Home › Forums › Newbie Pilots › Pond Access
- This topic has 34 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 1 month, 1 week ago by
Dan DeWeese.
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July 14, 2024 at 6:25 AM #20650
Mark Hoffmann
General MemberJuly 14, 2024 at 8:51 AM #20652The fence issue has been known for what? 3 years now? If they wanted one, there’d be one.
No fence, no insurance policy, no pond.
Linda substitutes her opinions for facts. There was a vote on the shade structure. AND it is completely allowed under the terms of the lease. FACT.
Makes me think of Jane Curtin and Dan Akroyds Weekend Update.
July 14, 2024 at 9:03 AM #20653Fence? Who said anything about a fence? You’re misinformed Dan. It is far more than a fence preventing insurance. And, if it was just a fence, have you any idea what it would cost to put a fence around the XC Ranch property? Probably not.
July 14, 2024 at 9:57 AM #20654Im a contractor, so yes a fence is a no brainer. I had a hand in building the shade structure, remember? Maybe before your time. A long ago conversation with a ranch guy mentioned a fence around the pond. Maybe its more now. Maybe just another reason to say “we cant”. I dunno. Not much info flowing out these days.
Seems to me there is more drowning exposure now than ever before. No gate, no fence, no eyes on the path there. There must be some sort of rationale behind those choices. Fair enough.
July 14, 2024 at 10:02 AM #20655Mark Hoffmann
General MemberThank You Dan.
Jamie, what else is preventing insurance?
July 14, 2024 at 8:26 PM #20657Jerome Daoust
General MemberSuggestion… An addition under the CSS website’s history page, with the history of the area North of the LZ with its relationship to the CSS, along with a status of what is currently allowed for CSS members (training hill, foot trail, pond occasional access). Names of do-gooders (example) can be mentioned, and evildoers names left out.
This way, inquiring minds can be directed to it as needed, and there will be less rumors and debating.
July 15, 2024 at 6:20 AM #20658This discussion is how one attempts to wring out the facts Jerome. Tom asked a valid question.
Linda sullies the discussion in her usual fashion by berating the previous board. Secretary says I’m misinformed. Fact of the matter is, the membership is uninformed.
July 15, 2024 at 10:23 AM #20660Linda Salamone
General MemberYou might have sullied yourself first, Dan. In your usual fashion. In fact you were removed from the BOD during your term. The rest were voted out. Resoundingly.
July 16, 2024 at 2:01 PM #20664Linda wrote :
You might have sullied yourself first, Dan. In your usual fashion. In fact you were removed from the BOD during your term. The rest were voted
out. Resoundingly.I do Not remember there being a Shade Pavilion , before
the prior board took over ; am I mistaken ? Dan was on that board .
I was also told that Linda , never once
helped with the rebar or cement job, that was necessary for
the construction of that Pavilion ; YEP — Dan did most of all
the work , so are you forgetting that also ?Bille
July 20, 2024 at 8:08 AM #20674Here’s how I understand it (and please correct me if I’m wrong):
The pond was created for the purpose of irrigating the LZ grass. This was solely made possible by Len and Owen, when years ago they generously purchased the XC ranch property with their own money for no other reason (that I know of) than to keep it out of the hands of developers. This ensured that the club would have clear landing access to the LZ. They had the financial means and they did a beautiful thing for the club.
Naturally they could not incur this cost without the club’s assistance, so the club agreed to pay a certain monthly dollar amount to the XC Ranch to make it sustainable for all. The club benefitted via this land purchase in a few ways, Len and Owen would slowly be recouped by the club over time, and every pilot who flies and lands at AJX wins.
After years of hard work and many club member volunteers, the irrigation pond became what it is today, a great place to relax, take a swim, etc. Club members were allowed to enjoy the pond at their leisure and they did! We had parties, we had club member family gatherings up there, it was the best place to cool off before, or after flying when the heat got out of hand in the summer. Most club members knew it was there and some used it.
Now let’s examine the reason we are no longer able to enjoy this place without direct supervision from Len, Owen and/or perhaps Jamie; I was told that a year or two ago a pilot’s dog nearly drowned a small child in the pond. This probably sent shivers down Owen and Len’s spines, thinking of the liability if something had happened to that child. They had to rethink some things. An insurance policy, a fence around the pond, or supervised pond access only. There may have been other incidents of which I am not aware that led to this.
If you have a pool at your private residence or property, I think you can probably understand the fear of your neighbors coming into that pool without your supervision while you’re not home. If something bad happens, someone gets hurt or drowns, there could be repercussions for you. Same idea with this pond. We’re allowed to hike through, we get to enjoy it during the few supervised pond parties, but unfettered access to it is no longer possible due to the huge liability until further notice.
Now that Len has generously donated the XC ranch to the free flight community by creating a non-profit organization called the Len Szafaryn Free Flight Conservancy (a.k.a. LSFFC), the XC ranch and pond land are safe from developers for many years to come, still there to be enjoyed by all club members under direct supervision. He has also agreed to lower the monthly cost to the club as a result, and has already done so. Now the club gets to keep more of its money for maintenance and savings, which is great news for all.
If you are not familiar with Len’s announcement of the XC ranch donation and creation of the LSFFC, here is his post:LSFFC Announcement
July 20, 2024 at 7:29 PM #20681John Wright
General MemberSo, the current board seems to have removed from the board the rebar/concrete expert who laid the foundation for the shade structure and straight-up banned (beyond the original date) the heavy equipment operator that did just about every bit of terraforming above the LZ, including the pond expansion and especially the road to the 350/400.
Bold move, Cotton. May we expect a board member or two, maybe the one who emailed me out of the blue asking me to recall people, to put in mildly comparable effort? Luke, Linda? How many calories may we put you down for?
July 21, 2024 at 1:27 PM #20683John, we never asked any members to recall anyone. We wanted members to vote for a board that wouldn’t do harm to the club. It took more than a year to recover from the damage that was caused by the site insurance issue. If you want to know more about it, you could have attend BOD meetings or read the meeting minutes.
In terms of how we handle issues with like Site-Bans and the removal of Board Members… The findings are made public for transparency reasons, however in general we maintain some sense of privacy for those involved. In short, we are not airing dirty laundry or dragging people through the mud. You are obviously not informed about the total picture of circumstances.
By calories I am assuming you mean how much skin some of the board members have in the game? You have no idea of how much work has been done behind the scenes by board members. Putting up with gossip, speculation, immaturity, and sense of entitlement by a loud minority of members accounts for 95% of the stress we put up with when we all have full-time jobs/families/priorities etc. outside of club board responsibilities.
July 21, 2024 at 2:01 PM #20684John, maybe your absence from the site for the last several years has meant you’re not necessarily up on what’s going on there these days?
Linda is no longer on the board. And Luke…well, there is not a single board member that has put in the “calories” that Luke has since he joined. Luke has spent thousands of his own dollars and many hundreds of hours of his time making the landing field what it is today. No one mows the grass half as often as Luke does. In fact the only other two people that have mowed the grass in the last several years are Owen and myself and I’ve only done it maybe three times. Luke drives two hours each way, nearly every weekend and often times during the week to mow, to fertilize, to meet the gopher exterminator, to fix Gracie and both lawn mowers (one of which he bought and paid for himself), to troubleshoot sprinkler issues, to work the internet for the sprinkler controller and future security cameras, etc., etc. I’m sure there are many other things that I’m forgetting. Oh and, once in a while, he gets to actually gets to fly.
Sorry, but I take serious offense to you suggesting that we should “put him down” for MORE calories. Shame on you.
July 21, 2024 at 4:22 PM #20685John Wright
General MemberJamie, there’s a reason I’ve not been out and it’s leadership like yours.
Luke hit me up on Facebook chat a while back trying to get me to vote Dan out.
I’m glad Luke works hard for the club. Luke, I was wrong, that was wrong, and I apologize.
I told him no. I’ve spent more ($13K) and burned more (hike up to the 750 and everything past the pond was the dozer I rented or the brush cutter I swung) and had certain deals altered on me, cloud city style. Fool me once.
Two people have remained loyal and touched base: Dan & Gene. Flaws I have, lack of loyalty is not one of them. After Len’s benevolence, I came out to try to get interested to get back into the air, even burned a few calories, only to find that Gene is still banned from the LZ (past the date) and Dan has gotten less than appreciation for his efforts.
Would that lift were as consistent (inversely) as the CSS board. Same stuff, different decade. You are treating two of the best people and resources the club has ever had poorly, unapologetically, and even gleefully. Shame, indeed.
July 21, 2024 at 5:16 PM #20686John, it appears you are confusing loyalty to individuals vs. leadership. Please don’t put words in my mouth… I spoke with every single HG pilot in the club to campaign for a change in board leadership during a regular cycle BOD election… it was not to vote Dan out, just to vote for a different group (you used the word ‘recall’ in your post above, and that vote was at a later date for specific circumstances and did not involve membership, it was a BOD decision and it wasn’t made lightly). Dan was my Instructor and Gene was my friend… do you actually think I, or anyone, took any pleasure in the actions we had to take? Do you think we just ignored or forgot the contributions of both individuals? So I’ll just reiterate what I said before, a significant set of circumstances were present and we were forced to take action while also not trying to publicly humiliate anyone. The simple fact is, and it appears this has happened many times in the past, some people who give a lot to the club later develop a sense of entitlement and do things that wouldn’t be tolerated from any other member. It happened… it happened a lot. We aren’t giving preferential treatment anyone, ourselves included and we aren’t going to let anyone walk over the club because they feel like they are above the rules and beyond reproach.
Honestly John I’m pretty shocked, considering your background, that you would make comments about leadership without knowing the big picture. You have no idea how many times this club came danger-close to being in real trouble that would risk our lease with DWR because of the actions of a few. Maybe if you did then you’d actually be thankful there are fully-formed adults managing the business of the club.
And BTW… Jamie has put in a mind-numbing amount of hours dealing with insurance issues and ultimately got on us on a path to having the right type of insurance that the DWR approves of while also not forcing the Instructors to pay RRRG thier extortion rates. She has had to deal with State Officials (the slow grind of that wheel), as well trying to negotiate issues with USHPA, the RRRG, and some downright offensive and belligerent executives at our previous commercial insurance provider. I’m sure there are numerous people in the club who would have offered to help with type of work but I can promise you that no one we have is better equipped to have managed it as diplomatically and as strategically than Jamie did. Also… I shouldn’t have to bring this up, but as an HG pilot you should know how long Jamie has been involved with organizing Comps and keeping the sport going. So if you are going to insult her leadership ability without knowing the facts, that says way more about you than it does about any of us.
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