Well, I will bite on the weighty wading pools issue. I live near Lake Harriet, and I bring our young kids to both the Lake AND the pools frequently. The Park Board's reasoning seems to be that they are interchangable, but that's way off. The wading pools extremely convenient for a quick dip and cooling off, and they make for a quicker outing that can be combined with other errands and activities. The beach, with the sand and algae factors, tend to be more of a destination trip.
More importantly, however, is the role of the wading pools for building relationships with families of young children of the same age. It's really social. The parents tend to hang out at the edge of the pools and strike up conversations with each other. There's a lot of comparative data about schools and preschools and other kid activities that is exchanged there. For the kids, there are lots of kids of roughly the same age to befriend. And if it's really hot, this Dad has even been known to slither down into the cool water himself. Priceless. Where else should the park board cut? I wish I could say. It would help if the park board put its budget on the Web site (or maybe I just can't find it). Plenty of data about where the money comes from, but not about where it is spent. David Curle East Harriet Farmstead TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
