Generous neighbors can Make A Splash
A reader wrote in to ask what people could do if they wanted to support swim lessons for kids whose families can’t afford them.
The obvious move, in Spokane, is to donate to the Spokane Parks Foundation, which helps cover the cost of summer activities for low-income families. You can make a donation at the foundation’s website, www.spokaneparks foundation.org, or mail it to P.O. Box 2021, Spokane, WA 99210.
The foundation’s Make A Splash campaign helps cover swimming-related costs; it will cover half the $48 cost of lessons from the city of Spokane for qualifying families. It also provides passes, swimsuits and other help.
The campaign’s website says 43 percent of school-age kids in Spokane live at or below the poverty line. That’s the group I wrote about earlier this week, noting that a recent survey in other cities showed that minority children and kids from poor families were less likely to take swim lessons and more likely to drown than kids from middle-class and wealthy families.
One caveat: This divide does not arise from a lack of resources alone. The Parks Foundation has scholarship money available, and it had that money available during the first round of swim lessons this summer, when few people signed up at pools in some of the city’s low-income neighborhoods.
The survey found, in fact, that other factors were bigger obstacles to kids getting swim lessons: fear and a lack of familiarity among parents and kids were the top reasons. And there are, of course, other obstacles, including whether parents have the time, energy, information and wisdom to get their kids into classes.
That’s not an argument against giving. But it’s just to note that some problems – like an empty fridge – can be solved pretty quickly with a check. Others are more complicated.
If you want more information about swimming safety, where to find swim lessons, life-jacket usage and a lot more, see the Spokane Regional Health District’s website, srhd.org /topics/drowning.asp.
The district is teaming up with Big 5 to offer discounts on life jackets. There’s a link at the website.
If you’re interested in help paying for swim lessons through the city, call (509) 625-6200.
Clear as mud
There may be no greater fount of government-slash- management nonsense than “transparency.”
Everyone who wears a suit claims constantly to be transparent – to operate openly, listen to people, make decisions in an apparent, understandable way. And then they leave you without the information you really want, or actively hide it.
This cultural cognitive dissonance – an entire class of people claiming something that is patently false – includes everyone from President Barack Obama to your boss, probably.
Our most sparkling recent example comes from the Spokane Valley City Council. The council, with its new “Positive Change” majority – whom I last wrote about May 19 – is in the process of hiring a city manager.
They are interviewing candidates in secret. The names of the candidates are secret. Even the number of candidates – ridiculously secret.
So, of course, you would expect that these politicians – Bob McCaslin, Brenda Grassel, Dean Grafos, Tom Towey and Gary Schimmels – all ran for office on a secrecy campaign, right? That they ran under a united banner: “Trust Us – We’ll Hide Your Government From You.”
Of course not. Back then, they were all about transparency.
Here’s one of Grassel’s campaign slogans: “Be Accountable to the Citizens.”
Here’s what she once told a reporter (when the Changers were holding informal, unannounced meetings): “We want to be very transparent.”
Here’s one of Grafos’ campaign website lines: “We must always seek transparency and effective communication with the community.”
Here’s one of Towey’s: “Always listen to the people.”
Well. Maybe not always.
Price reduction!
The price on Ron and Georgia Lee Puryear’s Post Falls mansion is coming down. The 13-bedroom, 13-bathroom palace on the Spokane River (June 11) was listed at $20 million. But the price has been knocked down to $17 million.