More on Measure G, in Tom Aldridge's words
I love these types of blog posts, the ones where I can just let someone else to do the talking.
Tom Aldridge is part of a group called OASIS (Oroville Area Sports Initiative Supporters) and is also the Athletic Director at Oroville High. Check out the informative Web site for Measure G at click here.
Here are some of his quotes from our phone conversation on Wednesday:
About the last bond passed by voters and how it was spent:
“We feel that the money we received before was tenfold what the citizens of Oroville were asked to pay. We’ve used local contractors, local people to do it which means the money stays in the community which is exactly what we want to do with Measure G. That’s an important part of what we are doing is trying to spend it locally.”
About the track:
“Our track is in yards, it’s not even a meter track. The track itself is dirt. We’re probably the only schools in the area that have a dirt track. Paradise, PV, Chico, Red Bluff, all those schools in the Redding area have all weather tracks, Yuba City and River Valley too. Of the larger schools we’re probably the only one. We don’t even run our own track meets there, we go out to Butte College because they have an all-weather surface in meters.
“We don’t even use the facility for track.”
About why a synthetic-turf field is wanted:
“We want synthetic turf so we can utilize it for soccer without keeping people off it. A turf field can only take so much use and people have to be kept off it. Rain and bad weather are no problem so it makes the field and track more useable.”
On parking:
“The main lot is gravel, real dusty, real dirty. We also want to pave and make a parking lot behind the visitors’ stands. We have a lot that is nothing more than a vacant lot. We’d also pave by dressing rooms.”
On handicap accessibility:
“We want walkways all the way around that area of mud or dirt. We also want to upgrade our bleachers. Right now we have no handicap accessibly. We can’t get them to a good place to watch the game up in the bleachers.
On the overall look of Harrison Stadium:
“The whole facility would be cleaned up. A new snack bar, bigger, new restrooms. The press box will be fixed up and upgraded, a new scoreboard too. Also another thing we’re going to have is new lighting. Those are telephone poles that the lights are on and those are going to come down. We’re hoping to replace those. We want to pass the bond and get it done right. The bleachers definitely need upgrading.
“We’re scared to death the Harrison is not going to be the facility we have now, down the road. We’re to a point where we have a facility that’s basically every year is getting worse, having more and more problems. And that’s only going to increase.”
On how it would impact the confidence of student-athletes:
“There are a lot of schools around who are doing things to their facilities. Our kids go to those and then have to come back to Harrison. We want them to have some pride. It will generate pride in their facilities and it will show that the community shows an interest. People from other areas will come to Oroville and we’ll take pride in the fact that those people are coming to our facility and hopefully they look and say ‘Wow, Oroville must be a great place to live, to have a business, to come for events.’ It will be a draw.
“This is a community that takes pride in its schools and athletic teams.”
About Chico:
“I don’t wanna turn this into a Chico versus Oroville thing. We take pride in our programs and try to produce. We want our kids to have the best we can give them. It’s not about beating Chico or Paradise. It’s about our kids and we think this is something we can take pride in. Any kind of pride in the community, we want to be a part of it.”