Reader Writes: ‘Dearborn Demands Pools, Blue Sky’
Kristyn Taylor, a reader of DeepsaidWhat.com, sent this column to us today. It is her take on some of the tough decisions our elected city officials must make about Dearborn’s operating budget. In this instance, it is about whether pools should be closed in order to trim the city’s $20 million budget shortfall.
She is urging all residents to add their voice to the budget discussion at the next budget workshop on Thursday May 19th at 5:30 p.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room.
Her column begins below:
By Kristyn Taylor
Kristyn Taylor
Have you ever had an argument with someone over the color of the sky? It’s green, they claim. With no tornado in sight on a beautiful summer day, you know the sky is actually blue. Of course, in MI our sky is usually more grey than blue, but that’s not the point! You provide scientific evidence, pictures, and affidavits of 5,000 people who swear the sky is blue, yet your friend is convinced it’s green.
The entire conversation sounds completely insane doesn’t it?
Yes, but it is eerily similar to the year-long struggle between Save our Pools (SOP) and the City of Dearborn. Last year the city threatened to close and demolish 6 of the 8 outdoor pools. The residents came out in droves to tell them they were wrong. They had videos and pictures espousing the importance of the pools to everyone who lives in Dearborn. The Mayor changed his mind and the pools opened. It began to look like everyone agreed the sky was blue.
SOP went one step further and showed how inflated the numbers were that estimated the costs of repairing and renovating the pools. According to the NSA study, it would cost the city $1,277,700 to keep up all 8 of the pools over the next 5 years (averages $255,540 per year). Ryan Woods, of SOP, gave us a more realistic version of those numbers. According to his calculations, over the next 5 years it would cost just $183,400 (averages $36,680 per year).
I am no accountant, but those numbers don’t seem to add up.
Dearborn is in the hole. That, we can all agree on. The Mayor believes that one solution to this problem is to close the small pools and demolish them. This year, closing three pools is estimated to save the city $75,000. Demolition costs $20,000 per pool. The sky is green.
In just a few months last year, the efforts from the City, Community and Save Our Pools shaved $95,011 from the operating costs of the pools. They have identified multiple sponsorship opportunities to ease the burden on the city, and motivated hundreds of volunteers to paint fences, buildings and otherwise clean up the pools so the city didn’t have to shoulder those costs. The difference in costs from the NSA study to the SOP revisions is roughly $218,874 per year. The sky is blue.
In tough times, we are responsible to make good fiscal decisions but do what we can to preserve the treasures that make our city unique and give people reasons to move here. Blue Sky.
When the residents of Dearborn have come out to give their time and money to something that matters to them, it is politically sensible to ignore it and cut the thing they fight for because it is low hanging fruit on the budget tree. Green Sky.
When people are willing to put their time and energy into maintaining a city service, the city should thank them and search for more creative solutions for cuts and savings in other areas that people are willing to compromise on. Blue Sky.
Don’t get me wrong, the people who work on these budgets put a ton of time and consideration into every decision and I appreciate that. But I think that once the residents in Dearbornhave made it clear there are certain decisions they won’t stand for, it is the responsibility of our elected officials to make changes. The city must work with the residents and community groups that form out of our collective passion to create lasting solutions and not quick fixes to appease the crowd.
It is time to make our intentions clear to the city yet again and demand a Blue Sky. Please add your voice to the discussion and tell the city council and the Mayor how you feel at the budget workshop on Thursday May 19th at 5:30 pm in the Mayor’s Conference Room.
To learn more about how you can help, join the Save Our Small Pools group on Facebook.
By the way, did you hear three libraries are going to be cut, too?
About our guest writer:
Kristyn has lived in Dearborn for three years near Ten Eyck pool. She says “as soon as I moved to Dearborn, I loved it. The closeness of the neighborhoods reminded me of where I grew up, in the suburbs of Chicago. Growing up, I went to my pool there as often as I could during the summer. We rented out the pool every year for my birthday and we still use the facilities for baby showers and family gatherings.
I ran as a write-in for Dearborn City Council in 2009, intent to bring “A New Perspective” to the city decisions. I am currently a law student at Wayne State University. I have worked for a marketing organization in Southfield for the last three years and I will be working as a student attorney for the Wayne State Free Legal Aid Clinic beginning next week.”
May 18th, 2011 at 7:20 am
move some of the people that “work” at the Dearborn Recreation, who only seem to stand around and do nothing and have them work on renovating. I’ve yet to see most of those “workers” do anything up to the point where I’ve asked them how to use a machine, none of them know. Since they don’t know how to do *that* job, perhaps they could do *this* job. it should be under the same budget.
May 18th, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Yes, Becki, let’s have some people with probably no construction skills renovate the pools! That will be very cost effective, especially when they’re falling apart again in 2 years because no one knew what they were doing. Maybe we should have the mayor and council serve as lifeguards, too, to save even more money.
As for the article. Who is Ryan Woods and why should we take his numbers as more accurate than the NSA numbers? I’m not saying I necessarily believe the NSA numbers to be accurate but why should I believe this person? Is he a construction expert? A pool expert? Has he seen the full extent of damages at the pools that need to be repaired and all the machinery that needs to be replaced and their cost?
Personally, I have no problem with a couple of the west Dearborn pools closing. In approximately a 3 mile straight line there are 4 pools in SW Dearborn. In all of east Dearborn we have 3 pools, that many kids have to travel more than a mile and across busy streets like Greenfield, Michigan and Ford, to get to. I think the west end can deal with 1 or 2 less pools (specifically the intermediate ones like Summer and Whitmore).
May 18th, 2011 at 4:23 pm
Ryan Woods worked for the city in the recreation department, all which was with the pools for over ten years. He is very educated on the pools and the up keep of them. He has many years in the field and he has not only been to every single pool we are discussing be he has done his research on saving the city money in maintaining these pools. Ryan is a honest Dearborn resident who has no reason to lie or with hold numbers. He looks at the pools and sees what they need and what the dont need. As for NSA they look at how to make the pools better, we dont need to rebuild or repair with high end repairs. Simply maintaining them properly and managing them would make them last longer. Do we need a cadillac pool or can we deal with our Taruras we have now? NSA is looking for reasons to spend money, when they could be looking ways to save money and use it properly.
May 18th, 2011 at 9:16 pm
The mayor simply wants these pools gone. It is not and has never been a financial issue. If cost savings were the primary driver for decisions why does a full time mayor who makes 160,00 dollars need a full time deputy mayor? Why do we have a Rec director who makes 120,00 plus per year? How many other Guido holdovers and unemployable cronies are still collecting city checks? Why does this mayor need a city paid Ford Flex. Why does this mayor budget 70 grand for Homecoming? Why does this so called lawyer botch court case after court case costing the city millions?
For twenty years this mayor green lighted every bloated pork barrel project that came his way as city council president. Now this same guy wants to impose the cuts first on children who use parks? Asking this guy to fix our budget deficit is like asking the captain of the titanic to sail your lifeboat.
May 19th, 2011 at 12:24 am
Paul,
That’s a fair question. At the same time I hope you’d be fair and do your homework to understand all the items the Administration’s proposing.
Myself – I’m a degreed Mechanical Engineer that has worked within the Automotive Industry for 10yrs. My positions include Test Engineer, Design Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer and Project Manager.
My experience with the City Recreation Department/Aquatics division also includes 10yrs of which I started as a Life Guard at Ford Woods, Head Life Guard at Dunworth, Assistant Manager at Dunworth and Head Maintenance for all Outdoor City pools. At the time I was moving into my ‘Career Job’, I was one of a few people asked if interested in becoming the Aquatics Manager (by Rick Osborn). During the short downturn in the economy of the early 2000’s, I met with the City Engineer and offered to become a 4day/week intern for Free to build up my ‘early’ resume. Unfortuneately the City couldn’t make it happen as the free work and my paid work in Aquatics couldn’t be separated.
As for my character, I’m currently a psia certified adaptive ski instructor for whom I’m a core volunteer in Michigan Adaptive Sports teaching handicapped and disabled persons skiing 6-8 saturday’s in the winter along with waterskiing, Hand Cycling and Kyacking in the Summer (16yrs). 2nd – I volunteer for Optical Illusions Blind Ski Club guiding Blind persons at Pine Knob and hold a visually impaired rock climing clinic at the Center yearly (18yrs). 3rd – I volunteer at Michigan Special Olympics State Summer games in Mt. Pleasant and State Winter games in Traverse City (14yrs). 4th – I volunteer for my Hometown – Dearborn, thru the SOP group.
In regards to the NSA reported and my adjusted numbers – I presented a packet during the May 10th City budget meeting that explained every line item within the NSA report and my updated dollar amount with explanations. The assumptions I used were based on the following:
1. Any costs associated with renovation requirements removed (per NSA not required, Fall / 2010 NSA presentation to Rec. Commision).
2. Duplicate items removed – Item 1. Paint fence, Item 2. Replaced rusted fence., Item 2 removed due to repair/paint option.
3. All items addressed through community efforts last year (painting/cleaning) adjusted for correct dollar amount.
4. Items requiring yearly inspection and passing 2010 inspection adjusted for need.
5. Items listing work/materials that can be completed by community, adjusted for material cost.
6. Material costs adjusted for actual cost (researched).
Note that in April 2010 the City advised their 5yr projected maintenance costs from the VFA study was $3.8 million dollars. I felt these numbers were highlly incorrect and presented my findings to the Council / Mayor. The City then decided to hire NSA, their number came to $1.27 million. My line by line review of the NSA study came up with $184,300 for 5yrs.
Also note – as of a few years ago, the City now has new filtration systems at every Outdoor Pool.
Please contact me thru the ‘Save Our Small Pools’ facebook site or post your e-mail and I’d be more than happy to send you a copy of my findings that were presented to the City last week.
May 19th, 2011 at 5:37 am
Paul, You are a real work of art. Mayor McCheese spends 275K on street sweepers, per year to contract services? And that’s just 1 example. That would keep the “”intermediate” pools open for years. I have no problem with you moving to Detroit. S.O.P.
May 19th, 2011 at 7:28 am
Yes Paul, the point is if we’re paying people that don’t work, and we need other skills, why not get rid of a and hire b? is it really that hard for you?
May 19th, 2011 at 8:42 am
Let’s cut all of the new comer pre campaign rhetoric here. This article is just reiterating what SOP and supporting residents have been working on for over a year. The article is also still giving credit to “the people who work on the budgets”. Why???
Here is an idea or two for saving some money. First off fire the people who are working on the budget….and fast. Also we need to make the city council a volunteer, non-paid position again (like it should be). Cut the school superintendent’s pay in half or more. Teachers stuck with 35+ students per class with less funding where we need it for the students. Combine that with cutting the Mayor’s pay by $100K or so and we would be part of the way there. Or replace him with one that will actually attract businesses, rather than foster commercial vacancies and disregard his citizens who try and help the city. A mayor that together with the citizens that care will make Dearborn and attraction and destination. Not just discount everyone’s hard work and determination.
He/They “GAVE” SOP a year??? SOP along with people who care stepped up and made things happen in a short period. Saving and raising money. Also people in this community assisted in Cleaning, painting, volunteering to help reduce overall costs through out the year. We gave the Mayor 6 years, plus his time as council president. He has had more than enough time and still seems to apparently fall short. Is he not embarrassed at the failures to date? If we let this keep going the way it’s going we’ll be shuttering the city. Look at “Downtown West Dearborn” aka…”West VacantsVille.” It’s starting to look like New Flint here. Why would anyone want to move here when you have to walk around a largely vacant downtown?
Furthermore, we have only fragmented plans and one sided city government ideas or extreme lack there of, on how to make it better. Most ideas are made up of threats of cutting services and raising taxes, instead of REAL solutions. We are just being distracted by one or two issues here. That is the biggest tragedy. We should not have to worry about closing anything. In fact we should be planning (VOTING) on new projects to make Dearborn great once again. Instead we are fighting with the very leaders that we voted for, in good faith, to keep the last vestiges of the dying dreams of our past alive. Even in a depressed economy, well managed cities can and do prosper. Dearborn leadership on the other hand can only threaten to cut services, increase taxes and propose more pie in the sky investment ventures?
Wake up Dearborn! They work for us. Stop begging them to “please help us”. Demand better management. Do not let them stop you from presenting ideas. Until the economy picks up we are all in this as a community. This is not a dictatorship. The last I heard we still live in a Democracy. Vote with your voice. Or we will all have to vote with our feet.
In closing SOP has done a wonderful job in bringing not just the pools issue to light, but a host of other short comings that are long overdue for attention. The pools again are just a symptom of a larger issue. We need more citizen based organizations to follow SOP’s lead and address other issues. BTW…I compost my leaves or mulch them into my lawn with the mower.
May 19th, 2011 at 4:29 pm
“I can’t see! I can’t see!”
“What’s wrong?!?!”
“I got my eyes closed, nyuk nyuk nyuk.”
Maybe Kristen could tell what color the sky was if she took off the rose-colored glasses. “Gimme gimme gimme and everyone else outside my special interest group should pay for it whether they can walk to a pool or not.”
May 19th, 2011 at 5:50 pm
Dearborn has so much potential, and there are so many reasons WHY it shouldn’t be struggling the way it is: Two colleges that have grown immensely in the past five years, Ford Motor Company which has rebounded nicely, the largest tourist attraction in Michigan in The Henry Ford, large high-end hotels, close proximity to downtown Detroit (without actually BEING Detroit), a unique cultural identity that is unparalleled in Michigan– but yet we struggle even while other cities in the area continue to support and attract great businesses. It takes serious incompetance to have all of these assets within our borders but yet have such a desolate business district and so many empty houses and storefronts.
It’s like this mayor has been handed a diamond, but continues to stomp it, rub it in manure, spit on it, bounce it off the concrete and all-around treat it like a lump of coal. He has moved beyond passive ineptitude, and moved into outright active destruction of our city. It’s one thing to ignore all the potential that is present here and not know how to capitalize on it, but it’s another to completely dismantle many of the things that make this city great- libraries, neighborhood pools, community togetherness.
This man has to go. Let’s get a petition together and start a recall.
May 19th, 2011 at 9:50 pm
So, let me get all of this straight. $180,000 for meeting rooms at the Centennial Library, $600,000 for leaf pick up and $275,000 for street sweeping not to mention all the new sweepers? And you are watching the youth of our city sell wrist bands, have bake sales and lemonade stands trying to raise money to save their pools? SHAME ON YOU, EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!!!!!!!
You made up Public Service Day (how much does that cost us by the way?) and leaf pick up. Why don’t we “suspend” these services for a year or two and put that money towards the pools and libraries and see what happens? If things get messy we can always add them back. But what is it going to hurt to suspend them in this time of crisis to save our pools and libraries?
I doubt our city will crumble if the streets aren’t swept every week and the leaves aren’t picked up by the city for one or two years.
Maybe they should look into private funding for Homecoming and Arab Festival. We’ve managed to get by without the State Fair. But pools and libraries are very important to this city.
May 20th, 2011 at 8:48 am
First off this manufactured crisis has clouded Hmmm’s vision. You are the one with a self centered defeatist mentality. Why is a 100,000 a year expense that contributes to the health and vitality of a community the first cut to plug a twenty million hole? This is not about self centered gimmie attitude that attitude is already monopolized by the mayor and his 160,000 a year salary, his deputy mayor, the Rec director and his 120,000 salary and a paid city council. If the pools need to be closed so be it! Ok. That however is not a proven case and the mayor by proposing a minimal cut to plug a massive hole shows this Mayor’s utter moral bankruptcy and lack of character. People need to demand leadership, apologists for the mayor like Paul M and Hmmm are the type of clueless dupes who see the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Gentleman, Becki, J Christmas, speechless, Ryan Woods, Hefty T and Catherine you at least show the passion that contributes to a functioning participatory democracy. Paul M, and Hmmm congratulations on accepting the conventional wisdom that contributes to an unaccountable corrupt political machine.
May 20th, 2011 at 11:39 am
I really applaud the efforts of the SOP group. Although my immediate family no longer uses the pools, one of the features that makes Dearborn, well, Dearborn are the pools. I’ve worked in the wealthier burbs north of us and I’ve worked in cities west and south too, and I appreciate that Dearborn, unlike other cities of comparable population, has these local pools and libraries. When my friends, from out west came and visited, the local pool and library is what attracted these young families and made them take a serious look at Dearborn as a place to raise a family. I don’t know that everyone else feels this way and i don’t have hard data to back it up, but i genuinely feel the pools add value to the homes. With all the other areas we could cut money (mayor’s salary, cleanup, pesticides in parks, etc.), I just don’t understand why the pools are on the chopping block, especially with all the community support and people volunteering their services to maintain the pools.
May 20th, 2011 at 1:45 pm
Reality Bites: I think you’re more interested in Socialism than Democracy. I keep hearing talk of everything from revolution at the city council meetings to recalls. So far, I’ve seen neither despite all the rhetoric. The mayor wins virtually unopposed and folks like you say it’s because the electorate is uninformed. Did it ever occur to you that he wins because the majority of voters think he’s doing a better job than you could? Oh, wait….you didn’t run, did you? Neither did anyone you sponsored as far as I can tell, right?
I don’t live by a pool and I drive my kids to Levagood. Sorry you refuse to do the same. Close the pools except for one in each end of town and the civic center pool, start cutting services like leaf pickup and street sweeping, close the libraries except for the main library. We’re in a fiscal disaster yet we refuse to cut any services whatsoever, from leaf pickup to public pools that are used 3 months per year. Time to get serious about saving money. No way you’re going to convince me that it only costs $100,000.00 per year to operate those pools. We used to have a pool in our yard. I bet they spend more than a hundred grand per year in chemicals alone not to mention heating them. They are heated, right?
Sorry, but every cut is somebody’s cause celebre. It’s time for some of them to go.
Sandy: Other than people moving to Dearborn because they want to be close to family members who already live here, I think I can confidently say that people who can afford Plymouth, Northville, Livonia or Canton are not about to buy a house of equal value in Dearborn because they are in love with the idea of Dearborn having a few neighborhood pools or branch libraries. That red herring won’t work. Try another. The pools involved in this “controversy” benefit those who can walk to them. That means relatively few residents. You can drive to one of the remaining pools like the rest of us.
May 20th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
Why has the city not given it’s citizen’s the opportunity to decide for themselves about the fate of our pools? There has been no suggestion of a possible millage. In speaking with others, we have often heard of the willingness to pay more in taxes to save our pools and to preserve the uniqueness of Dearborn. Voters are willing to save our neighborhood pools, even if it means having to pay extra specifically for the privilege.
May 21st, 2011 at 11:02 am
My view is:
1. Like Sandy said, even residents that don’t use the pool have a HUGE stake in the pool’s survival (city attractiveness, property values, etc)
2. Once pool’s demolished, Dbn will never again have that asset…sad…example Dearborn Towers in ClearwaterFLA. Doesn’t solve the
root cause.
3. To save the pools, we must present something equivalent to cut.
May 21st, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Hmm…, I never meant to imply that the neighborhood library or pools were the deal breakers for people who could afford a home in a wealthier suburb than Dearborn. My lay impression, though, after living over twenty years here is that these are features that not only make Dearborn unique and more attractive but importantly add value to our homes and can be a selling point. Like I said, I have no data, at the moment, to back up my impression and I could be completely wrong. Yes, every cut is “somebody’s cause celebre”, but, in this case, it seems like this cut would be more than “somebody’s cause celebre,” it would be the cause celebre of so many. Whom are we trying to attract to Dearborn? Who is likely to buy a house and stay here? Are the pools and libraries a selling and staying point for those people? Are the SOP folks representative of the folks that are likely to buy a home here in Dearborn? Perhaps a silly question—how much will it cost to close the pools? These questions came up in my thoughts surrounding this issue. Plus, like the commenter above me explains in point #2, when the pools close, well, they’re closed–that’s that–and Dearborn doesn’t have them anymore. I don’t use the pools and my family doesn’t but I’m not convinced that their closing won’t adversely affect those who don’t use them. Sacrifices must be made. My thinking, though, is that this sacrifice could hurt much more than help.
May 22nd, 2011 at 8:10 am
I would happily pay more in taxes, an additional 200-300 dollars to save many of these services. Just please don’t make me bag my leaves.
May 22nd, 2011 at 11:39 am
The person writing as “Hmm” is mistaken. We and others — without any local relatives — moved to Dearborn specifically for the neighborhoods. Nearby community pools and library branches, reachable on foot or bike by our children, were factors in this decision.
May 22nd, 2011 at 6:50 pm
A friend of mine had this suugestion to raise money for the pools and increase attendance at the Dearborn Hills Golf Course: A $200 to $300 annual pass for unlimited attendance at any pool and the golf course. I’m sure lots of parents(especially fathers) would jump at the chance to use a pool occasionally and get on the course much more than occasionally. That might just raise the funds to operate the pools for a season.
May 22nd, 2011 at 9:55 pm
Hmmm really gets angry when his irrational blather is exposed. The outdoor pools slated for closure are not heated and the cost for chemicals are clearly Listed in the budget. Organic growth and equal opportunity to public recreation are conservative values, what Hmmm espouses are reactionry politics and discredited am talk raido talking points. Hmmm the facts are clearly against you. Simply calling people Socialists, because you have no grasp of reality is weak. As a conservative I would rather be labeled a socialist than a cowardly apologist for status quo politics and reactionary ignorance.
May 23rd, 2011 at 6:40 pm
Rob, that’s a good idea. Too bad they want to close the golf course too.
May 25th, 2011 at 10:31 am
Friends,
I think the neighborhood pools are a great thing. I don’t think they are as important as the libraries, though. We should save the neighborhood libraries first.
That said, when we are given the detailed explanation by Ryan Woods of his careful analysis of the pool cost numbers, plus his professional background and specific experience regarding the pools, it sure seems that somebody at the City should be taking his report to heart. Any analyst in our City finance department should be able to go over the report he provided the city to check his facts. At first blush it wouldn’t seem possible that the professional report commissioned by the city could be wrong by 85%, but Mr. Woods makes an impressive argument that was the case.
Can Mr. Woods now study the library-funding arguments the City has put forth? If they are as wrong in the pool financials as they seem to be, what mistakes have they made regarding library financing?
May 28th, 2011 at 12:54 am
that’s Jack, he spends our money and will spend more to take away peoples right to free speech, how much on legal fee’s so far Jack’o and how much in the future?????
and what about defined benefits for our administration. Also take away benefits and pay for our city council, they wanted the job, do it as community service, you know community service for our pools………….
May 31st, 2011 at 2:40 pm
For the record, the Ten Eyck tennis court tear down and complete rebuild was paid for by a grant from Wayne County. I wish we could get some Wayne County grants for the pools as well…