Here they go again on their soapbox, stretching the truth and manipulating facts;
Of residents who responded to the survey, 60 percent want an indoor aquatics center and 57 percent want a recreation center.
UPDATED: If you look at the ACTUAL numbers and ratios they tell a different story. Sixty percent of the respondents (555 people out of 6,000 contacted) want an indoor pool, and of those 555 that want an indoor pool, only 1 in 7 support it being taxpayer subsidized (79 people). Yup. The AL thinks we should build an indoor pool based on the opinions of 79 people. Oh, but the AL was nice enough to point this out;
residents indicate a willingness to pay user fees for those facilities.
That is a pipe dream. We know that while user fees will be charged, an indoor pool ran by the city will have to be subsidized. Bad idea. We already have private indoor pools in our city that charge user fees. The city needs to get out of the business of competing with private special interest groups on the backs of taxpayers that will never use these facilities. Maybe those 67 people that want an indoor pool can pool their money and build one themselves.
Isn’t that what America is all about?
Yes, but we have to keep up with the Joneses.
We already are. I think at last count there is 7 or 8 private indoor pools in town you can pay a fee and swim at. This does not include that numerous hotel swimming pools. We already have these facilities and we are already paying user fees. So why does the city need to build one? WHY!? If this was such a HUGE need that could be supported by user fees, wouldn’t you see a private company coming in and building an indoor pool for profit? Like I said, pipe dream. Besides the golf courses (which are under private contracts) the city could never turn a profit or even break even on an indoor pool.