Pools Are a Service

Great letter to the editor in the December 12 edition of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette by a Lawrence F. Bassett.  Pools need more supporters like him!

Reading the Sun-Gazette's editorial on Williamsport's swimming pools ("The municipal pool needs private saviors," Dec. 1), I had to ask myself, "What part of 'municipal' doesn't the Sun-Gazette understand?"

Reporting on the Aquatic Feasibility Study presented to City Council, R.A. Walker wrote "The bottom line is that loan payments on the debt for building one or more new pools in the city would be staggering and the prospects of making a profit and not having to subsidize the operation with taxpayer funds would be unlikely."

Which, of course, is exactly the point.

Public swimming pools, it seems to me, are a municipal service not very different from police and fire services or from the city streets; they represent a public good which should be financed at public expense. Just as we don't expect the fire, police, and streets departments to make a profit, we shouldn't expect our municipal swimming pools to make a profit (or even break even.)

Mr. Walker quotes Council Vice President Bill Hall saying, "Of course, we could always have the Halliburton Pool" and Councilwoman Gerry Fausnaught "suggesting that, with all the natural gas companies pouring in, Hall's idea might be a viable option given that many people are very passionate about aquatic programs."

One would assume that the city's taxpayers are also passionate about police and fire protection and about well-maintained streets. Would it therefore be a "viable option" to have a Halliburton police department, a Chesapeake fire department, and a Cabot streets department?

Private largess, that is, is not substitute for public responsibility, and rather than needing "private saviors" what our municipal pools need is a recognition that clean, safe, public swimming pools open to all are a civic good deserving public support.

Lawrence F. Bassett
Williamsport
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom