Youth and family programs
A city with this many kids in it should be measured by what those kids have to do after three o’clock.
The Boys & Girls Club operated out of the Bell Tower Regional Community Center for about twelve years under a city contract of roughly $120,000 a year. The lease was not renewed, negotiations broke down, and the club ended services in the summer of 2025.
I am not interested in relitigating who said what in those negotiations. I am interested in the hole it left. For a working parent, an after-school program is not a nice-to-have, it is the difference between a manageable Tuesday and an impossible one.
Whatever fills that space should be judged on one thing: how many RSM kids walk through the door on an ordinary weekday. A room that is busy five afternoons a week is worth more than a room that photographs well.
And the politics has to stay out of it. Programs that families depend on should not become a proxy fight.
What I will do
- Get a real after-school option back into the Bell Tower or an equivalent space.
- Back youth sports with fields and scheduling, not just proclamations.
- Partner with the schools our kids already attend instead of building parallel programs.