With the rec center in the rearview mirror, it’s finally time to focus our fundraising spirit on something we’ve needed for a long time: an outdoor community pool. I didn’t have a dog in the rec center fight, because my kids are grown and my grandkids are in college and too old to take advantage of many of Youth Services’ programs. But despite living on a fixed income, and my concerns about rising property taxes, I voted YES because I saw the community benefit. I’m happy for the kids in my neighborhood who will get to enjoy the rec center’s facilities, but what about me? My pickleball and basketball days are behind me, and the Senior Center is just a bunch of old grouches complaining about taxes and politics.
A community pool would give seniors somewhere to spend time that doesn’t feel like the lobby of a morgue. And don’t tell me the YWCA already has a pool. A flooded basement on Plum Island has more character. We need an outdoor space that we can all share on those humid summer days. Believe it or not, seniors don’t just want to hang out with other seniors, in buildings designed for seniors. We want to be part of the community. We want to see kids running around, meet young families, and have conversations with people of all ages. A pool with patio chairs, picnic tables, and maybe even a snack stand with light refreshments, is the perfect place to do that.
Besides, Mr. Longfellow says I should get out of the house more.
And before you go on thinking, “we live by the beach, why can’t we swim there?” I’d ask you to consider: when was the last time you swam on Plum Island? Would you let your kids swim there, with that riptide and current, and no lifeguard? I’ve lived too long to meet my demise by getting knocked down by a wave and swept off to Spain. A community pool would be a safe, supervised place for kids to swim, seniors to exercise, families to lounge, and people to meet.
Unlike the rec center, I don’t think we should ask our community to shoulder the financial burden of this project. Let’s exercise those fundraising muscles! A quick Google search tells me the high-end estimated cost of a community pool is around $150,000. It sounds like a lot, but didn’t we just vote to spend $8 million on a rec center? Surely, with all the deep pockets in this town, we can figure it out.
Now, where would we put such a pool? I understand concerns about space (and the general lack of it), but if we can find room for 12 new condo buildings every year, we can find it for a pool. What about behind the rec center? I know there are some environmental and conservation concerns, but this might be the perfect location if those can be addressed. What about those huge tracts of land off Hale St.? Or the Brown School? Surely that lot is big enough for condos and a pool. I’d even be so bold as to suggest the waterfront, if not for all the negative Nancys who’d come out of the woodwork to defend their precious green space. I like green space as much as the next gal, but you can’t swim in soil, and those Adirondack chairs could just as easily be pool loungers.
The one place it can’t be is in my backyard, because according to Mr. Longfellow, that doesn’t count as “getting out of the house.”
Daphne Longfellow
Newburyport resident
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