The Dead Pool
Does the closure of more than two dozen Philly pools presage a violent summer in the city? Brendan Skwire wants to know.
Who is deciding which pools will close this summer?
Although I'm a very politically active guy, during the summer I have a tendency to slack off a bit: There's a giant vegetable garden in my backyard to attend to, weekend bluegrass festivals and visits with my son. And so I haven't been as active in my neighborhood as I would like to be.
So when I bumped into my friend Zach Hershman earlier this week -- a fella I know from the Coalition to Save the Libraries -- and he had that look on his face, well, I knew he had a story for me.
You may remember the coalition: They fought Mayor Nutter tooth and nail to keep the libraries open, and wonder of wonders, people power worked -- at least for this fiscal year.
According to Zach, there's some shit going down with Mayor Nutter's Splash & Summer FUNd: Nobody's really sure why fundraising targets were set so low -- or why some pools are remaining open and others closed.
He's right: By seeking to raise only $1.1 million, the fund simply isn't enough. And Mayor Nutter knows this: he told me himself last November, when 62 pools were scheduled to be closed, that each pool costs $50,000 to run.
The math is pretty easy: To keep all those pools open, our city needs to raise a little over $3 million dollars. So why is the administration only seeking less than half that amount? I have no idea. So I called the United Way, who handles the fund, and left a message. No answer yet. Then I called the mayor's office, and was instead connected to 311, where I stayed on hold for at least 10 minutes, listening to bad light jazz alternating with Mayor Nutter's pre-recorded voice telling me that this was my source for information about city government. When someone finally answered the phone, he told me to call the mayor's office. And around and around we go!
So people began holding rallies. Betty Buford, who lives in Point Breeze and stands to lose TWO pools, organized to save the Chew Pool. About 50 residents showed up, and a lot of more were attracted right off the street. Another rally took place just this past week to save the Stinger Pool: Again, turnout and emotions were high.
"People are fucking PISSED," Zach told me. "Most of them didn't even know their pool is getting closed, because the city hadn't told anyone. The neighborhoods are beginning to feel like they're being strung along, and who can blame them?"
"Thing is," Zach added, "We called the newspapers, who called the Recreation Department, and they finally released the list. [Twenty-seven] pools -- closed, just like that. These pools serve more than 500,000 Philadelphians, and provide over 900 summer jobs. And that's just the pools."
The distrust of the City is echoed in Fishtown:
The issue of our pool (and pools in Northern Liberties and port Richmond) really bothers me.
Citywide the pools serve 550,000 citizens. Many who vote, pay taxes and have nowhere else to go to escape the heat.
I am going to call our city council person and the dept of Rec. to demand to know why certain pools were chosen to be saved by the Splash Fund while others were not, when the splash fund was designed to raise money for all pools, so that no single pool would be chosen over another. I encourage everyone to do so also.
Why are 3 pools closed in the Northern Liberties, Port Richmond, Fishtown area, leaving no pools open within a safe walking distance?...
Notice that they listed the pools that will be open. Not the ones that are closed. We are still waiting for explanations why our pool(s) were chosen.
"It's ridiculous," Zach says. "Philadelphians deserve the transparency that Mayor Nutter promised. Why are some pools open, and others closed? No one knows. When you contribute to the Splash FUNd, you can’t specify which pool it goes to. So lots of people have contributed to keep their pools open, but are finding their own didn't make the cut. People have a right to know where their money goes."
I have another question. Anyone remember this horrible murder a few weeks ago?
When Lewis and Smith were killed, execution-style, while walking down 29th Street near Morris, in Grays Ferry, on April 19, police and their families were stumped for a motive. Both teens were good kids with no criminal records, and Smith hoped to soon join Lewis in the cadet program.
On Sunday, police arrested and charged two teens - Derek Barnes, 19, and Anthony Satchell, 16 - with the slayings. Cops allege that the duo mistook Lewis and Smith for two of their rivals, but say that even after they realized the mistake, they shot anyway.
What do you call it when two kids get shot by would-be rivals for wandering into the wrong neighborhood? Can you say "turf war", boys and girls? I knew you could!
And what do you think will happen when kids in the 19125 zip code, who have lost ALL of their pools, go wandering into other neighborhoods seeking a cool dip? Does anyone in the city want to have a repeat of 2006?
And the crazy thing is, the city agrees there will be turf wars as a result of pool closings. Their solution? More cops in the affected neighborhoods! That's right: when in doubt, arrest your way out of the problem!
How unfair is that? Is it the kids' fault the city can't fund their pools, and they find themselves forced to head into hostile territory just to cool off?
No, I'm sorry. I call serious bullshit on this one.
News flash to the mayor, the City Council, and the Department of Recreation: The Eagles and the city just settled their skybox dispute for $3 million dollars. And what a coinky-dinky: by the mayor's own estimate, it's gonna cost about $3 million to keep ALL the pools open.
Do you see where I'm going here?
Use the money to keep the 27 other pools open! You'll still have $1,550,000 left! And more importantly, you'll probably save some lives! It's a no-brainer!
Which kind begs the question: does anyone in city government actually have a brain?
Brendan Skwire blogs daily at Brendan Calling. His column appears every Monday at PhillyWeekly.com.
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1. Anonymous said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 11:30AM
“Skwire--
We're glad you're covering the topics that are important to the city.
Maybe Foxwoods and Sugarhouse can use the neighborhood pools as a place to place wagers on children's swimming races. You'd have the City pols lining up to support the recreation facilities.
”
2. Susie from Philly said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 11:33AM
“Well, Brendan, Nutter was famous on council for going his own way and not playing well with others. (When he announced his mayoral candidacy, no one from council showed up to support him.) I'm sure he has his reasons - he's just not going to share them with you, or anyone else.”
3. Anonymous said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 11:59AM
“nice work.”
4. crimekate said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 12:19PM
“Thanks, Brendan, for bringing another important issue to light. As you point out, the excuse of "hard times" is difficult to swallow when city officials have a fundraising program but set the goals too low to accomplish the needed objective. Is Philly over their romance with Mayor Nutter yet?!?!
Whether or not the pool closures will affect homicides in the city is an open question (homicide is usually a crime committed by young adults), but without summer activities for the city's kids, property crimes (theft, etc.) and "nuisance" crimes (like vandalism and graffitti) will almost certainly increase. There's a reason that the cornerstone of delinquency prevention efforts usually involves providiing prosocial activities - "things to do". Idle hands. The city pools would seem to be a key part of maintaining/improving quality of life in the city.
Thanks for another great piece!”
5. Anonymous said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 12:47PM
“Here is a map of Fishtown/Port Richmond/Kennsington Northern Liberties pool closures. This was made by a blogger on Fishtown.us.
Someone should send this to Michael Dibernadinas, the new Commissioner of Parks and Rec, who lives in the area. A small oversight, I would say.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=103661521327227515576.00046ce0da18dbc0c1f08&z=13
”
6. Anonymous said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 01:03PM
“Michael DiBerardinis Commissioner of Parks and Recreation 215-683-3666”
7. Neil Cleary said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 01:12PM
“Rock on, Brendan!”
8. Anonymous said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 02:21PM
“DiBerardinis isn't going to do chit. He didn't do a damned thing when he was recreation commissioner before going to Harrisburg with FatBoy; he screwed Fishtown before and will do it again. Yet, there are people who think he is golden.
Nutter knew what he was doing; he was punishing those areas were he didn't get lots of votes. Well, where the hell are Clarke and DiCicco? Don't hear a damned thing from them nor the rest of city council.
”
9. Ciera from Philly said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 02:47PM
“They are crazy. They should know by now that people get angry and violent in the heat. So while they are saving money by closing pools, they will be shelling it out by increasing cop hours!! Money will be spent. Lives will be lost. Closing the pools should not have even been open for discussion.
Has anyone ever thought of charging a small fee to get into the pool. Say $1 per person to get into the pools, per day, with a time limit of about 2 hours. Now say, 100 kids a day pay $2 for splash time, at each pool. That should be more than enough money to save the pools. This option may not be the most conventional but damn it, it's a suggestion other than close it down.
I sure as hell didn't vote for this dude, and I'm black too!”
10. brendancalling said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 02:51PM
“my personal feeling is that each of the largest corporations in the city (Comcast, verizon, the Eagles, Cigna, etc) each pony up the money to keep the pools open for a year for the duration of the economic crisis. They can even brand the pool for the duration.
think of the good press, the photo opps, the customer loyalty they'd inspire. "Comcast: a good neighbor for Philadelphians". and with the billions profits each of these companies make, it's a drop in their very deep bucket of money.
heck, considering it's goldman sachs that fucked the economy to begin with, maybe THEY oughta be the ones to pony up too.”
11. Anonymous said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 04:23PM
“Well done, Brendan! Another excellent article. Keep 'em coming!”
12. Anonymous said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 04:51PM
“Article in the Fishtown Spirit About our pools.
http://www.spiritnewspapers.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=113&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=584&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=2714&hn=spiritnewspapers&he=.com
”
13. Amy said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 09:05PM
“Brendan, I live in Northern Liberties and have to take my kids to the camp in Bridesburg. Luckily, I have a car and can make the 15 minute drive each morning and afternoon. It is a great recreation center and camp and deserves to be fully open, but I do feel for all the kids that are not in walking distance to a good camp.”
14. Annie A. said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 09:31PM
“Well, obviously if the public pools are closed then the public can re-appropriate private pools by invoking Eminent Domain. We can use Google maps and Google Earth to find the very swanky pools -- usually in the neighborhoods of well paid city officials and well paid city contractors. So Brendan you might select a particular day to be "Eminent Domain Day" when we all march on selected pools around the city. If any one tries to stop the people they are obviously in favor of nuisance crimes and possible increased homicides so you may at that point invoke "citizen's arrest" PS If my logic is a little whacked... well, hey, it's not any more whacked than the Mayor's, is it? The bottom line is that if there was transparency in government, then a citizen's committee could look at the budget and find the waste and the graft and trim the fat inside of a few weeks. Then it wouldn't be just the 5 year olds in their foot deep kiddie pools this summer who would be in the hot water.”
15. john said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 09:55PM
“One solution is to make the potholes on Baltimore Avenue a little deeper and fill them with water.”
16. Ben said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 10:33PM
“
If "all men are created equal"... then turn off the A/C at City Hall. If we are going to suffer, they should suffer too. Do you think they would last 3 hours without any coolness? And yet, we are to go 3 months without a break from the heat.”
17. Ralph said... on Jun 22, 2009 at 11:59PM
“
No, the solution to the lack of public funds available for pools is not to let corporations move in on that space. We are losing public spaces everywhere libraries, eminent domain for "economic development", we are losing forests, wilderness, we are losing rights everywhere. And the solution is not to suggest that the violence that might ensue will be on the heads of government officials. You can see the caskets and the mothers crying right now the way Cindy Sheehan did nationally, and begin to take action for others when it was too late for her. own son. And you can imagine that everyone in power will absolve themselves forthwith. If there's further violence, you can see the next step, a strengthening of the police force, and of the police state as the solution. Our tax dollars will go toward keeping us in check No, the solution is to either say, "As a public we're f__ed" and relegate ourselves to our private lives, to battles that we can win on Nintendo, or imagine we ...”
18. Ralph said... on Jun 23, 2009 at 12:03AM
“...will win on the Lotto or in the looming casinos. Or, to stop retreating from the gnarly idea of the public, to say what America was and could be is a people who take joy in collective debate and collective action, in forming associations in the way De Tocqueville saw Americans did. On television, in the movies, in the newspapers, and on the Internet, we see numerous--voluminous--representations of all the pleasures, but one: When a people look at each other and say at the end of a journey, "we did it". Do you think the best think is to be at the top of the mountain by yourself, to be the richest, to be the King or Queen? Close your eyes and see the simple pleasure of being a people who stand for one another, when others can't stand by themselves. The children at the pool. The children in the libraries. The youths fighting each other for "turf"-- that turf, that space, space itself, is an inalienable right for flesh and blood creatures. Stand for them. Ah, to be...”
19. Ralph said... on Jun 23, 2009 at 12:05AM
“...a people again or really, a people for the first time. We live in Philadelphia but the cracked Bell is not our history. We have yet to make our history. We can sit here and read, sit here and write. We can keep moving toward our personal dreams and keep retreating from the public sphere. Or we can dare to imagine a different future. And stand for it.”
20. phillygrrl said... on Jun 23, 2009 at 08:35AM
“Nice piece, Brendan.”
21. wendymae said... on Jun 23, 2009 at 08:54AM
“thanks brendan for your best piece yet.
i'm also wondering about the pool hours - remember a couple years ago when we'd go to kelly pool? they had different hours for boys and girls, plus it was closed a lot for camp usage. plus there were several times i went when the signs said it was open, but it was all locked up. i wonder if this is the case with other city pools...only open for an hour or two here and there?”
22. dmandy said... on Jun 23, 2009 at 10:02AM
“I'm the one who made the google map. I've updated it to include all of the pools that are opening and the ones that aren't. it is very interesting how it breaks down. The question I want to ask is why there are only three pools in all of the riverwards that are opening.
Donna marie”
23. roxyunk said... on Aug 18, 2009 at 10:12PM
“I am so glad to see this article. My family and I got all dressed and packed and in the car on the way to the pool this past sunday when it was BLAZING hot...only to pull up to find it emptied. What frustrated me even more was that I knew we were only part of the selected few that were shut down - in a neighborhood with property taxes higher than the ones in the neighborhoods whose pools are still open. Whats the point? and PS - Michael Nutter - I didnt vote for him...I didnt like what he did before he was mayor - and I knew I wouldnt like what he would do as mayor. Kudos to you for writing about this - we are soo soo soo angry that the summer isnt over - its probably the hottest part of this summer the last week or so and we have no where to go. It is total bullshit!”