Downstroke

Rec center redux: It may be time to dust off those workout clothes.

A group of Chico State University students is reviving the push to get a recreation center built on campus. At the Sept. 27 meeting of the Associated Students Governmental Affairs Committee, Keegan Warren, who is the A.S. vice president of facilities and services, asked that any interested students contact him to coordinate the rec center research effort.

This batch of student leaders may postdate the controversy that surrounded the last effort to get a rec center at Chico State.

Students balked at the hefty price tag: The Wildcat Activity Center of 2001 would have cost $65 million spread out among the student body to the tune of about $320 a year apiece. Meanwhile, local health club leaders mounted an opposition campaign hollering “unfair competition.” The 125,000-square-foot center was strongly backed by then-university President Manuel Esteban and would have included weight rooms, four gymnasiums, an aquatics center (with Olympic-sized pool, plus a second pool, spas and sauna) and other amenities.

Students voted against the referendum, and a later effort to scale back the center and make it environmentally friendly also tanked amid a tightening budget and the university’s desire to get students to pass a fee referendum to subsidize school sports.

Weed pullers needed: The Chico Park Department is looking for volunteers to do some weeding at the One-Mile Recreation Area. Specifically, the department is looking to uproot non-native, invasive plants that have crept into Bidwell Park over the years.

The city has employed goats to do this work in the past, with varying degrees of success. (But they sure are cute.) The operation is set for Saturday, Oct. 2. Meet at 9 a.m. at One-Mile and expect to pull until noon. Wear sturdy shoes; tools and beverages will be provided.

Normally, trail maintenance work is performed on the first Saturday of the month. That work’s been delayed until Saturday, Nov. 6, in order to get a handle on the weeds. To volunteer for what’s been dubbed Scour and Devour, call the park office at 895-4972. Let’s show those goats how to do it.