Judgment Day

Pride

While yesterday’s downtown Pride Parade appeared to be a bit smaller than last year’s it was still well attended and fun.  Strolling down to Bryant Park after the parade we saw the Pridefest was crowded and the music sounded great.

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Here are a few photos from the parade:

Dive Into The Facts

The fact is that competitive swimming alone will not provide the revenue needed to make our pool self-sustaining.  Simply saying that the pool has had many hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovations and has a net worth of over a million dollars is meaningless if it continues to lose money.  It is like pouring money into house improvements and then not being able to afford the mortgage and upkeep.

Yes, it will cost lots of money that the City does not have.  However if we continue to ignore the trends in today’s recreation market and do not at least plan for the future the pool will continue to drain resources that could be put to better use serving a larger number of residents and visitors.

If we are putting all this money into the pool when was the last time a study of pool use, design and trends was conducted?  What experts were consulted?

From the USA Swimming Website:

Not every pool will host the Olympic Trials and frankly, not every pool needs to be designed to Olympic Trials-quali­ty specs. Those pools are designed for one purpose and have a great deal of wasted space for every day use. With a tight budget every dollar saved can mean the difference between producing income and losing money.

Whether designing a new pool or reha­bilitating an old one, there are several ways to add the feel of a water park to your facility. First, zero depth areas can be added to the pool where young and old alike can enjoy the water together, at a mutually comfortable depth. Sec­ond, interactive play areas where kids can spray or dump water on them­selves and others are a big hit with the younger kids. Third, slides can increase your business dramatically with all ages.

If the project is treated like a business, with priority to features which will pro­duce revenue, an owner can produce significant revenue. Before you venture into a pool building or renovation pro­ject, find a consultant who can run the numbers and “show you the money!”

Hoot Mon

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Facts, Overrated?

“I need research to support an OPINION?”

-Lynn Anderson

Synchronized Swimming?

There has been a lot of talk about turning Lake Worth’s liabilities back into assets, and the Golf Course is an example of doing just that.  However when it comes to the City Swimming Pool at the beach the Commissioners need to take a hard look at the economic realities of our pool and the national trend towards municipal aquatic parks.

Stand alone “rectangular pools” are a thing of the past and even our pool’s location by the beach is not enough of an attraction to draw people on a regular basis or attract swim meets.  Across the nation older municipal pools are being shut down, often replaced by aquatic parks that cater to whole families.  No amount of “out of the box marketing” can succeed in bringing people to a facility that is no longer viable in today’s recreation market.

Swimming lessons and water aerobics can still be held in a smaller pool, and the other features will be attractive to summer camps, handicapped organizations and others to rent.  A quick internet search reveals that even public facilities that retain olympic sized pools are installing more family friendly features to cater to a larger customer base and increase revenue.

With the Casino redesign at hand, now is the time to cast aside the sentimental clamor to patch up our city’s biggest white elephant and plan for a water park that will provide families with what they want and attract enough users to make it self-sustaining.

Click here for the  professional view on making a public pool profitable.

Excerpts:

In the current era of public pools, size, design, and management need to be planned even in the infancy of the project.

What kind of features does the public want and what should a pool have to offer? These are 2 main question when proposing pool projects.  Understanding consumer behavior is also important when designing proposals.

There are 2 main consumer behavior facts that pool developers and the city government need to take into account when building a new pool facility or adding on to an existing pool.

The first fact is that people spend more time on the deck than in the water and they want to come to a pleasant environment (Turner, 47). Therefore, the whole atmosphere is just as important as the pool and its features. Greenspace, lounge furniture, shaded chairs/tables, along with quality concessions adds to the ambience and experience of patrons (Turner, 47).

In fact these items are not only add to the pool experience but are often expected by customers in order to assure future attendance. The second fact is that the overwhelming majority enjoys participatory aquatic entertainment for the entire family (Turner, 48). To accommodate the whole family and provide entertainment, many new popular pool features have been added. 0 depth children’s pools are extremely popular as are jungle gyms, mini-waterslides, and fountains (Turner, 48). Two public pools in the Upper-Midwest, Eau Claire, WI and Apple Valley, MN, have 0 depth children’s pools. These shallow areas are in fact the most crowded sections in each respective facility. Apple Valley also had fountains and a mini-waterslide, 2 special attractions for kids. Attractions for older kids and adults include special waterslides (speed, intertube), log walks, and diving boards (Turner, 48).

Families want these extra features and do not just want a common pool with lap swim. The young and old want entertainment equipment at the pool and this is what draws people on a weekly or daily basis.

Schooled in Aquatics, Waterpark Trends from the College Campus to the Municipal Center

Excerpts:

“Competitive swimming will always be a priority. Swim teams consistently draw kids and teens. Swimming competitively keeps them occupied in a healthy way and often teaches them their first lessons about sportsmanship. Especially now that there’s so much concern about childhood obesity, no one is going to take swim teams away.

“But the fact is, competitive swimming rarely pays for itself. It’s a community win, but it’s not a financial win.”

Lake Worth is not alone when it comes to being saddled with an outmoded municipal pool. Below is a small sampling of articles on the internet:

Vinton to pull plug on municipal pool after 60 years

Citing budget woes, Davenport may close its public pool after nearly 80 years

The Cleveland Municipal Pool will not open this year.

Huber Heights will not reopen its pool this summer after 40 years

Local Artist George Taylor

Click Here to read about local Lake Worth artist George Taylor.  Visit the Lake Worth Art League gallery, noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday at the City Hall Annex, 416 Lake Ave to see George’s and other local artists’ work in the  Scenes of Lake Worth Exhibit now on display.

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Some of George’s work

Who Wants To Be. . .

Where Have All The Bulldozers Gone?

Tom’s Page visits Bryant Park at least 3-4 times a week.  The end of last week we noticed that the workers appeared to be finishing their work and packing up.  We spoke with a bulldozer driver who said that they had been offered a long-term assignment in Haiti. It is a lucrative job but with a commitment measured in years and he was debating if he would go.  He added they were just waiting to hear about what to do with the parking lot in the south end of the park before moving out.

Yesterday (Thursday) we visited Bryant Park again and noticed that every single piece of equipment is gone, including the trailer used by the contractor as the on site office.

This morning we received a call from a reliable source stating that the contractor has left and does not intend to complete the parking lot.

Now we are left with a hole in the ground. . .  It’s time to get the whole story on what has happened .