Candidate Statement: David Ivazian

David Ivazian for Cordova Recreation and Park District

I am very happy and proud to announce that I am a candidate for the Cordova Recreation and Park District (CRPD) Board of Directors.  There are no incumbents running this time around; however, there have been 7 individuals who have entered the race.

I would like to state in a most positive way, that I am the most qualified candidate in the field.  For over 2 years, I have personally attended the vast majority of the CRPD Board meetings.  I have listened and learned about what is happening in the District, first hand.  Many times I was the only public citizen in attendance, but that did not stop me from critiquing many of the problems facing the District.  During that time I have reviewed and critiqued 3 separate fiscal year budgets.  I have been instrumental in protesting, what some might call, the illegal assessments via the Park Assessment District that the California Supreme Court ruled in July 2008 contained unconstitutional special benefits.

The CRPD Board has been lax when managing the People’s money.  In essence, this agency has become one that supports public employees over the general public’s welfare.  When major corporations in USA were facing bankruptcy, these firms ceased offering Defined Benefit Pension Plans as contrasted with the more business friendly 401K plans; however, our Board adopted in 2006 a new Defined Benefit Pension Plan that has cost the District hundreds of thousand of dollars.  Recently, the final Budget, which was approved for the next fiscal year, shows a 33% increase in personnel spending and hiring.  What for?  In September 2007, the Rancho Cordova City Council sent an embarrassing and threatening letter to the CRPD Board Chairman stating that the management and leadership of the District was in failure mode.  And to make matters worse, over the years, many of the major projects in the District were being accomplished behind schedule and the actual costs greatly exceeded budgeted costs.  I can attest to the problems, because I was there and have written many articles describing, in detail, these failures.

The CRPD is a very large and complicated District.  We have the new and the old communities.  We have the City of Rancho Cordova competing with communities such as Rosemont, Larchmont, Riviera East, Mather, College Green East and Gold River that are outside the City limits. Within the City you have the new areas ( Sunridge, and Village of Zinfandel) competing with the older areas of the City that contain parks that have been allowed to deteriorate. This complex maze is a nightmare for those who lack proper management and leadership skills.   There are the problems associated with recreation and park activities, with City/Park maintaining different requirement goals, with our agreements with the various school districts, with the utilization of police to protect park interests, and finally, with the American River Parkway stakeholder overview.

Yes, the District faces a myriad of problems. Yet, we must move beyond the problems and commit to the community.  This election is about who can best help turn the District around.  I have the management and leadership skills, which will enable us, the people, to turn the District into a Dream.  The most important first step that I have argued is to develop a master plan and strategy for the whole district.  The City of Rancho Cordova must be involved in the process, for ultimately, they also have the right for parks to resemble their ideals.  Then, again, the older sections of the park district must be renovated to bring back pride to each separate community and neighborhood.  All of the communities must get actively involved in this process.

To me, it is all about bringing all of the communities together to represent one goal:  A first class Board leading a first class District containing first class Parks and first class Recreation programs for all.

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Posted by Michelle Ventress on Sep 22 2008. Filed under Viewpoints. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.