City has mismanaged Forest Park pool for decades

Forest Park pool has been operated by the City of Everett for 47 years. In those 47 years it has spent millions upon millions of taxpayer money to keep the pool operational. In 47 years the city has been given every opportunity to improve upon the management of the pool but with very limited success (“Future of long-shuttered Forest Park pool to get deep-dive study,” The Herald, May 3.)

So why did Forest Park pool have such high operating costs. It is poor management.

My question is who has been held accountable for these subsidies. No one! Not the mayor, city council, park administrators, or pool managers; none has ever been held accountable.

“Due to public health and economic impacts of COVID-19, the Forest Park Swim Center is closed until further notice.” This is the statement and reason Forest Park pool is currently closed on it’s website. It is also a total lie. It should state, “Due to the budget deficit and poor management the pool will be closed until further notice.”

In the recent article by the Everett Herald it states, ” Being just over 1 mile away from the new pool at the Everett Family YMCA has been a factor in that decision.” This didn’t seem to be much of a concern of the mayor or the city council when they gave $2.4 million dollars of your taxpayer funds to build the YMCA pool. You would think that would be a conflict of interest. The city could have spent the same amount of money improving Forest Park pool by adding an indoor spray pool and add an instructional pool for lessons.

After 47 years of poor management it is my opinion the City of Everett should not be given the opportunity to operate the pool in the future. The city has neither the skill or knowledge to operate a pool.

So what should happen to Forest Park pool? First fire those administrators who allowed the pool subsidies to get out of control. All managers should be replaced by managers, outside the city. Managers who have proven skill and knowledge of running a large pool facility especially skilled in swim lesson, and lifeguard development. If not save the $92,000 on the contract study and bulldoze the pool.

Steven Lay

Everett

Talk to us

More in Opinion

Lummi Tribal members Ellie Kinley, left, and Raynell Morris, president and vice president of the non-profit Sacred Lands Conservancy known as Sacred Sea, lead a prayer for the repatriation of southern resident orca Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut — who has lived and performed at the Miami Seaquarium for over 50 years — to her home waters of the Salish Sea at a gathering Sunday, March 20, 2022, at the sacred site of Cherry Point in Whatcom County, Wash.

The Bellingham Herald
Editorial: What it will require to bring Tokitae home

Bringing home the last captive orca requires expanded efforts to restore the killer whales’ habitat.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Tuesday, June 6

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

A map of the I-5/SR 529 Interchange project on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: Set your muscle memory for work zone speed cameras

Starting next summer, not slowing down in highway work zones can result in a $500 fine.

File - A teenager holds her phone as she sits for a portrait near her home in Illinois, on Friday, March 24, 2023. The U.S. Surgeon General is warning there is not enough evidence to show that social media is safe for young people — and is calling on tech companies, parents and caregivers to take "immediate action to protect kids now." (AP Photo Erin Hooley, File)
Editorial: Warning label on social media not enough for kids

The U.S. surgeon general has outlined tasks for parents, officials and social media companies.

Anabelle Parsons, then 6, looks up to the sky with binoculars to watch the Vaux's swifts fly in during Swift's Night Out, Sept. 8, 2018 in Monroe. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: Birders struggle with legacy, name of Audubon

Like other chapters, Pilchuck Audubon is weighing how to address the slaveholder’s legacy.

Comment: Biggest part of debt limit deal was the dealing

The White House and Congress showed they could find a path that can make real progress in reducing the debt.

Comment: Do we need refuge from drag shows and naked staues?

GOP lawmakers should know that most parents have bigger concerns than men in dresses and Michelangelo’s David.

Comment: To save Twitter, Musk should take it public

It goes against conventional wisdom, but then Musk has always defied how others get business done.

Comment: Milton Friedman was right; CEOs should focus on profit

Stumbles by Target and Budweiser show why wading into politics brings too many variables into the mix.

Most Read