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Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Keeping cool
FILE - In this June 23, 2009 file photo, children play at Kelly Pool after a ceremony marking the start of the city pool season, in Philadelphia. A citywide campaign in Philadelphia netted more than $600,000, and organizations that help low-income residents banded together in Toledo. The common cause
City officials knew there would be protests against their decision not to open all of the public pools this summer. But some of that anger might have been avoided had they done a better job of explaining how they chose the pools they closed.
 
Initially, the city said it could afford to open only 10 of the 73 public pools. But 46 were opened after Mayor Nutter restored $1 million in funding, and the Splash and Summer Fund campaign raised an additional $621,141 in private and public donations.
 
City officials said they chose the opened pools based on their average usage, size, condition, location, and accessibility by foot. But they must have missed something. How else do you explain that nearly all of the pools were reopened in some districts, while in others, such as Fishtown and South Philadelphia, fewer than half the pools were reopened?
 
No wonder some residents say political clout determined which neighborhoods have open pools.
 
Recreation Commissioner Susan Slawson says there are still many locations for residents to cool off.  But it may mean that some residents are going to have to get used to walking through an unfamiliar neighborhood to get to the closest public pool if they want to cool off with a dip.
Posted by Inquirer Editorial Board @ 2:23 PM  Permalink | 3 comments
Comments   
Posted 04:26 AM, 07/09/2009
principled
How many more pools may have been open, if city council was not to receive a 5% raise. Council President Anna Verna stated it's raise will only cost the city $100.000. However she failed to reveal that all ELECTED officials will be receiving this raise. All the while the MAYOR is taking a tuff stand with city employees,announcing no raises and consession from those unions. The elections should be held in the summer and see how many are re-elected
Posted 09:51 AM, 07/09/2009
keapitreal
should've kept most closed this summer and spent the money on turning those pool areas into 'splash parks'. less liability, less overall cost for the city in the long run
Posted 09:51 AM, 07/09/2009
keapitreal
should've kept most closed this summer and spent the money on turning those pool areas into 'splash parks'. less liability, less overall cost for the city in the long run
3 comments
About The Inquirer Editorial Board
Harold Jackson, a winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, grew up in Birmingham, Ala., during the civil rights movement. He graduated from Baker University in Baldwin, Kan., in 1975, with a degree in journalism/political science. He has also worked at the Birmingham Post-Herald, United Press International, the Birmingham News, and the Baltimore Sun. He was at The Inquirer in the mid-1980s, returned in 1999, and became editorial page editor in 2007.

Paul Davies is the deputy editor of the Editorial Page. His newspaper career has spanned more than 20 years and includes stints at The Wall Street Journal and the Philadelphia Daily News. He graduated from the University of Delaware and received a masters in journalism from Columbia University, where he was also a Knight-Bagehot Fellow. He was born in Philadelphia and still lives in the city.

Tony Auth began drawing while bedridden for a year and a half at the age of five. He graduated from UCLA in 1965 and worked for six years as a medical illustrator while doing three cartoons a week for various college newspapers. Tony has been happily ensconced as The Inquirer’s editorial cartoonist since 1971. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976, and has won numerous other awards, including five Overseas Press Club Awards, the Sigma Delta Chi award for distinguished service in Journalism, and the Herblock and Thomas Nast Prizes. Tony is married to Eliza Drake Auth, a painter of realistic landscapes and portraits.

Trudy Rubin is the foreign affairs columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and a member of The Inquirer’s editorial board. Her column appears twice weekly in The Inquirer and runs regularly in many other newspapers around the United States. She is the author of Willful Blindness: The Bush Administration and Iraq.

Kevin Ferris is an assistant editor on the Editorial Board who oversees the Sunday Currents section and writes a weekly column on a wide range of issues. In his 15 years on the board, he’s handled letters to the editor and the Community Voices pages and has been Commentary Page editor. He started with The Inquirer in 1986, and his assignments have ranged from the copy and news desks to the Chester County bureau and the national/foreign desk.

As an editorial writer for The Inquirer for the past two decades, Russell Cooke has written on a wide range of topics covering government, legal, civic and social issues. Before joining the Editorial Board, he was a reporter in the Inquirer’s City Hall bureau.

Editorial writer Dave Boyer joined The Inquirer in 2002. He writes about politics, government, the economy, sports and many other subjects, but draws the line at writing about "Jon & Kate Plus Eight." He has won journalism awards and insists bribery was not involved. A native of Allentown, Boyer graduated from Penn State. He and his wife reside in Center City, where they enjoy strolling and paying the wage tax.

Melanie Burney joined the editorial board in January 2008 after covering education at the Inquirer for eight years. She previously worked at the Associated Press in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. She is a graduate of Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, and a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Josh Gohlke has been The Inquirer’s op-ed editor since last year, editing the daily commentary page and writing occasional editorials. He came to the Inquirer after eight years at The Record of Bergen County, N.J., first as a reporter covering local and state politics and government and ultimately as the deputy editorial page editor. He also worked as a reporter for several smaller papers in New Jersey and California. Josh was born and raised in Los Angeles and graduated from Stanford University. He lives in Philadelphia.

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