Now that the former Merrill Community Center has been spiffed up to the tune of more than a million dollars, the city is wanting to charge for its exclusive use.
That seems reasonable.
Before the upgrade to what is now called the Pine Bluff Community Center, a boxing club called Gloves Not Guns, which aims to keep youngsters off the street and away from violence, other than the left hook variety, pretty much had its run of the place and was able to use it exclusively at no charge.
But things change. And now with the improvements, other entities are wanting to use the space. Consequently, the boxing folks are being asked to pay a fee if they want exclusive rights. That hasn’t gone over well in some quarters.
“When it was raggedy and it was falling down, the team could use it and there was no fee,” said a letter read by a person representing Coach Albert Brewer, who started the organization in 2004, according to a social media page. “Now we’ve upscaled it a little bit, so now we’re going to pressure these guys to come up with $1,000 or a monthly fee to use that facility?”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
It’s a little more complicated than that but, in short, yes. But that’s only if Brewer wants exclusive rights to use the space. If he will allow his club to be put on a schedule with other outfits wanting to use the center, there’s no charge.
From a public policy standpoint, the fact that more organizations want to use the facility — the fact that people are standing in line for it — is evidence that the money to fix up the center was well spent.
No one wanted to be in the facility before because, well, it was raggedy. But now multiple organizations want to be in there, and for it all to work, the space has to be shared. That’s what you would expect for a space owned by the public. You certainly would not expect it to be reserved for one entity and one entity alone, particularly if others wanted to use it.
Mayor Shirley Washington emphasized that there was no intent to charge Brewer or any other organization a fee as long as they weren’t operating for a fee and didn’t want exclusive rights to the space.
This sounds like a problem that should be easily resolved. Yes, the city owes Brewer respect for the work he is doing with young people. We need to encourage all the Albert Brewers out there. The city also should be respected for the work it has done to create a better space for those same young people and many others. It should be a win-win for all involved. Perhaps the sides can hit the reset button and try again.