25 May 2010

OTR 5K

We had a great time Saturday at the Gateway Festival or whatever it is called. But it was a long hot day, and three days later I am still recovering from soccer games, retirement parties, lemonade stands, and more soccer games. My son and wife and some good friends all ran the 5K, while I cheered.

Kids racing a short race after the 5K in OTR, Vine Street Saturday:


OTR Underground Tour Starting


I've been worn out from lots of kid activities, and being busy at my work. I cannot wait for the summer to start. My only hesitation about the summer is that Washington Park Pool is not reopening, and Zeigler pool hours are going to be cut back even further. We have applied to join a local pool club, but I am worried that we will start spending all our time there, and spend less time downtown and with our neighbors. I wish we had a pool club on the riverfront, kinda like the CRC Dunham Pool (but with a deep end).

Or maybe a floating pool, like this one on the Hudson River NYC, 100 years ago:

11 comments:

JNiebs said...

Not sure if it means anything, but I could not find a single African American in your OTR photo's. I have seen more "diverse" groups in Liberty Township.

Anonymous said...

ah....summer swim time discussion again. So Mike, I know the neighborhood deep water pool is a big deal to you guys, but I just don't see how that is a sustainable model in the current economy, and...perhaps...going forward. Municipalities are getting out of that business due to the attendant costs...converting to spraygrounds etc. Right now there are...what...27 facilities (and that includes spraygrounds) to serve 52 neighborhoods. I don't know if it is feasible for every neighborhood to have a deep water pool. But maybe there is an opportunity for a public-private type of partnership...whereby the city gives the land to residents who organize and raise funds for a private pool in the neighborhood.Obviously you would need a critical mass of core residents in teh neighborhood with the means and wherewithal to do this....it's no mystery where I'm coming from on this:
http://www.soapboxmedia.com/features/0525soapdishclintonhillswimclub.aspx

5chw4r7z said...

Jerry, are you blaming Mike for this?
We can't twist peoples arms and make them come to festivals.
Interesting, I was expecting the "you'll get shot" reaction.
Funny how people get it both ways isn't it Mike?

You were really distracted but it was nice seeing you. And I'll buy a lemonaide next time I promise.

Fadi said...

It was an "open to public" kind of festival wasn't it? (I sadly missed it.. now feeling left out, but that's another story) If everyone was free to come, but a certain group didn't that doesn't make it the organizers' or specifically the writer's fault now, does it?

Plus, I think people noticing that it wasn't diverse enough are the ones who are "kinda" racist. I'm appalled by this quest to add diversity into everything, i love diversity (after all, i'm a minority) when it's natural.. not forced..

CityKin said...

I am resigned to the fact that we will have no deep water pool in OTR, at least in the near future.
It is sad because it was my summertime community, and I will miss all those people. I think the city would be a better city with more places where all kinds of people come together like we did at the pool. I also loved the swim team competitions between neighborhoods. It was all great and part of what made this city so great to live in, and I still hope to soemday see a bigger, better community pool at the Zeigler site. It could be a fantastic summertime community center of activity IMO.

CityKin said...

And by the way Anonymous, I love Clinton Hills Swim club. I just wish it was downtown, and I don't think we have the population to support a private pool (yet). There are too many people down here that could not afford it.

Anonymous said...

Join Clinton Hills! It's a quick trip up Vine Street far and it's a great pool with great people.

Anonymous said...

Soapbox Anonymous, what's making things like public pools "unsustainable" is the crazy neo-liberal economic philosophy that's running amok. This is the richest country in the history of the world -- there's plenty of money, it's just being hogged.

Why would anyone's vision be less community, less shared experience, less that is public, more that is exclusive and private? YUCK.

Blue Ash Mom

Anonymous said...

Neighborhood Raises Money, Saves Pool From Closure.
Problem solved.

http://www.wlwt.com/news/23667610/detail.html

Anonymous said...

Pool made out of a Dumpster on the banks of the Gowanus Canal in industrial Brooklyn.

From an article in the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/arts/design/20pool.html

CityKin said...

I know the people who raised the $12,000 to keep the Spring Grove Village pool open. I think if we had that option, we could possibly get 240 people to pay $50 each for a membership. But our pool is being removed, so that's not really an option.

But think about this. The $12,000 is the claimed total cost of operating Winton Place Pool! That is a miniscule part of the City budget, much less the CRC budget. It is all about priorities.