Makeover Planned for Community Center Arcade
The manager's budget calls for $10,000 in capital improvements to the community center arcade.
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The Fair Lawn Community Center's stable of antiquated and oft out-of-service arcade games is in for a reset.
The manager's budget, presented Tuesday, lays out $10,000 in capital funding to phase out the aging consoles and replace them with more modern games.
“If you recall, when the Community Center was built the pinball games and all those types of things were provided by the 501(c) 3," manager Tom Metzler said Tuesday. "Well, they’re aging, and we’re budgeting to put a plan in place to start replacing some of this equipment.”
Even as residents have complained about the frequently broken games that bedeck the center's second floor youth center, fixes haven't been particularly forthcoming in recent years due to budget constraints.
In the past, when a single unit broke down the recreation supervisor would call for a repair. Now, the department waits until multiple pieces of equipment are broken before making a service call.
"We pay a service fee for them to come in," Metzler explained, "so to have them come in six separate times, the cost of maintaining these things would be astronomical.”
Going forward, the borough plans to lease new game consoles rather than buy them.
"The benefit to that is, we can change the machines from time to time with what the kids are really playing," Metzler said. "And we wouldn’t have the maintenance cost because as part of the lease they would take care of them."
Mayor John Cosgrove, the former chairman of the Community Center 501(c)3 Committee, said in addition to leasing new arcade-style units, there had also been discussions to buy smaller, more modern home video game consoles.
"While all these types of games are great, we also know that the kids have transitioned more to like Wii and these types of things," Metzler elaborated. "So the thought is to purchase a couple of those and put them into screens so the kids could interact with the Wii program, which is obviously less costly and would still provide a service to the youth of the borough."
Assuming the budget is approved in a timely fashion, Metzler said residents should begin to see some new games in the arcade by mid-summer.
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Mark C.
9:26 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
Very happy to hear...my kids will put them to use.
republicans?
12:57 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
i really dont understand how the mayor considers himself a conservative republican and then does things like this. our taxes are rising every year, we are paying extra to have our water meter checks but we can spend 10g on arcades.
its 2013 kids dont need to go to the arcade to play video games. i bet just about every kid who likes video games and would actually play them own an x box or wii system. they also play games on computers, tablets, or their phones.
throw a wii, an x box and some games up there and it will cost under $1000, how do you have the nerve to spend $10g on video games
republicans?
12:57 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
kids are on computers ipads and on their smart phones enough, do we really need to encourage them to spend more time in front of a screen.
you PROMISED the kids a skate park, at least then they would be outside socializing and getting exercise. i dont know if you noticed but skateboarding has become a bigger hobby now in town than it ever has. when i drive around town i see packs of kids skateboarding around town. it is not safe for the kids to be practicing their hobby in the streets. i hate to say it but if things dont change we will soon be reading an article in patch about a local kid getting hit by a car while skateboarding. if you care about our kids safety give them the park you PROMISED before it is too late.
if you are gonig to spend 10g on entertainment for our kids at least spend it to keep our kids active and most importantly SAFE. if you must do something at the all mighty rec center spend $1,000-2,0000 on a wii, x box, and some games, and spend the majority on the skate park you PROMISED to the kids.
Go Figure
6:00 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
I have to agree with repubs. Xbox and Wii are what the kids play and I am sure they would welcome those systems and games. We could spend a fraction of the $10,000 and the kids would be happy.......and of course the taxpayers would be happy too. Less maintenance and repair costs I would assume too.
R2
6:00 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
Ha " republicans?" Obviously is cloaking a desire for the overpriced unnecessary skate park within the long winded dribble.
Who is looking out for the folks?
9:15 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
We should auction off the naming rights to the gym. I can think of a few other ways to raise the money without putting a gun to the heads of taxpayers.
Its time the RINOs switch parties already.
Michael Agosta
9:15 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
Fair Lawn.....first?
Answer that question on Nov 5th.
Buster Hyman
2:46 am on Saturday, March 16, 2013
Auctioning off the name is actually a very good idea. If you had a large company name agree to sponsor it, it will help pay off the debt we are about to receive for even building that thing. A large company name, will help promote that building and you can even have small concerts in there.
Deleted because of harassment
7:26 pm on Saturday, March 16, 2013
When there was a public committee to make cost savings changes at the Community Center, there were several simple and cost-effective means to help sustain it that were presented to the trustees. None of them were ever adopted or even investigated. Leasing naming rights was one of them. Leasing equipment - all equipment - was another. The remainder included adding a small food handling area to provide for the use of some or all of the center as rental space when not in public use, use of a portion of the seldom-used basement areas for off-site data recovery services, a parking lot use agreement with other borough departments to improve parking for events, and the appointment of a director for the center to co-ordinate and originate events, manage the promotion of the site, and serve as the public face of the center.
Spent nine months working on that, including coordinating an event that sold out and made money for the center. Might as well have talked to the walls. No one wants to take responsibility for the day-to-day of the center, and never has. It's too imbeded in personalities and personal politics for anyone to be honest and accept that is needs direction and management to make it work. As it is now, the entire town loses out on what could have been.