A few weeks back, Williamsport’s
mayor welcomed hundreds of swimmers of the Greater Susquehanna Valley Aquatic
League (GSVAL) Championship meet to the East End Pool and invited them back
next year to the new pool at Memorial Park (East End is scheduled to close at
the end of this summer, see here). A few days later, the Williamsport Sun
Gazette wrote an article describing how disappointed the mayor was in the
community’s effort to assist in some fundraising for the pool (see here). Now the editorial staff of the same paper (can
be viewed within the blog posting) has also chimed in and is wondering if a
pool is even necessary or wanted because of the community’s poor support and effort
in this project.
A few comments on the editorial
and more….
·
The paper makes the comment that private pools
are more plentiful as a possible reason for the muted fundraising
response. Private pools are great for
those who 1) have the monies to buy and maintain a backyard pool and 2) have
the space. For those that don’t have
monies and space, it appears you are screwed.
Go jump in a puddle!
·
What is up with this end of Williamsport? First, the basketball hoops are taken down
(see here, here
and here)
and now some community leaders are questioning the need for a swimming pool
(Williamsport, a town of 30,000 will be left without a public pool when the
East End Pool closes the end of this summer).
For those that can afford a private pool, no problem. Others will still need to find that puddle.
·
The Area Development Magazine listed
Williamsport as a top 10 leader amongst small US cities in economic strength and
recession busting (here). That is great but what is the city going to
offer or showcase to new families that might be tempted to move into the area to
take advantage of this economic strength.
Current residents will already have the prime puddles marked out.
·
Williamsport’s community, businesses, and
leaders open up their arms to the youth of the world as teams and their families
pour into Williamsport during the Little League World Series. Why aren’t our leaders and businesses opening
up their arms to recreation for the residents of the city?
·
Where is Williamsport’s swimming community? Some of the staunchest supporters of pools
are swim team parents and are often the core of pool movements. However, the lack of swim team parent action
is not much of a surprise as Williamsport’s winter YMCA swim team (the River
Valley Raiders) folded many years ago.
The summer swim team is a shell of its former self as it is now one of the
smaller teams in the 13 team GSVAL (despite being the largest city in the
league and central Pennsylvania).
Jersey Shore, just to the west of Williamsport, also has some pool issues (badly needed repairs). Like Williamsport, the community has been asked to raise $50,000. Jersey Shore, a town of 4,500 has collected just over $14,000 in cash and checks and has another $9,950 in pledges to the campaign. That is just over $24,000 in two months (see here for more info on their fundraising). Compare that to Williamsport (remember, a town of around 30,000) has only raised $3,000 in eight months (see here).
Could it be that folks from Jersey Shore would rather not swim in puddles?
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