Olympic size pool built with Model City money in 1974 that”'s future is in the throes of budgetary/politico squalor. The question remains; “Will it all be money down the drain?”.
A Commentary by Robert Albee
Two words went out over the internet the evening of March 25th: “We won!” The truth of the matter is that the Phillips Community has only secured a delay in the destruction of the swimming pool at the Phillips Community Center. The April 1st “destruction day” was announced earlier in a telephone call from Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB) Commissioner Scott Vreeland. He confirmed a March 11th email sent from Park Board staff member Andrew Lesch to a Mid Town Phillips resident and neighborhood association board member.
In that email, Lesch wrote: “I”'m the project manager for the current renovations at Phillips Community Center. This phase involves replacement of the heating, cooling and ventilation system with new roof top units, roof replacement of the upper roof and in fill of the former pool shell for re-use in the future.”
Those were the words that began a cascade of emails and telephone calls to the MPRB from Phillips Community residents and others upset with that decision. Some of the emails are included in this edition of in this edition of The Alley and see others on website www.alleynews.org.
Most importantly, Phillips people came through by voicing their concerns and outrages regarding the process that led to the MPRB decision to destroy the pool. Contractors speculated as to why the MPRB would go so far to actually destroy the pool when a simple, safe covering or enclosure over the pool would temporarily suffice. Apparently they had thought they already had made a permanent decision within a building that they already own. End of discussion”¦for them!
MPRB Commissioner Annie Young made clear in an email to Crystal Trutnau, Executive Director of Phillips West Neighborhood Organization, that the Park Board never operated that swimming pool; it was open only during the tenancy of the Boys and Girls Club in the PCC facility. Her thinking, presumably, was with all the liability issues associated with a swimming pool, why would the Park Board want to get itself involved in a potentially litigious situation, at the very time they are facing unbelievable operating fund deficits? Thus filling in the pool and making an indoor playground for children seemed a very good alternative! Not so fast, Annie, was the response of many emailers.
Many Phillips Community supporters expressed outrage at the lack of clear communication and respect toward the neighborhoods by MPRB staff and commissioners, only to be met with a snarky response from Commissioner Young that apparently the right persons in Phillips were not consulted. And so the back and forth began, with some very harsh letters from Ventura Village”'s Jim Graham and East Phillip”'s Carol Pass. But this story is not about a couple of grenades tossed over MPRB”'s fence. Other emails less focused on personalities or past Park Board failures, demanded a halt long enough for the Phillips Community stakeholders to weigh in on the decision. To some, that would be a delay in announced actions; for others a demand for a complete aquatic park on adjacent land as a trade for the loss of the current pool.
MPRB staff member Dick Mammen attended a March 17th event entitled “Connecting The Dots”¦” held at the Center For Changing Lives. That meeting was an opportunity for Phillips residents and stakeholders to voice their positive ideas about future uses of the Phillips Community Center building, including the swimming pool. In direct conversation with me, Mammen asked why we would support fixing up a pool that”'s like a “47 Chevy” instead of fighting for a new one. My response was, “I”'d rather have a 47 Chevy than no wheels at all!”
I hope that is the sentiment of others in Phillips even though I would agree with the basic idea of a separate facility on adjacent land that can involve what East Phillip”'s resident Hannah Lieder described as a complete swimming and diving complex. As part of her organization called Minneapolis Swims, youth such as those here in Phillips should be taught basic swimming and aquatic survival and encouraged to become lifeguards and competitive athletes in a facility that would support such efforts.
Just hours before I learned that the April 1st destruction deadline had been averted, I received an email from Dr. Sally Lieberman from the University of Minnesota. She reported that the therapeutic pool at Fairview-University Hospital had just been closed and no other pools except for the overly-busy Abbott-Northwestern Wasie pool is available in Minneapolis. This forces bus riders such as Dr. Lierberman to mount an expedition to the suburbs””to Courage Center in Golden Valley or another site in Eden Prairie for her/their physical well-being. She and seventy-five others planned to write letters to the MPRB asking them to reconsider. Within an hour of my encouraging Dr. Lieberman and associates to commence writing and sending, word came from Minneapolis”' Sixth Ward Alderman Robert Lilligren that MPRB had announced a halt order on the swimming pool. We”'ve won a battle, but not the war!
Here”'s where that leaves us: We”'d better put up or shut up! We”'ve secured a delay and now we must come to a conclusion regarding what we want to have happen as a result. It is clear that the MPRB has never””nor never will””operate a swimming pool in Phillips. So let”'s not waste valuable time asking or demanding that from them. It is clear to me that our Phillips Community supporters and trusted bedfellows must secure that building on a twenty year lease for $1 per year from MPRB; pay them honestly and reasonably as landlords for the daily operations and appropriate upkeep of the building. That also means that we must secure tenancy and use of the building that includes paying for the operations of that facility, based on actually billings to the MPRB.
We must never allow what happened with the Boys and Girls Club to happen again””leaving a big mess behind and MPRB accepting a $40,000 pittance or “shut-up money” as one Phillips resident put it. Jim Graham is right! Somebody owes the Phillips Community millions of dollars from that last fiasco; but it should also be clear that even if we never legally recover a nickel from that period, we must move forward and demonstrate to all that we are much better stewards of this community”'s resources than some of our predecessors.
If you wish to join this community effort to transform the vacant Phillips Community Center and it”'s swimming pool into a facility that works effectively for all the residents and stakeholders of Phillips, contact me at ralbee4045@aol.com. My telephone number is 612.812.2429.
