What happens on Tuesday will not change the broken process in PWC, no matter what the Board does in the end. Whether Rainbow Riding gets its funding along with other numerous recipients, what citizens can count on for sure, is that we will continue, BAD business as usual in PWC.
It has come to my attention that the “process” for non profits to attain tax payer funds are quite backwards. Here is how it works. Non profit asks for money, county gives money, THEN, behind closed doors, said non profit agrees upon a “memorandum of understanding”.
Well, here is my first most obvious question, how the heck can the county GIVE money BEFORE you understand WHAT how the money is being spent. My next question is, within the context of this supposed process, where does the non profit list the deliverables expected from this money?
Does the county have MOU’s (memorandum of understanding) for all the previous years they have been included in the budget? I plan on investigating this in the near future.
Now we come to the most recent request for almost grand from the carryover surplus. Are you wondering WHY Rainbow Riding is not listed under its own name, but instead hidden under the guise of Silver Lake? Well, you see, the county will be directly paving and installing the HVAC for Rainbow Riding. What does this mean, well, given the bare bones requirement of an MOU when the county gives money to a nonprofit, apparently, taxpayer won’t even be seeing THAT!
Rainbow Riding is private property, it is NOT a part of Parks and Rec.
I understand their that intent of the county, because we partner with Rainbow Riding for programs in PWC, we are somehow responsible for ensuring they are ADA compliant. Really, do we do this for ALL our partners?
Apparently Rainbow Riding received a grant from Potomac Health Foundation that was connected to the students from Forest Park High School. I wonder what THAT process looked like! I imagine considerably more extensive than an our pathetic MOU procedure.
“This is a wish come true for Rainbow,” says Rainbow ex-ecutive director Deb Alexander, referring to the center’s partner-ship with Forest Park High School. A $69,100 one-year grant from the Potomac Health Foundation made The Mane Experience possi-ble. The grant comes up for renewal in September, and Rainbow and Forest Park will have plenty of possible results to bring to the table.
However, I will go to my main premise. Rainbow Riding is private property. We, as taxpayers, are not responsble for making it ADA compliant.
From the Rainbow Riding License Agreement with PWC:
3. a
All such improvements shall be constructed at Licensee sole expense. Licensee shall have the right to fund the construction and operation from its own funds, from the proceeds of financing, and or from grant monies received from third parties, including licensor.
So, we aren’t giving them grant money, we aren’t loaning them money, we are simply doing this pro bono?
Are there benefactors of Rainbow Riding that may also be large contributors to Corey and Wally’s campaign? Hmmm, I wonder what VPAP would show us?
Rainbow Riding is nothing but a fundraising front group for Stewart and Covington. The organization serves 114 individuals, many not even from Prince William County, and calls itself a non-profit, while collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the local government. No one with any normal measure of cognitive ability is buying this. Stewart and Covington finance this thing with public money, then use it a vehicle to raise campaign funds. Sounds a lot like money laundering to me.
Check out the sponsors of the Rainbow Riding golf tournament last year, and how much they have given Stewart:
http://rainbowriding.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/summer-newsltr-11.pdf
Rinker Design Associates, Mulligan Sponsor
$10,000 to Stewart
Ghadban Realty, Rule Sheet
$11,500 to Stewart
Bruni Peters, RK Realty, Beverage Cart
$10,500 to Stewart
Gainesville Associates, Closest to the Pin and Registration Desk
$25,000 to Stewart
All data can be verified at http://www.vpap.org.
Welcome Spec–
Well that certainly explains why RRC is never sent from the trough.
Back before they whipped down their list of board members and VIP folks, I saw some rather well-heeled names capable of giving nice chunks of money.
I don’t understand why they don’t use their own money. Of course, if I could get someone else to pay for improvements to my home, well I guess I would do it.
Spec
i don’t know where you are even coming up with 114 individuals. If you are counting those forest Park kids, I believe there is another grant out there on them for $60k or something like that. Are we now even double dipping?
Now that RRC seems to be the new boss of Silver Lake, I won’t even go out there any more.
PWC Budget will be holding an information meeting for Community Partners for submission of Fiscal Year 2014 (starting July 1, 2013) this month on August 23rd, 3pm, at McCoart Board Chambers. Information about Community Partners, application form, etc is at:
http://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/budget/Pages/Community-Partners.aspx
@Moon-howler
The 114 number is from the report posted online with the agenda. That’s how many individuals the county claims used the facility last year. When does a local government or politicans pour this much money into something so few people use? They want to use money for things that get them lots of visability, such as a park. Unless, of course, they defunded that park to punish one of their own who stepped out of line.
I am assuming it includes wouldned warriors and the Forest Park kids then.
@Moon-howler
It has to include them. I couldn’t imagine them not trying to make that number as large as possible.
Keep in mind also that RR has claimed non-profit, tax-exempt status. That means they could be audited by the IRS and made to prove that they are in fact a non-profit. They have far less leeway, unless they don’t care about getting caught, than does the County government to make up things.
Welcome Spectator and thanks for the great info!