Posts Tagged ‘Phillips Community Center Pool and Gym’
COMMENTARY Saving the Phillips Pool to Save Lives
By State Senator Jeff Hayden Minneapolis “The City of Lakes.” Minnesota “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” Behind all those images of sky blue sparkling waters, there is a startling fact: Minnesota has the highest drowning rate among African-Americans in U.S. The drowning rate for Native Americans is third highest in U.S. One reason is the lack of opportunities for inner city youth and adults to learn how to swim. In fact, the only free indoor public swimming pool in the city of Mpls. is at the Phillips Community Center and the only pool in the Phillips community. Unfortunately, the pool has been closed since Boys and Girls Clubs lease ended in 2008. The Mpls. Park and Rec. Dept. planned to infill with dirt and cap with concrete in 2010. Thanks to an outpouring of support from the community and advocacy from interested organizations, the pool was saved from demolition. However, before the pool can be reopened to the public, it needs extensive [...]
“The Alley” Goes to Harvard Law School, Cambridge & Old South Hall, Boston “Spirit of Phillips” to be experienced by its Cartoonist and Editor from Phillips
By Harvey Winje, Editor, The Alley Newspaper Fifty-nine years ago, as a young boy growing up in Phillips, my parents enrolled me at Wendell Phillips Junior High School on 13th Avenue and East 24th Street where housing stands now north of the Phillips Community Center Pool and Gym. To the best of my recollection, no one ever told us who Wendell Phillips was or why the school was named from him when it was built in 1926. The only reference to Wendell Phillips that I can remember is that a picture of him hung in the front lobby of the school. Forty years ago, I spotted a book titled Prophet of Liberty: the Life and Times of Wendell Phillips by Oscar Sherwin in a used book store where a dollar and a half bought me the explanation not given at our junior high school. The life of Wendell Phillips opened a whole new endeavor of study for me of mid-19th century history. By learning about the namesake of our community, I was also able to link our community”'s [...]
