We are not ones to gloat Oh wait… yes we are. So we were actually a bit giddy when we learned that the Greensboro natatorium, a controversial swimming center that has been alternately proposed as an economic generator, a community resource and a state-of-the-art training facility, is at least living up to our expectations.
For the record: We have been against the swimming center bond since 2006, when it appeared on the municipal ballot as a standalone bond issue and was defeated by about 10,000 votes. And we likely would have taken the same position as the voters when the matter came up in 2000, when it was voted down, again by about 10,000 votes, but YES! Weekly didn’t yet exist.
We called foul when the bond was passed in 2008 — by about 17,000 votes — because we believed its authors used a gambit known as the Trojan Horse to get it ratified. The $12 million for the natatorium became couched in a larger $20 million Parks & Recreation bond and the role of the swim center, though it represented more than half of the total dollar amount of the bond, was downplayed, according to the blog of former Parks & Rec Commissioner David Hoggard.
Parks & Rec bond referendums have a nearly 100 percent pass rate — in fact, P&R bonds passed both in 2000 and 2006, the years voters defeated the natatorium bond by healthy margins. We believe that this is because Greensboroans value their outdoor spaces, and because they trust the stewardship of the department.
To be sure, we got some blowback when we called out the P&R Department and the Greensboro City Council on their gambit, most notably on Hoggard’s blog where the former chair of the P&R Department called us “foolish” and commenter “mick” accused us of sleeping through journalism class before inveighing, “There was no trickeration involved here.” And now the worm turns again.
Last week voters — along with some P&R personnel — learned that the swim center will fall under the purview of the War Memorial Coliseum staff, and that it will be located on coliseum grounds by city council decree. We also learned that the whole project has been given fast-track status, so that it will break ground this year and be up and running by 2011. Meanwhile, the folks at Parks & Rec have been cut out of the loop on this project — one that could never have happened without their good name attached and, indeed, one that has done its share to sully that good name. And the real P&R projects — like the recreation centers approved in 2000 and the skate park that was approved in 2006 — have yet to see the drawing board.
YES! Weekly chooses to exercise its right to express editorial opinion in our publication. In fact we cherish it, considering opinion to be a vital component of any publication. The viewpoints expressed represent a consensus of the YES! Weekly editorial staff, achieved through much deliberation and consideration.
The folks at Parks & Rec have been cut out of the loop in this project — one that could never have happened without their good name attached and, indeed, one that has done its share to sully that good name.
