Huckleberries Online

DC: No Such Thing As Free Dogpaddle

Posted by DFO

May 18, 2009 10:33 a.m. • 8 comments

Fun’s over, kiddies. Life is hard. The economy sucks. It’s time you brats grew up and started suffering like your stressed-out mothers and fathers. Yep, it’s adios to Spokane’s long, benevolent summertime tradition of free swimming for youth. The Park Board voted last Thursday to charge kids 4 through 17 a dollar to cool off in city pools. Aw, Park Board members still want children to have fun. They want kids to learn how to swim. But first they want to teach them the basic rules of economics: No dough – no dive. No scratch – no splash. And no, just because you pay a fee doesn’t give you twerps a new right to pee in the pools. Aw, stop your bellyaching. It costs money to fill the pool. It costs money to filter the water. It costs money to chlorinate. And, hey, somebody’s gotta buy kegs for the teen lifeguard pool house beer bashes/Doug Clark, SR. More here.

Question: Should kids have to pay to use public pools?

Eight comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Digger on May 18 at 10:44 a.m.
I grew up in St. Maries and the city pool there always charged a dollar to get in for the day. I don’t see what the big issue is - especially when the possibility to sell season passes exists.
Lynne on May 18 at 11:08 a.m.
I think we paid a quarter when we were kids back in Virginia.
Cindy_H on May 18 at 11:41 a.m.
A dollar seems reasonable to me.
JeanieSpokane on May 18 at 1:38 p.m.
Cindy! I love your avatar today! Keep it or I’ll be taking it! :)
Cindy_H on May 18 at 1:56 p.m.
Just gearing up for summer, Jeanie :-)
mike_s on May 18 at 2:37 p.m.
The uniqueness of free swimming these days should have been motivation to keep it that way. Adding fees in this economy always sucks especially as folks are always trying to find something affordable for their kids. I’d vote for free swim lessons also.
spokelooneh on May 18 at 5:55 p.m.
The bond that supported the rebuilding of all the pools would NEVER have passed if the public knew they were going to be charging the kids to swim.

Spokane is by comparison, a very poor city in terms of per capita income. I believe the 3rd Legislative District is the poorest in the state. There are many kids who won’t be able to go swimming now because of this new fee. One wonders what trouble they might get into.
Cindy_H on May 18 at 6:55 p.m.
Many kids waste a buck at the Dollar Store buying candy or cheap toys. And please don’t tell me it’s only the privileged kids who spend their allowance there. Because. It. Isn’t.
By comparison, a days worth of swimming seems a much healthier choice.
Just sayin`.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.