exercise in American democracy

It was good to see the Council chambers packed again, as it does show that some of our residents care about what happens at the pool. I am afraid that most of the speakers missed the main point, however. NOBODY was saying that swimming isnt good exercise and a great sport, with LOTS of benefits to a lot of people all over the world. That much is pretty much conceded and indisputable. The point is that, in these VERY difficult times, can we afford to leave it open year-round? especially when there are so few of our own kids involved, and the losses are HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars to the taxpayers? That is the basic question, and doesnt even begin to address the propriety of subsidizing a private team with public tax monies. OR why numbers and statements were made WITHOUT any form of documentation or proof? Another question would be- why are we NOT getting the standard pool rental rates for the use of our pool? IF we were, at least getting those monies, our pool costs would be considerably less. There are several questions that still remain unanswered. The Aquatics/polo numbers make no sense if what they are telling us about revenues that were supposed to have been collected is true. Why would Gym say there is an Optimist connection if there IS NONE? If he would blatantly fabricate that statement it casts doubts about his credibility, and makes one wonder what OTHER statements are fabricated? Just because only one resident showed up to question the wisdom of all these issues does NOT mean that others do not care either. Plenty of concerned residents show up here and do a lot of valuable services to the city with their research and inquiries. They show up HERE and that is a valuable contribution. To say their points are invalid because they didnt show up at the Council meeting is ridiculous, of course. MORE community involvement is needed, but lets focus on resolving the real issues. It is conceded that swimming is great exercise and team swimming is a great sport. Now lets focus on the issues that are specific to OUR pool, and its operations. By the way, I am not hiding anywhere. I was there and I spoke. This is an exercise in American democracy. Comments are welcome.

commentary

Mr Gorland was acting pretty sure of himself that the residents numbers werent accurate when he confronted a resident in Open Forum, only to be found out later to have NO real numbers to back up his claim. He loses whatever credibility he may have when he does that, but it DID look very authoritative on the video. It is what it is - a grandstand play to the cameras to try to dissuade and discourage residents from asking tough questions of City officials. To the contrary, he embarrassed himself when it was found later that he had NO real basis on which to make that claim, just a vague guess about some possible percentages. When are we going to get a current list of the MDAC swim team and how many Springs kids there are now? If, what Mr Gorland says is true (which IS possible), that it varies from month to month, then a list of verifiable and confirmed kids for the last YEAR or two might give a better idea of the average participation, and this part of this issue can be put to rest. That should be NO problem for the Rec Director, right? When can we expect that information to be released? Soon? EVER?