is Kedron that is a failure. The neighborhood pools (Glen Loch, Pebblepocket) are open during the summer, open to the public and are typical community pools (typical Northern pools; the south didn't want integrated swimming pools). Those pools are like the tennis courts--- open to the public, simple, no frills. Kedron is like the Tennis Center--- geared for the elite, losing tons of cash and not really accessible. You can't get in the Kedron swimming pool most of the day (like before work) because it is booked--- booked by groups that pay but don't pay enough to keep it from losing tons of money. Give me the simple tennis courts and pools and get rid of this ridiculous overspending.

" (typical Northern pools; the south didn't want integrated swimming pools) "

Perhaps I misread your post, but did you intend to claim that the pools in PTC are in any fashion segregated?

Ahavah

"Despite treason after treason, and sabotage after sabotage, God's empire of light never falls into total eclipse. Satan wages a futile war."

But $2,000 a month sure doesn't seem like much to me. Especially when we are still on the hook for Capital Improvements....

And will continue to be on the hook for improvements and maintenance!
The sums rented for won't even pay the interest on the debt!If this thing were to be available to the population in general for free, then I could maybe see it, but this is simply avoiding responsibility.

At least they didn't have to pay them to run it... You guys are going to be digesting that tennis center for years to come. LOL! Okay...not so funny.

Are You Freer Today Than You Were Before Obama?

I'm not sure why you care, but I digress..

It can be a nice benefit to the City. I have friends from Henry County who rave about how nice it is. They have used it for tournaments etc..and they always spend other monies eating etc...myself, I'm not a tennis buff, but I can see how it could/can benefit the City.

I don't live in the city limits. Therefore I hope you choke on your utopian wasteland and your corrupt government. Why would I care? Sheesh.... another pig headed idiot that doesn't realize his neighbors ARE a part of his community and bad government in our county and surrounding areas affects us ALL. (eyes rolling)

but I can see how it could/can benefit the City

Yeah.... it's really benefiting you guys isn't it? Kind of like 'money for nuthin and chicks for free' eh?

Are You Freer Today Than You Were Before Obama?

to get you riled up. I'll say that. Name calling seems to be your forte.

You mention being neighbors in this. When have you had a neighborly suggestion regarding this situation? You just like to sit back and sling arrows. I don't see how that does anyone any good.

For someone who has lived "all over Atlanta" it appears you gotten pretty possesive of Peachtee City. I think if you examined the original statement that you 'criticized and digressed' about you would find I made a friendly comment. Then you slammed me as if I had not business commenting on the subject. You puzzle me???? Should I not be concerned for my family members and friends that are PTC residents and the city that I shop in and socialize in? Anyways I'll make it a point to find 'Spyglass Issues" on the blogs so I can "sit back and sling arrows" back atcha. Have a nice day pal.

Are You Freer Today Than You Were Before Obama?

for sure...I do like PTC.

And your only original comment was that we would be "digesting" the Tennis Center for years..followed by a hearty laugh. I'm still not sure how that's being neighborly.

That said, it's done, the Council did it, and since Haddix was on board with it, the clones on here are all for it.

He's very uncouth, I agree ...Me thinks he was raised by wolves...

See Git Here

btw - Happy Father's Day, y'all....

Maybe next time I'll turn on my speakers.

Are You Freer Today Than You Were Before Obama?

I hope you realize that within a very few years this Tennis Center will be a "profit Center" and most average people will not be able to afford to play there or even learn the game. They will not run it without a profitable return!

It is a rotten shame that we can't seem to hire city employees and managers who have the ability to run anything.

We don't even want anything useful for our youth run by the city, because it is "hard."

Stop this expensive "job creation" using tax money for the capital investments.

Harold with the kind of math that you do you should be running the US Treasury. Lets see 4,500. for the first 18 months and the 24,000. a year after that, 1.5 million to pay off a bad debt, that takes 62.5 years to pay it off, Not Bad Harold, Not Bad. Yep, we should start seeing that return in no time, NOT! Your Puppet Masters (Developers) must be laughing their respective a$$es off at the Citizens of this city, we really are a bunch of FOOLS!

Obama's weapon of Choice!

A total failure under the city tutelage--millions wasted.

Pool next? Grass cutting gone! Water and sewer is County--not city.

No expanded old folks place.

No promotion of BMX track.

Amphitheater going, going, gone.

Going to use 74S wall to engrave Iraqi death names?

We created an "across the RR tracks" community, didn't we?

What were the section 8 housing people supposed to work at in PTC?
We have no industry for low wage-earners!

Where is the new Chief of Police? I am used to seeing "a chief" in the paper every week! Could he be doing his job?

What will town management drop next? Lot of work in running things!

I guarantee that they will drop more employees. I would like to see an all new council put us back on the map. Rehire the fired employees with good records, get rid of "farmed-out" labor and run this city the "Smart" way. We currently have a mayor that can't find his butt in the dark with both hands, and a council that gives a whole new meaning to the word clueless. Even with a loud moral outcry from the citizens they have yet to figure out right from wrong. They are completely unable to separate their own wants and needs from the wants, needs, and demands of the very people who blindly voted them into power. Good Grief! What is it going to take for them to wake up and listen to the people that they are sworn to serve?

Why don't you take a hint?

Buy the pool center and then guarantee the city a profit.

Then we'll consider your hockey rink.