AFLC complaints are distracting from “more serious issue”

May 20, 2015 · 0 Comments

(Re: Brock’s Banter, April 30)

While the space for youth in the newly renovated AFLC may be winning kudos from the youth, as you stated, there are still many issues and shortcomings to address. The heavy focus on these shortcomings, as important as they are, are diverting our sights from the more serious issue of the project as a whole.
The original purpose of the project was to create a ‘dedicated’ space for youth.
There were two options put forward that would have achieved this purpose with both options costing less than $5M. Now, six months late and at a cost of over $7.5M, we have an all-purpose facility.
There are three basic components to the new facility: a dedicated space for youth, a space for adults and space shared by both youth and adults.
It would be interesting to determine how much of the total expenditure was allocated to each of the three components. When I look at the space dedicated to youth, I can’t help but think the cost of that element of the AFLC probably had the least amount of dollars spent on it.
As for your comment of sharing the space, now that we have spent far more money on this building, would it not make sense to utilize all the space available for whatever group wants to use it? Or, do we leave it empty and unused so that those in charge can say it is dedicated to youth and pat themselves on the back for what they think is a job well done?

Juergen Daurer
Aurora