Open Letter to the Director of Parks and Recreations

Dear readers,

If you're reading this, you probably know that "The Boxers" have taken up a fight against the "The City of Baldwin Park."

Our beloved Head Boxing Coach, Julian Casas and Luis Rosales, Assistant Boxing Coach, has decided to take a stand against their own director.  Imagine how hard it is to confront the big boss of your organization.  And at first, they decided to stay quiet and to not do anything.  But after 14 years of serving, Julian realized that enough is enough.  Poor decision after poor decision.  Mistreatment of staff, again and again.  So, him and Luis took on a small issue but decided that they and the boxing program needed to be heard.  Their courage needs to be commended.  Imagine how hard this would be for you to do.

This week, the Director of Parks and Recreations has implemented changes to our program that make him look like he is fixing the problem.  But in reality, it's like an accounting trick.  We need our Thursdays back.  To make that happen, he's cut an hour from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and given us a three hour Thursday.  This is like the right hand taking from the left hand and making sure the left hand doesn't know.  The Boxers know.  We don't like this cooking-the-books kind of practice.

Below, I have provided a list of email addresses to copy and paste.  Please tell the director, Councillors, and mayor of our city that this deceptive practice needs to stop and to please give our Thursdays back.  It hardly costs anything.

Join the fight.  Share the story.  Email the people below.

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7/9/2013

Re: New Boxing Hours

Dear Manuel Carrillo Jr., Councillors, and Mayor:

Director Carillo, I am sorry that I have escalated the matter to also include the Councillors and Mayor.  Yet, as we all know, the boxers made the dying boxing program a public matter with the Baldwin Park City Council on June 19, 2013.

At that meeting, Paul Cook, representing the boxers, stated on the record that the new proposal for adding a Thursday back to the program, which was removed earlier this year, was not acceptable.  Nonetheless, Director Carrillo still went ahead and implemented this new schedule.  

All Director Carrillo has done is removed one hour from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and added three hours to Thursday.  Although it appears that we get the Thursday back, indeed, it does not solve the fundamental issue of having lost the five hours of training in the week by shutting Thursday down from this year’s schedule.  Furthermore, it is concerning that the Director of Parks and Recreation is trying to appear that he is fixing the problem, instead of really attempting to understand the program and the repercussions his decision has wrought on Baldwin Park’s boxing program and the at risk youth of the City who need it.

There are several critical problems with the new schedule.  One, the main problem is that although the coaches were told about the proposed schedule, they were not consulted in the matter.  For the record, I have coached for fourteen years for the boxing program.  I have never been consulted once by Director Carrillo on the Thursday and Friday cuts he made in the boxing schedule.  

It reflects once again on the director’s negligence in his duty to understand his portfolio of projects, in which boxing is one.  Instead, it does, however, show that Director Carrillo is trying to enhance his public image by illusorily fixing a more fundamental problem brought on by poor decision making.  

Two, the boxing staff have more work, which is uncompensated for.  It takes planning time to start and stop a class, and to do this for a three-hour-Thursday cannot justify such planning efforts, which again Director Carrillo expects us to do for free.

Director Carrillo, the Councillors and the Mayor, with the exception of Ricardo Pacheco, have intentionally ignored are many requests for help.  Director Carrillo, as well as the Councillors, have stated that the main problem with re-extending the boxing program is money. 

Therefore, I have proposed a clean solution.  1) Please reinstate our regular hours for Monday through Wednesday.  2) The boxing coaches have agreed Thursdays are important, that this program is important, and so we have agreed to volunteer our time for Thursday; hence, the City will not have to worry about the financial costs.  3) Please expedite the interview process for our third coach, since we are severely understaffed.  At times, we have had only two coaches for forty children.

May we please hear back before Monday, July 14, 2013 next week?  We know that your intention is in the best interest of the community. 

This letter has been made open to the public.

Sincerely,
Julian Casas

Head boxing coach, boxing coach for fourteen years, and proud citizen of Baldwin Park

Supported by Luis Rosales

Assistant boxing coach, four year member of the boxing program, and proud citizen of Baldwin Park

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I'm proud of the boxing coaches who wrote this letter and took a stand.

Please copy and paste these email addresses and write to those in power to help our cause.  Thank you for joining our fight.

MCarrillo@baldwinpark.com, mlozano@baldwinpark.com, mgarcia2@baldwinpark.com, monica_garcia@baldwinpark.com, rpacheco@baldwinpark.com, srubio@baldwinpark.com

Updated on 8/11/2013

If you've been following the post, Carrillo has done nothing to fix our program in the seven weeks.  Sad.  In fact, we've discovered that the boxing program may most likely make a profit.  Therefore, he should have never cut it in the first place.  But then again, he doesn't practice standard accounting practices as he's conflated the boxing account in some strange general fund.