Toledo Blade: Toledo expects to demolish 4 old pools
Collins Park and Ravine pools in East Toledo, Ashley Pool in the near south end, and Highland Park Pool in South Toledo have been deemed beyond repair...Officials hope to save Detwiler Pool, an Olympic-sized facility in North Toledo, by finding a private group to take it over.
Some interesting pull quotes from this article:
Councilman Mike Craig fumed at the damage wrought by thieves. He said the city needs to make sure all its property is well secured.
Uh huh. If there's one thing this place excels at, it's securing public property and caretaking of assets. Just ask the folks investigating the Department of Neighborhoods <end sarc....well, pause sarcasm>
During the last year Collins Park was open, just 128 people went to the pool throughout the season, Mr. Craig said.
How many people knew that? 128 over an 8 week season (length of the "season" noted in article). 128/8 = 16. 16/7 = 2.29 people per day. Ouch.
And then Toledo's queen of colossal glittering ignorance pipes up and says...literally a few paragraphs later:
A survey of residents carried out in advance of placing the levy on the ballot indicated people in the city feel strongly about keeping their pools, Councilman Webb said. "They said, 'Fix pools, even if it's expensive,' " Ms. Webb said. "We're hearing from residents that opening pools is extremely important to them, so I would think that would drive the master plan process and then drive what we do if the levy gets passed."
Hmmmm...hard real numbers (128 people used one pool over a "season") and experiences vs. a poll (that we don't see, can't examine, and have no idea who participated). Oh absolutely, let's go with Ms. Webb on this one. Pass a 3 million levy...fix the pools...no matter the cost for an 8 week season...but go to the state for money to fix the roads. The brilliance never ends with this woman. And y'all wonder why this town is in the crapper?
Recreation Director Mr. Garvin said he would like to see water parks with slides and shallow pools replace the current facilities.
Hey hockeyfan, your best buddy wants to spend some major dough, build some water parks, staff 'em with "different kinds of lifeguards and crowd control", and have some fun! But a simple paved facility for you and your league is still out of the question. Must make you feel great.
Councilperson Webb's comments and thought process (if she indeed has one) never cease to amaze me.
The only thing I find more laughable are the dupes who continue to vote for her.
If a community asks the city to build a pool or park in their neighborhood, is it then the city's responsibility to maintain it as well as police it? The lack of ability to protect these projects from vandalism and gang activity makes them not worth building.
Toledoans, should gladly pay for another $20 million worth of pools so that you can spend $30 million the next round of pool constructing / re-constructing in another four years or so.
I see that welfare folks in Toledo, receive rent free $170,000 per unit, brand new condominiums...how long will they last ?
I wonder if those $170,000 per unit condos lost as much value in them as my home has .
Avery... if this is what you are talking about ...it was only $140,000 per house.
I would hate for you to be inaccurate.
In the ONYX neighborhood, you can buy a "house" for as little as $7,900. A habitable house seems to go in the $20-30,000 range. So, at $140,000, we've only lost $120,000 or so per structure on that boondoggle.
Zillow.com ONYX Real Estate listings
What the hell...city's not falling apart or anything. Let's put more taxes on the ballot this year.
God help us...
How long before jackie joins in the conversation and lectures us about how important pools are to the community?...
3...2...1...
After working with people who work and run the pools, people can be real pigs.
From treating the place like a babysitting facility for their kids that they don't want to watch, to those who throw cheeseburgers over the fence into the pools, to the idiots who actually climbed the fence and pooped in the pools. It is a true shame that any public site or program like the pools are for those who don't have the money or means to join a health club or private pool and they are the ones who destroy it.
The city tries to make it affordable by charging a lousy dollar, and that allows every idiot who wants to be a jerk in to ruin a good thing for people.
That being said, the city and recreation department are not without blame. I know the waste, fraud and abuse that occurs in recreation department and now since d.b. Dennis Garvin has taken over, it will only get worse. How someone who was such an a**hole to me about a previous agreement can be in charge of anything that has to do with dealing with recreation for the good of people is beyond me. He might be good when dealing with trees but with people, he's a moron. No people skills.
Also, what happened to the red light cameras that were supposed to pay for recreation programs? Now a levy. For what? A water park that Dennis Garvin says is a good idea? Did he do research on such a facility? Has he ever run one? Maybe Dennis Garvin should start pushing for Opal to be mayor so that they can get an amusement park and water park downtown. Those two would make a good team. Throw them both in a padded room built for two.
I think before anything gets built for the city to run, not only should the costs be looked at, but also how the current facilities are treated by the public now. If there are repeated vandalism, theft, and abuse going on now, what would change if a new place was built?
The city's population has decreased by a great amount since the heyday of these public pools.
I'm surprised they made public the attendance at Collins Pool. Toledo will fall apart if 128 swimmers don't have the opportunity to swim for a buck a day, eh?
Filling both Collins and Ravine pools with dirt and forgetting about them is a good idea. Many people in the neighborhood don't want them anyway.
East Toledo has a Boys and Girls Club @ 722 Second Street with a very nice pool that is available year-round. Annual membership is a few dollars per year.
I remember reading somewhere that the boys and girls club gets some kind of city money from city council and the article suggested some kind of conflict of interest or something.
Was that a real article or am I just getting old, again?