A new form of recreation could be on the horizon for community members in Oceano after the Community Services District’s Parks and Recreation Committee applied for a grant to help build a local track.
During an April 24 Community Services District board meeting, President Charles Varni announced that the committee is seeking a $50,000 grant from the Community Development Block Grant Program to build a walking track at Oceano Elementary School that would be open to the public after school hours.
“When people don’t have the infrastructure to safely walk, they’re less likely to do so, and it’s hard to find continuous sidewalks where you could get like 45 minutes walking comfortably,” Varni told New Times. “To have a 12-foot-wide track that you don’t have to worry about stepping in a pothole, you can walk and talk, then you also have access to the playground for your kids to be playing—it’s a nice setup.”
The Community Development Block Grant Program partners with rural cities and counties to create community and economic development opportunites for low- and moderate-income residents, according to the program’s website.
Varni said the Parks and Recreation Committee is expecting to hear if they have been awarded the grant in July.
“The nice thing about this grant is that it’s funded with tobacco tax money and it’s a preventative health grant. So when you think about our community, we do have some issues with obesity among kids and adults,” he said. “All the research shows that getting into a more regular routine of exercise is very effective at reducing those risks or preventing them, and walking is the cheapest, easiest thing to do.”
However, receiving the grant is only the first part of this proposed project.
Community Services District board member Shirley Gibson announced that she found out that the Lucia Mar School District won’t have any written agreement or contract until it has donations in hand.
“That kind of makes me uncomfortable that we have to collect $200,000—it just seems a little unusual,” Gibson said. “The school board is aware of the track, but they do absolutely nothing until they have the money.”
Varni said if awarded the grant, the next step would be to collect community donations to hopefully match the $50,000 and begin drafting construction plans.
“I’m hoping that within a month we can get that $50,000,” he said. “I’m going to lead off with a $5,000 donation to the campaign, and I’m looking for other people to join me. Once we reach the goal of 10 champions, and another $50,000 we’ll be looking for other champions to come in and other agencies and organizations and community-based organizations and faith communities. The goal is to have $150,000 by the end of the year.”
Varni said this would be a project that will ensure healthy habits for decades in the community.
“I think it’s a legacy project for the community that will serve everybody no matter what your social class is or your ethnicity,” he said. “Until we have a complete system of sidewalks—curbs, gutters, and sidewalks—this will be a wonderful asset, and the kids are stoked about the idea.” Δ
This article appears in May 9-19, 2024.
This is just another of OCSD Board President Charles Varni’s cockamamie schemes.
I hope the New Times, which commendably covers local Oceano issues, will continue to ask and get some real answers.
Let’s see: OCSD is spending public time (and public money) to discuss an apparently private, non-profit foundation, run by Varni, that’s not a public agency. This private foundation would solicit and give private money to Lucia Mar School District for a walking track at Oceano Elementary School.
Not only is this proposal not within OCSD’s core functions, the District is spending dollars to pay its attorney to caution Varni and try to protect the District from the kind of chaos and cost carnage it suffered in 2023. Will the total dollar impact of his craziness in 2024 approach the $60,000 in excessive attorneys fees the District had to pay lawyers for his 2023 shenanigan?
Varni is putting the District in a position that is possibly illegal, certainly imprudent, and also a waste of public resources.
Some hard questions need real answers.
1. According to Varni’s public statements to the OCSD board and public this week, a grant fund promoter will charge a big fee to his proposed foundation to promote this project to the actual grant funding source. Will OCSD be on the hook to guarantee the fee? Varni doesn’t say. The public needs to know.
2. Has a grant fund application even been submitted? Where is it? Varni seemed to admit it hasn’t been submitted, or any details or copies of the application. Who knows? The public needs to know.
3. Does OCSD have any public assurance or formal commitment that Lucia Mar even supports and would fund this venture? Lucia Mar would inevitably be responsible for the bulk of the costs of the project, including ongoing maintenance. The public needs to know.
4. If the private, non-profit actually gets a grant and Lucia Mar doesn’t agree to approve the project or accept the money for the project – for which the private money is being solicited and raised – what happens to the private money Varni has solicited and the grant money that the private foundation obtains? The public needs to know. It’s not a personal slush fund!
5. Varni hasn’t even shown that the District supports and will pick up the lion’s share of costs. The public needs to know, since Lucia Mar has already put out a lot of glossy advertising seeking “public imput” on a massive $250 Million bond proposal it plans to put on the November 2024 ballot, and there’s no evidence in all that glossy material about an Oceano School running track.
6. Does Varni have any estimate of the costs to design, construct and maintain the project? No.
7. Has Varni revealed any polling or other evidence that the public wants this project? No. He claims above that “kids are stoked” about the idea. Well, that’s not data, and hardly assuring to the “kids” parents, and other taxpayers and ratepayers who pay the bills.
New Times needs to shed a lot more light on this.
It’s time to Save Oceano from Varni’s schemes.
Let’s totally disregard the fact that Varni LIED on this grant application at was submitted to the county on San Luis as well as turned in an incomplete application to Ecologistics