Allentown Pools- Mix Stir Repeat

Colin McEvoy | The Express-Times (October 09, 2013)-- "Councilman Peter Schweyer asked how much would have to be spent for basic improvements to all the city's pools... Parks director John Mikowychok said he estimates it would cost $2 million to $2.5 million per pool."

I can only suppose Peter has either a short term memory loss or didn't bother to read Allentown's own $80,000 study.

I posted about this issue before...
LVCI (Tuesday, June 11, 2013)--
Allentown Pool Plans Will Soak The Budget

Here's a Mix, Stir, Repeat of that very same post.
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Allentown commissioned an $80,000 study called "Swimming Towards the Future".

The report estimated that it will cost between $2.3 million to $2.6 million to renovate the Jordan Pool. Between $2.5-$2.8 million to renovate the Mack pool and between $4.2-$4.6 million to rebuild entirely the pool at Cedar Beach. As far as the Irving pool, the report recommended that it should be converted to a spray park.

The report also noted nearly all of the Allentown pools do not meet entirely the federal requirements for the handicapped.

How About This Instead?

Instead of dropping around $10,000,000 or more, we work out a deal with Dorney Park or in combination issue vouchers for private swim clubs. Currently Dorney Park offers 2013 season passes to both parks that cost $117 for adults and $78 for junior/seniors. I'm certain Allentown could negotiate even lower group rates with Dorney if they tried.


Even at the regular rates Allentown's estimated $10 million could provide 85,470 adult passes. If they did this for only the kids 128,205 would be made available.

The report suggest a pool's useful lifespan is 30 years. Over that span of time, about 4,273 kids' passes could be issued each and every year. This exceeds Allentown's pool capacity by over 923. The current capacity all put together, including all the spray parks + Fountain Park Pool which has been closed since 2009, is 3,350.

This is not the only advantage to using this plan of mine. No matter what kind of toys and water slides Allentown installs, there's no way kids wouldn't rather be at a gigantic water park. And it's not just the water park. They would have access to the amusements and rides !

The biggest advantage of all is the overhead. I've not included the lifeguard salaries and those hiring them. Nor the policing costs associated with the municipally owned pools. Nor the costs for maintenance and chemicals over the next 30 years. Possible future lawsuits should also be considered.

I have no idea why Allentown spent $80,000 for a study when I could have suggested this common sense approach for free. This seems like a 'no-brainer' to me. Then again when it comes to 'no-brainers' and government.... that's pretty much the way it is.