I guess I was a little surprised by the numbers being low at first, but then I started looking at the reality of the pool;
The pool was sold to us on a pack of lies from the beginning. Just go back and watch the advocational videos. I mildly believe in something called ‘Karma’ and I think when you sell something to people based on one lie after another, that karma will kick in.
The pool was built at a horrible location, lack of parking, poor access and no room for expansion. I suggested that city team up with Sanford and build it at the sports complex, or with the school district and build it at one of the high schools. I even think a location near the mall would have been better.
There was no public vote on the pool and it incurred debt. As much as the mayor says that is not true, it goes back to lying to the public. The mayor alone decided to build this pool. It wasn’t based on any study (only a site study) that there was a true need for the facility. As I have argued for years, there are tons of indoor pools in town, and a lot of them come with fitness centers. Is there really a need? Did the public truly support THIS PLAN or did they vote against the outdoor pool because they wanted to see options? We will never know, because the public never weighed in on an actual election.
The hours of operation are not reasonable. I think the pool should be opened later at night on the weekdays, closed on Mondays and opened longer on Saturday and Sundays, you know, when families actually spend time with each other.
When you build a facility based solely on the wants of one person, problems arise.
As for blaming the media . . .
It seems whenever the mayor gets caught standing in his own pile of BS he is quick to blame the media. Both Stormland TV and the AL did stories about the parent who was upset. It was newsworthy. This wasn’t just any parent, this was a parent who donated $10,000 of his own money towards a public facility. Why? Because he helped purchase equipment to assist in swim meets. He had a right to be pissed. The Parks Department could have easily told him that they plan on doing/scheduling swim meets after the first of the year once they evaluate numbers, but instead, as I understand the situation, he was totally ignored when asking about swim meets.
I was glad to see Joe Sneve calling mayor Huether out on his BS yesterday day with an online video.
l3wis 
