Harris: More shoud be done to keep Boys & Girls pool open
Club's executive director responds
Editor, the Asbury Park Sun,
The recent closure of the Asbury Park Boys & Girls Club pool is another slap in the face to residents of the West Side of the city and those who actually used the facility. In a recent Sun article about the closing, Executive Director Douglas Eagles stated, “Our current club programming needs don’t necessitate regular use of the pool.” Well, how about getting off your butt and create some programs for the kids, handicapped and seniors who would use the pool?
To have a pool open for use eight out of 52 weeks is an insult. That equates to about 15 percent of the calender year. If this young man worked anywhere else and had an asset like a pool open 15 percent of the time, he would be fired. But in Asbury Park, it’s accepted.
To allow a swim team to run the pool to create revenue and when the revenue falls short close the place down, this, too, is unacceptable. This is what has happened with our beach. Let someone else run it for profit.
Mr. Eagles claims he walked the streets in the neighborhood, but did he go out in the street advocating use of the pool and swimming safety? No, the job was given to someone who brought in outsiders to use the facility. How many programs actually existed for the youth of Asbury Park? Just as easily as 175 swimmers were recruited from outside the community to use the pool; could children be recruited from within the community?
Could our Board of Education have instituted swimming into our curriculum? The pool is less than a mile from our schools. Part of physical education is to introduce our children to lifelong physical activities that would improve the quality of their lives. Could the high school have a swim team? Could the middle school have a swim team? Neptune and Ocean Township have swim teams. That, in itself, would create funds.
Our seniors go to Red Bank to swim. Unfortunately, Mr. Eagles did not have the foresight to have a handicap ramp installed in the pool. This would have created more money for the club and cut transportation costs for the city.
Maybe if my wife didn’t use the pool I wouldn’t be as vocal. But she did, and I am. To Doug Eagles: before you close an asset in our city, try harder. If you don’t care enough to do so, try another city. ASBURY FOR ASBURY.
Editor, the Asbury Park Sun,
As executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monmouth County, I am responsible to ensure that we have the funding and organizational capacity to fulfill our mission of providing a safe place for children and equipping them for success in life.
When I became executive director in March 2012, the financial situation of the club was grim. One of the strategies I employed to steer the organization through a severe cash shortage was partnering with NJ Race Club. That partnership guaranteed that Club kids and the community would continue to have access to the pool, and financial responsibility for managing the pool would fall to NJRC, saving the Club $100,000 a year in operating expenses.
Unfortunately, after a year and a half, NJRC couldn’t sustain the necessary programming to cover costs and was forced to end our agreement. While our financial situation has stabilized and the club is on a much stronger footing, we are not in a position to incur an additional $100,000 in operating costs.
Mr. Harris has a right to be upset. The pool is a tremendous asset and one that kids throughout the community should be able to enjoy. However, as executive director I am tasked with ensuring the continued operation of the club as a whole. Keeping the pool open without the proper funding in place would threaten the stability of the entire organization. To make certain that children in our community have access to year-round, life-transforming programs that encourage academic success, physical activity, and emotional support, I must move forward with a seasonal operating schedule for the pool.
Mr. Harris, I invite you and anyone else interested in bringing the pool back on year-round to meet with me to discuss ways to raise the money needed for such a worthy endeavor.
— Douglas Eagles, executive director
Boys & Girls Clubs of Monmouth County
[All letters represent the opinion of the writer and are not representative of any opinion of the Asbury Park Sun staff. All readers are welcome to submit Letters to the Editor to news@asburyparksun.com for our consideration. For guidelines on letter-writing and submission, click here.]
————————————————————
