OUR OPINION: People like pools, politicians should fund them
August 2, 2012 at 2:30 pm in Grand Forks Herald
Mayor Lynn Stauss’ decision to veto renovation of the East Grand Forks swimming pool is both a disappointment and a challenge. It’s a disappointment because it puts off the day when the city has a modern pool.
It’s a challenge because the mayor asserts firmly that the city will have a pool. Continue Reading
Mike Jacobs are you suggesting East Grand Forks build a pool on the wet side of the dike? Please tell me that I got the wrong impression.
Melody I had no idea your husband was running for the City Council. What ward? I am curious to know. I wish him the best, by the way.
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tj, thanks for your kind words! My husband decided to run for city council when Wayne Gregoire announced he would leave his city council seat to run for mayor. We are in Ward 5. My husband is most concerned with the infrastructure projects currently before the council. We both obviously feel strongly about keeping a pool in EGF, however, the pool issue didn’t play into his decision to run for council.
After Tom Dennis’ editorial a few weeks ago, my husband asked me if I wanted to run for council instead of him, but I said that I couldn’t because I have way too much fun responding to comments on Area Voices;)
And I had the same question you did about the suggestion of locating the pool closer to the campground. I don’t think the pool can get much closer to the campground without being placed on the wet side of the dike. I don’t think that would be allowed by the state.
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Even though Riverside is fitted for floods in a certain way and takes every procaution I’ve read that it still costs quite a bit to get things all cleaned out again after every flood….So that would definately be a non starter….
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“People like __________, politicians should fund them.”
Fill in the blank with any municipal spending project, and you pretty much have Mike Jacobs’ motto. Problem is, it’s not the politicians who are doing the funding, is it? Deep down, Jacobs knows this. He made it clear when he moved to Gilby years ago. Anyone ever recall an op/ed of his urging that community raise taxes for a project? Nor do I.
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tj and Gene…two of my favorite area voices! Gene, my position has not changed since the first time we talked about this on area voices weeks ago. Our group, Save Our Pool is committed to providing assistance to the City of East Grand Forks in raising the monies needed to fund either a completely renovated pool or a new pool. We are not promoting tax hikes to renovate or replace the pool.
We are working with Scott Huizenga and the rest of the city council to look at options. Our group has met and we realize we need to be in the for the long haul to help define the vision (get out and talk to people and listen to their ideas) for what the community wants/needs in a pool and of course, take on fund raising endeavors.
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Did not mean to imply that Scott Huizenga is on the city council. I should have stated that we are working with Scott Huizenga, the city administrator, and the city council to look at options.
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People like pools, politicians should fund them
very true that politicians fund nothing… tax payers do. politicians simply delegate the funds from the tax payer it is NOT their money.
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Come on Gene…In Gilby he just has to put a note on the front of the post office (If they still have one) It’s not that big to have political news to make the paper…
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How embarrassing, Mike. The recreation area is on the wet side of the levee. Grand Forks calls it a greenway, but, by definition, it’s floodway. FEMA and MnDNR rules do not allow such a structure in the floodway. EGF has built a levee, removing their entire city from the floodplain, of course, except the floodway (greenway). Mike: have one of your rookie reporters look into this and apologize. Holy crap, who else doesn’t know this?
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“Why not team up with the Minnesota DNR to build a pool in the Red River State Recreation Area, or near it. That would enhance EGF’s share of the Greenway and make it even more attractive as a destination.
As is happens, the existing pool, in Sherlock Park, is near the recreation area, so a partnership would be geographically convenient.”
Says Mike Jacobs, publisher of the GF Herald, whose headquarters are a mere block away from the river, with a view of the Red River Recreation Area across the Red River.
Articles were written in the Herald on the problems Riverside Park has with their pool being it is on the wet side of the dike. This is one of those things that make you go…huh?
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His suggestion of using money from campground fees for the pool is off. The campground doesn’t pay for it’s own upkeep. The city of EGF has given the campground money in the past to keep it open after the DNR cut funding. This was also reported on in the Grand Forks Herald.
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The money in the NR fund is for controlling evasive species in MN waters, emerald ash borer programs, clean-up along waterways, trails, this type of thing. No mention of swimming pools either inside or outside of state parks.
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Mike…it could be worse. At least no one will accuse you of plagiarism. We all make mistakes. Mine have never made the print edition of the GF Herald but I’ve had a couple on Area Voices.
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You’re right, t.j. The spirit of his article is one of community and cooperation. Mike’s faux pas on flood plain zoning really threw me off. He’s also naive to think the city can dedicate any current receipts to new projects. If the city is annually collecting, say, $30,000 in camping fees, it’s already dumped into a bigger pot that’s subject to annual inflation. A $2 million pool will take new money, period. Mike’s proposals said at a public hearing would go in one ear and out the other, resulting in a few “you can’t fight city hall” comments.
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I agree with all your comments that the suggestion to put the pool closer to the campground is a mistake…but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that at least Mike is brainstorming ways that the pool could be rebuilt and I thank him for that support!
As far as his support for politicians funding this project (raising taxes), he surely didn’t say that was the only way to get it done. I think what Mike’s getting at is that strong leaders will look into multiple funding sources before raising taxes. If politicians know this is something their constituents want and something that can benefit the community as a whole, they should be vigilant to find a way to do it and find a way that’s affordable for their constituents.
And again, I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt here…he was just using Grand Forks’ situation with Riverside Pool to say that if all else fails, and the public really wants a renovated or new pool, they could vote to tax themselves, as Grand Forks did.
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Good comment. I spanked Mike with his “guard” down. I’m still a fan of his and Tom D.
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I hope other people see the same thing I see, if a new pool costs $2M and the existing pool costs $25K/yr in maintenance it would take 80 years of maintenance (not including inflation) to reach that $2M mark. That seems absurd to me, I am not in the pool maintenance business but I would have to image that even with a new pool there will be annual maintenance costs. Also the fact that there a multiple pools just across the river makes it a little crazy to increase property taxes by 8%.
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straightforward…$25,000 is not the annual maintenance/operating cost of the pool. That figure, I believe, is how much it takes to keep the pool operational each year. (Pass state inspection.)
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Not to whizz on anyones dreams….But let’s say they go ahead and put Humpty Dumpty back together again….The way things are going…They might not be able to fill the pool because of water restictions if we have a prolonged drought……Hope not, but you never know…
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You never know….who you’re going to meet in your dreams so be sure to always wear a cute pair of pajamas to bed. This applies to truckers to Tundra. You never know…
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Well if you’re going to get cute……Then…You know why old truckers never need to get viagra? Because if there’s any problems…They just get a new Peterbilt
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The quote was, “Why not team up with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to build a pool in the Red River State Recreation Area, or near it. That would enhance East Grand Forks’ share of the Greenway and make it even more attractive as a destination.
As it happens, the existing pool, in Sherlock Park, is near the recreation area, so a partnership would be geographically convenient.”
For everyone saying he’s advocating building a pool in the greenway/floodway/wet side, I don’t think that was his intention. He stated, “or NEAR,” then clarified that the current pool IS near the recreation area, so it would already be situated for such an arrangement. Unless I’m misinterpreting, I think he’s suggesting leaving it in the current location and just creating a partnership.
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If that was his intention, it would have been a lot more clear if he had just said something like “since the pool is located near the recreation area, why not create a partnership.”
In any case, it’s nice to see that this issue is getting attention.
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I seem to recall the same “lack of facts” coming from the Herald concerning the “new library” discussion. They seem very quit to choose a stance on these issues, usually on the side of spending our money. Yet, I am waiting for them to also be accurate in that stance. I’m all for upgrading resources in this town if the money and the need are there. However, the fact that many of the advocates of said expenditures can’t get their facts straight doesn’t motivate me to open my wallet.
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