Bill White recently used this photograph to write about the homeless shelter, which is in the former Fountain Park Pool house. Bill concerns himself with such things, whether homeless people or homeless pets. Now, before you think of me as cold, I am, thank you. My concern with the photograph is the deteriorating swimming pool. Allentown closed the pool years ago, rather than replace a $160,000 filter pump. We now know, from Cedar Beach, that building a municipal swimming pool costs $millions of dollars. Why would you discard one for less than $200,000? If losing the Fountain pool wasn't enough, the park department has announced that they're going to also close Irving Park Pool. Actually, Pawlowski renamed that park after a football player. If all this neglect isn't enough to aggravate a park traditionalist like myself, Pawlowski also spent $1.5 million to purchase two distressed parcels for new parks, that we don't need.
As a lifelong resident and advocate for the park system, I offered City Council my input several times; They declined. You would think that they would get tired of feigning outrage about the deteriorating park system, when they approved every decision along its decline.
photocredit: The Morning Call
And the Trexler Trust does nothing.
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ReplyDeleteThe main story behind this story is the purchase of more prospectable park lands when the only maitenace is disrepair, "designed neglect" to the presently parks opperations? This all under current administration and than they expect the public to believe they could take care of more! The stevens park had numorious grant allocations over the years begining with pooley's being party to that process but I don't think they were part of the misappropreations process that place said monies elseware in the city?
Something is finally being done after three terms of putting the local children in situations that equate to risk of life, this is because the administration deems them unworty of a safe envirionment to even play, not to mention the substandirt living conditions created by administrational design!
Council did what Pawlowski told them to do. Now they want to say that Pawlowski fooled them. It was their job to check the Mayor.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't the City fix this pool? Is it still a $200,000 fix? Plus the cost of water from the LCA.
rich@2:17, i suspect after not being used for years, the cost to reactivate the pool would certainly be more now. worse, what a horrible place to house the homeless overnight. there is nothing nearby resembling civilization, but perhaps that's their reason.
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