Councilman Abraham Calls Pool Plan a ‘Tragedy’
Councilman Robert Abraham
Dearborn’s proposal to close six of the city’s public pools as part of cost cuts to help close the gap on a multi-million budget shortfall is a “tragedy” but the city must work to balance its budget, says Dearborn Councilman Robert Abraham.
“The elimination of city programs and activities, like the outdoor pools is a tragedy!,” Councilman Abraham tells Deepsaidwhat.com. “Unfortunately, the Mayor, the administration and the City Council must work to balance the budget, and more importantly to position Dearborn to remain a premier community in Michigan for the next generations.”
The proposed pool closings has touched off a firestorm of angry posts on this site from residents against the closures. (Click HERE for that earlier story). A Facebook page dedicated to saving these pools now has 2,646 members at the time of this posting.
Abraham is non-committal on whether the pools should be closed but he does say whatever cuts are taken will not be easy. What is interesting is that Abraham says the city is trying to correct a $10 million dollar shortfall, while the city in its official press releases has said it is a $20 million shortfall. Our guess is that the larger figure is based on what it would cost the city to fund every department at current funding limits or before budget reductions.
“These cuts are not easy,” Abraham says. “We are trying to correct almost a $10 million dollar shortfall without the elimination of police officers and firefighters, due to the charter mandates. This means we have to save the $10 million dollars from about $50 million dollars in non-public safety programs.”
I came across my Dearborn Recreation I.D. Card from 1976 and on the back of the card (just $1, by the way) it noted Dearborn offered free ice skating at 33 outdoor rinks and swimming “at any of the 21 indoor and outdoor pools”. Today, Dearborn has but one outdoor skating rink and one large indoor center. As for pools, we are down to eight, which is still far more than most neighboring communities, which sometimes have just two pools.
“I remain fully committed to preserving the city services that make Dearborn unique,” Abraham said. “We must find creative and new ways to continue this fine tradition of first class services and generate the necessary revenue to balance these costs.
“We need Wayne County and the State of Michigan to step-up and provide fair and equitable revenue and services to Dearborn at a standard that Dearborn residents deserve and expect. Without their fully commitment and participation, Dearborn will continue to lose ground on the fight to keep our services and balance the budget.”
Residents will get a chance to speak their mind on the proposed pool closing on April 12 in the council chambers of City Hall. It will be a standing room only meeting for sure.
April 6th, 2010 at 5:47 am
Planning on running for mayor Bob?
April 6th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Hopefully Bob will help fight this with his SOS (Save Our Services) campaign that was his campaign message in the last election. Correction, there are 7 outdoor ice skating rinks the city floods in winter, but they do not have the pipes to keep them frozen in warmer winter weather, 2 at Oxford Park, 1 at Schmanskey/Elmhurst, 1 at Ten Eyck, 1 at Penn Vassar, 1 at Oak Park and another at Tanahill behind the cemetery on Outer Drive.
April 6th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
After reading all the remarks made by taxpayers regarding the closing of pools any council person in their right mind would say they are ‘non-committed.
April 6th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Sounds exactly like what I recently heard, and that is Bobby is Big Jack’s puppet.
April 6th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Let me see…eliminate neighborhood branch libraries..eliminate neighborhood pools..
Don’t eliminate multiple pensions
Don’t eliminate multi-million dollar legal department
Detroit..here we come!
April 6th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Is it to much to ask our council people to take a stand. This habitual lack of courage has infected many of our political leaders across this country. The results speak for themselves. Claiming that the closure of the pools would be a “Tragedy” and than being non committal on supporting their operations shows a spineless attempt to pacify angry voters. Does councilman Abraham support “Tragedy”. This budget shortfall and pool closure issue did not materialize overnight. If a council person still is floundering on this issue after more than a year of debate and consultation it shows either intellectual dishonesty or serious cowardliness.
April 6th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Michael, I grew up down the street from Ten Eyck and it had been several years since they last flooded the rink there. Have they started doing it again? Schemansky is flooded yearly, but I haven’t seen it at Ten Eyck. Maybe I missed it?
April 6th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
We all know you are Jack’s mouthpiece, since he helped to get you back on the council, but don’t make it so obvious.
April 6th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Spineless….Sometimes people respect you more when you stand for something you believe in, even if it is unpopular. I would respect the council man more if took a stand either way and owned it. Like a usually politician he is a coward, and will not stand for anything. Talk about a waste of Dearborn TAX money, paying for an empty suit to sit in a council seat at meetings. What a waste!
April 6th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
I would like to see the pools stay too!
Sorry, but I just can’t in good conscience give these city Bozo’s any more of my hard earned money until I see some economic accountabilty.
Mr. Abraham, the “Tragedy” is your pathetic apologetic excuses for why this city has one issue after another. Did the Mayor and City Council elect you as the “SORRY BAFFOON.”
I want to see some “real cuts” making a dent in the city’s shortfall before I give back any of my property tax decrease.
Where are the department head and administrative pay cuts?
April 6th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Mr. Abraham’s comments are simply amazing. This guy is a CPA? Aren’t they supposed to be able to deal with money issues? Guess we all know how that worked out. Westborn and TwoSense: you are right on. Enough of this already!
April 7th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Lifelong,
I didn’t go by Ten Eyck last winter to see if it was flooded.
April 9th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
The word on the street is that you have become the Mayor’s puppet for sure, and it will be illustrated at the meeting Monday. Big Jack will pull your strings and we can all watch you do your little shuffle. You should be ashamed, after all you are from Fordson, and therefore have some pride, but then again you are what you are.