Friday, November 21, 2008

Truman Pool Could Open Up For More Swimmers

By Peter Sachs
Chi-Town Daily News


As soon as this summer, residents living near Truman College in Uptown could have a chance to take classes at the school’s swimming pool.

Every few years, waves of interest ripple through parts of Uptown about opening up the swimming pool at Truman.

Truman spokesman Clifton Daniel says several people have asked him about the pool in the last week.

“Interest in the community percolates up every once in a while,” Daniel says. Continue Reading

8 comments:

  1. Oh yeah, the insurance excuse. It's BS. It's used to make any community interest in the facilities a political matter where you can try to increase taxes to fund the activity. The community can fund the costs of personal use with a small per use.

    I handled these questions in high school when my town was trying to convert a tennis court that was being used 1 hour per week for tennis afficionados into skate park for skateboarding and aggressive inline skaters. The village claimed the insurance wouldn't cover the activity, but we showed them that their existing coverage did not cover tennis activity either.

    We covered costs with a per use fee of $1 and two showcases with a partnership with a local grocer where we sold tickets, food, and merchandise.

    If locals want to use the Truman pool they need to put together a plan. It's possible and the insurance claims are just a scare tactic to get you to go away.

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  2. Awesome, but I would love either open lap swim or have one of the classes be geared towards prospective triathletes. My wife and I plan on competing in the triathlon next year and it would be nice to have some where close to train.

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  3. “Interest in the community percolates up every once in a while,” Daniel says.

    "We typically just ignore it, wait for the interest to die down again, then we go back to the status quo. It's really too much effort for staff and the Truman administration to bother with. You know, we're very busy people."

    I should write for The Onion.

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  4. Before the program can grow too fast, though, someone needs to come up with the money to fix the locker rooms.

    How's that parking garage coming along, by the way?

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  5. Isn't it funny that all the money from the residents that's going into the TIF benefits people outside the ward? Section 8 and CHA waiting list, students who drive to Truman, and CTA parkers?

    Funny how the "community" college pool -- the one thing that could actually benefit people who are living in Uptown already -- is "too expensive" for us to use. But keep bringing those kids from the Irving Park Y there while putting the residents on the back burner!

    (I learned to swim at the Irving Park YMCA, so I *know* that they already have a pool at that facility.)

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  6. It's a shame Truman College doesn't use the publicly funded pool to it's full capacity. Gill Park's pool, as an example, offers community swimming times, swim and lifesaving classes and is host to community swim and water polo teams that actually raise money and help volunteer for some of the kids' swim team activities.

    Community inclusion and access has been great for Gill Park's pool, and I've never heard anyone complain about feeling uncomfortable being around gay swimmers there.

    Colleges all over the country provide community access to their pools and other sports facilities, probably for the same reason as Gill Park. The community access allows organizations to form that the Colleges would otherwise not be able to provide to their students.

    What a shame Truman College is so short sighted on this. Maybe the recent community interest will prompt them to reconsider. It would be worth their asking Gill Park staff their thoughts on the matter.

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  7. Mr. Daniels: Other than being married to H. Truman's late daughter, what are your quaifications?

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  8. BuenaPk, Clifton Daniels is the son of Margaret Truman Daniels, not her husband.

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