Fresh Air Baby Camp/Little Girl Scout House

[ditziwt]

From the Riverside Booster, Sept 2009

"On July 23rd a group of 15 people got together at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church to discuss the future of the Little Girl Scout House. It is the building in Riverside Park to the south of Oak Park. It is a state registered historical building because it was the first of its kind back in 1919 as a place to take babies out of the confines of the hospital for fresh air, thus the name.
The building has fallen into disrepair over the last several years and its fate is probably further decline or worse. Over the past few years as the Riverside Citizens Association President I have received calls from folks concerned about the buildings fate. This get-together was to see if there was any interest at a grass roots level to try to save the building.
The building is owned by the City of Wichita, however with the current budget and lack of funding the city is not in a position to do any work on the building. And thus, this is the dilemma; do we, a group of concerned individuals (not RCA) proceed with the possibilities of preservation on a building that is owned by another entity, or not.
If there are individuals that feel passionate about this building there will be an opportunity for them to discuss this at another meeting on Sept. 17th at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 1101 N. River Blvd. at 7:00 pm. A core group of leaders for this cause is needed to move this project any further.
Melissa Alley
Riverside Citizens Association President"


That being said, I wanted to see what everyone else thought of the scout house. I have heard people talk about it and even had discussions about how sweet it would be if it was our clubhouse.
About 8 years or so ago, I attended a Christmas party for the local hot air balloon club at the scout house. I had no idea where I was when we got there but I was amazed at the building. Fast forward 7 years and I find myself playing disc golf next to this old rundown building. I eventually put it together that this is where I had been but it wasn't how I remembered it. Windows all boarded up. Water damage. Weeds. And who knows about the conditions on the inside.
Personally, I think it would be nice to be able to use the building. Run our tournaments/league out of it. BBQ on the patio. Sit around a fire. Just a place to hang out like you see at a ball golf course.
Restoring the building might be a big issue. Since it is a historical building there is some things that have to be done a certain way to restore it. Construction costs is going to be an issue as well since we don't know what needs to be done.

What do you all think about the building and its future?
If we have enough interest in the building, maybe we need to step forward and let them know what we think.

[Schoen-hopper]

I've had some correspondence with Melissa Alley about the Scout House. I said that we'd love to see it restored for a few reasons.
-Yes it could be used as a tournament headquarters for Oak Park.
-Oak Park doesn't have a bathroom. The N. Riverside course was removed years ago from people seeing discers whizzing on the course (I didn't say this). Fast forward 20 years, we still don't even have a bathroom. The scout house would be a good location as it is close to the course, but not right in a fairway.

Withought help from the city, I really don't see this happening. The meeting is taking place at the same time as our league will be. We, the club, do not have extra money to put towards this. But if individuals have time or materials to kick into a restoration project, they should attend this meeting.

[ditziwt]

If we can get away with just using the building and not worrying about the renovations that would be a great help. i think allowing the club to maintain it, in some respect, is better than having somebody else do it as we are there all the time. If they can get it renovated, we can keep it that way.
I would bet there is some old people in the neighborhood that would be willing to donate to the renovations, making it easier on the parties involved especially the city. i wonder if there is even govt grants for this sort of thing. cheap labor is available if a high school or vo-tech construction class is willing to do the work. If they could do it as a green project and use reclaimed wood, thats going to save costs as well.

i would be interested in going to their meeting to see what they all say about it and to get our foot in the door if anything does become of it.

[disclizard]

Wait are we saying that with every time people go to play league and play tourneys and pay dues we cant afford to put some money into restoring and then having a permanate club house? why can we just take all the money from one league night a week and half of our club tourney moneys an put it into the club house. that meens no pay out sure , but heck in the long run wouldn't the club house be the pay out. Why keep putting money in the good players pockets when we could put the same money into some thing every one can use. I know that statment is going to piss off the good players but tough. The club house would be for them also. We wouldn't have to barrow the water center for tourneys and meetings. we wouldnt have to use the oak lawn building for our ice bowls we could have them at the club house. I am sure we could still come up with a killer ice bowl course every year at oak maybe useing temp baskets in the woods more. This is a super chance at getting some thing a lot of clubs wouldnt dreem of having. we could even have a pro shop in the club house. With all of our members that we have i am sure we have some carpenters and electritions and plummers that would be willing to donate time.. i still have all of my painting equipment and if and when the time comes i will put up the first 300 bucks for spackel, primer, caulking and paint and will paint the dang thing my self inside and out .. so ?? whoes game? lets do this thing witchita. This right here is what could bring us to the next level in disc golf and our image to the people in that neighbor hood and the people of wichita.

[Schoen-hopper]

I can admire your enthusiasm, Lizard. If this project takes off, I'm sure your help would really be needed. But I think some of your other statements / suggestions need some clarification.

Yes, I'm saying the club doesn't have money to put towards this. Not the kind that would be significant enough to matter. We had to buy all the baskets for Derby because Derby wouldn't contribute. We still owe for that. Now we have to figure something for tee pads out there. Signs and benches are in bad shape at Herman Hill. We'll be losing many more trees out there and parks may not have any money for planting. Lots of things we need to reserve money for. Renovating this building would take 1000's of dollars. But, I agree, it would be very nice.

I hope some people feel as strongly as you do about helping. But they won't agree to come to league to have all their money taken for donation. That'll just kill the league.

And we are not allowed to use the woods for disc golf. Not even for a one day tourney. I don't think it's fair either, but that's what we have to do to keep the peace.

[Schoen-hopper]

There was a special interview last night on KAKE about the Fresh Air Baby Camp. You can watch it here:

http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/Fres ... 17003.html

[Schoen-hopper]

Below are two links to a story on KSN (aired last night) and an article in today's Eagle.

http://www.ksn.com/news/local/story/Gro ... ywsSw.cspx


http://www.kansas.com/2011/07/12/192999 ... house.html

[Swede]

Renovating this building would take 1000's of dollars.

More like tens of 1000's. Historical buildings = many stipulations about what can be done and how you have to do it. Getting a foot in the door is a great idea. I can make the meeting. But I'm doubting somebody is going to drop that kind of cash to restore the building and then just turn it over to the frolfers. We'll have to see who shows up and what they want to do. It is a disconcerting name, no?

[Schoen-hopper]

They mention 150-300k in the first report and $500,000 in the second. Lea said there would be a meeting later this month. Did it say when this was?

[Swede]

I thought an earlier post said there was a meeting in September. Guess I was confused. If someone finds out when the meeting will be, please post.