Pool Survey is in YOUR mailbox

Check your water bill; the city is using it to gauge your opinion.

This survey was in my water bill today. It asks whether I support:

a) Repairing the Mitchell, repairing the Neighborhood Pools and adding a spray park for $2.35 million;

b) Repairing the Mitchell, demolishing the Neighborhood Pools and adding three spary parks;

c) No further spending on aquatics; or

d) Providing my own list of necessary repairs, at a cost I can specify.

This is a good first step. The city should make more efforts to communicate with the people in this way. However, the city seems to be deliberately making it difficult to come up with innovative solutions.

"D" seems like a good choice, but most of us don't have all of the information we need to provide the city with useful opinions. It would be very nice if the city had written up a point paper with this survey that spelled out some details, including:

1) What repairs need to be made to the Mitchell. What are the cost of those repairs?
2) What are the repairs that need to be made at each of the neighborhood pools? What are the costs, per pool, to make those repairs?
3) What would be the cost of keeping one neighborhood pool open and shuttering another? Could the cost savings of closing one pool pay for the cost of keeping that other pool open?
4) What is the cost per spray park? What are the annual maintenance and staffing costs of a spray park? Whatever the city says, it isn't zero; maintenance and continual testing of the water system for contamination will have some costs.

Also, can I assume by this survey that the city has shelved ideas for installing a hot tub at the Nat.? If so, I salute the city for cutting back on an unnecessary luxury.