Dear Hive Mind,

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@Jamoteusz not if your toilet would raise muh taxes!

Shadow Heart

@chris a community's need for Third Spaces can't be understated.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

Shadow Heart

@chris the small town I grew up in, closed it's pool then had to go into debt to demolish it. The community suffered from the loss of a summer hangout, and the town had a loss in revenue.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

And here's a followup poll.

Would you live in a town without a community pool or somewhere where children can learn to swim year-round?

#PleaseBoost #Polls #Pollodon

Stéphanie

@chris I won't vote because I don't have kids. I think it's super important to have one, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@stephanie I think people without kids can have opinions about kids!You might have cousins, nieces, nephews! :+)

Stéphanie

@chris I voted for the first poll! As I said, I do think it's a basic service, and every kid should be able to learn how to swim! And with climate change, be able to cool down.

However, it would not be a deal breaker for myself

Camerondotca

@chris @stephanie learning to swim is a life skill that should be taught PRECISELY because there are lakes and rivers.

🚲

@chris I grew up in one. There was a public pool but it was a private enterprise (attached to a golf course and, ironically, now owned by the town since the town ended up buying said golf course when it went bankrupt). I never really learned how to swim beyond a “doggy paddle out of the deep end” level, and I wonder if these two facts are related.

Idealistic Pragmatist :mstdn:

@chris also, we used to BE kids! @stephanie

Russell Phillips

@chris I'm in a bigger city than that, but I have a relevant story.

Several years ago a local kid died while swimming in a lake. That prompted a huge local campaign to teach kids how to swim.

The primary school my kid went to got a temporary pool installed so they could do lessons.

So yes, I think swimming lessons, taught in a safe environment, are important.

Kevin Leecaster

@chris
What's the construction cost and annual expenses?

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@GreenFire Unknown at this point as it goes around in rhetorical circles.

http

@chris Yes, and I say this as someone who doesn't use pools. Just because they don't serve /me/ doesn't mean they don't serve the /community/.

Jen

@chris it would not occur to me to check. I'd assume everywhere had a pool, or was close enough to somewhere that had one.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@http thank you for not being a selfish old grumpy 'taxpayer' like some other people I know! Imagine it not being only about "me”!

Kevin Leecaster

@chris
Yes, I understand but tax receipts are often limited in smaller towns in my experience so it's hard to have an opinion on what they should spend it on.

Never having lived in a community with a public pool probably also makes it difficult for me to have a clue what your town should do in that regard too perhaps.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@RPBook THIS IS EXACTLY THE SCENARIO. Why does some poor child have to die before some people realize swimming lessons are important??

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@dx I bet they are!