Protesters At City Hall: Closing City Pools Is Racist
A group of activists opposed to cuts in city services is outside City Hall right now, protesting the city's decision to close 29 public pools. The group, which is still calling itself the Coalition to Save the Libraries after its fight last year on that issue, is now comparing the city to The Valley Club, the Huntingdon Valley swim club thrust into the national spotlight recently for rejecting a group of mostly minority children from a Philadelphia day camp.
Protesters At City Hall: Closing City Pools Is Racist
Chris Brennan
A group of activists opposed to cuts in city services is outside the Mayor's Office in City Hall right now, protesting the decision to close some public pools. The group, which is still calling itself the Coalition to Save the Libraries after its fight last year on that issue, is now comparing the city to The Valley Club, the Huntingdon Valley swim club thrust into the national spotlight recently for rejecting a group of mostly minority children from a Philadelphia day camp.
The group, including about 50 adults and children waving signs and chanting slogans, gathered around a plastic baby pool filled with toys outside City Hall before coming inside. Two of the children held signs saying "Closing our pools = changing the complexion of our city." That's a reference to an initial statement from the president of the Valley Club, who said the day campers were rejected because "there was a concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion" of the club. He later said that was a terrible choice of words and didn't reflect the safety concerns behind the decision.
Eric Braxton, a long-time Philadelphia activist, took the comparison a bit further in a speech to the protesters. "While we should condemn the Valley swim club, let's recognize that the city of Philadelphia has done the exact same thing to thousands of young people in Philadelphia." Braxton later said accusing the city of discrimination was fair because many of the closed public pools served "poor and working class" neighborhoods.
Forty-six of the city's 73 public pools are being opened this summer. Mayor Nutter is in Harrisburg today, lobbying for the budget deal he struck with City Council to increase the city's sales tax by 1 cent on the dollar and to make changes in the city's pension plan. Those issues must be approved by the state General Assembly, which is locked in its own budget battle. Without those changes, the city will implement a back-up budget that includes larger cuts, including to the city Police Department and Fire Department.
UPDATE, 1:40 pm: Clay Armbrister, Nutter's chief of staff, came out to speak with the protesters, who greeted him with catcalls about the city budget. "What people need to understand is we're in a very, very dire economic situation," Armbrister said. He was interrupted by Sherrie Cohen, a regular participant in these protests and daughter of the late Councilman David Cohen, who tried to start a chant of "So are we." It didn't take.
"It was unfortunate that we had to make some choices," Armbrister responded when one of the children asked who decided to close the pools. "We didn't have enough money to keep all the pools open."
I never had a pool growing up. They can sweat just like I did then and still do today. Don't these protestors have jobs? I don't know why I read this stuff at lunch time.— glem zee- Let's put this in perspective. If each pool freeloader paid $5 a week then the city could open the pool. What would "baby-mama" have to give up so her little Junior Freeloader could have teh "right" to use the luxury of a swimming pool (and get the daily bath at the same time)? hmmm...maybe she could give up the weekly trip to the salon to get her hair extensions re-done, or that new wig, or the pedicure, or the manicure, or one less fast food meal. just a start...— glem zee
- If this is not a necessity, then close all the pools not selected few. Maybe people are protesting because majority of the pools being closed may be in the African American neighborhoods. May the ones that are writing negative comments are the people who live in the neighborhoods that the pools are not being closed. To the person who made a comment about the African Americans not having a job, have you ever heard of Night employment. Please do not show your ignorance.— neszi6857
- If this is not a necessity, then close all the pools not selected few. Maybe people are protesting because majority of the pools being closed may be in the African American neighborhoods. May the ones that are writing negative comments are the people who live in the neighborhoods that the pools are not being closed. To the person who made a comment about the African Americans not having a job, have you ever heard of Night employment. Please do not show your ignorance.— neszi6857
- First, ChrisM5150, I'm not sure what Philadelphia you reside in, but the Phila.,Pa administartion IS NOT 90% black. Since I AM AT work in the area of the protest, I can tell you that they all are NOT minorities. Yes, it's a stupid argument they have (I'd personally rather have police for safety than pools), but get your facts straight. There are SOME people on this sight that actually KNOW what they are talking about.— workngirl
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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