Boys & Girls Clubs Ask for $999,999

By Michael Burge, San Diego Union-Tribune

(May 19, 2005 -- Carlsbad, CA)   The Boys & Girls Clubs are asking the city to chip in $999,999 toward a $5 million fund drive aimed at building a new facility in Bressi ranch.

In making his pitch to the City Council on Tuesday, Ron Sipiora, the clubs' chief executive, said the organization was requesting $999,999 because "we are not that crazy to ask for $1 million."

The club at Roosevelt Street and Oak Avenue opened in 1952, the same year the city incorporated.  A branch intended to be temporary opened in a mobile unit in La Costa in 1982, according to club officials, but that 1,440-square-foot structure still operates today.

Fund drive chairman Greg Nelson told the council that the clubs have given thousands of children a place to go after school to develop their talents and stay out of trouble.

Nelson, who has donated $1 million to the drive, credits the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad with helping him develop the skills to become a successful entrepreneur.

The fund drive seeks to raise money to help build, furnish and operate a new 18,000-square-foot facility that will include a gymnasium, game room, learning center and other activity rooms.  The new club also will serve as the association's headquarters.

The organization is asking the city to contribute $750,000 to construction costs, waive $150,000 in fees and give $99,999 for general operations.

Councilman Matt Hall, who was chairing Tuesday's council meeting in Mayor Bud Lewis' absence, said the panel will discuss the request at a future meeting.  Lewis is the fund drive's honorary chairman.

Lennar Communities, the developer of Bressi Ranch, has donated 1.17 acres for the new building at the southeast corner of Palomar Airport Road and El Camino Real.  Club officials hope to begin construction next year.