Risking the wrath of people who will see this as knuckling under, giving up, bad public policy, etc, I am willing to pay a moderate cost for the extreme conveniece of having the wading pool open at my neighborhood (Fuller) Park. You can stop by with kids on the way home, for a short time in the evening, without driving or otherwise transporting warm and thus whiney children. If the cost if $2,000 per park, that's 100 people at $20 each, or 50 people at $40, or 20 people at $100. In past years I have paid $36 to have my kids swim one afternoon at the St. Louis Park water park. This is the kind of fundraising task that the Park Councils, Neighborhood organizations, groups of parents, etc can take on. No charging at the gate, money is raised before the pool opens.
It is OK with me that some people can't or won't pay and their kids will still swim. It is still worth the money to me to have the convenience and the social life.
I don't have the information and, thank heavens, don't have to review the entire Park Board budget to weigh recreation, environmental and sport priorities. I am not advocating having to pay for each and every public service or suggesting that voluntary payment is a solution to the disintegration of the ethic of the common good. I just don't want to have to try and explain to my children in 10 weeks why "their" pool has only dirty rainwater.
Lisa Kugler
Tangletown
