Letter: Proposed new pool poorly planned and unaffordable

Published 10:00 am Tuesday, August 11, 2020

To the Editor:

Working with others to stop a new taxing district recently succeeded for the hard-working residents of Grant County. The proposed new pool was a poorly planned and unaffordable project from the beginning. Even worse, using “the kids” as leverage to override voters’ desires was exceptionally inappropriate on the part of the swim team and Nick Green. In fact, to quote Dr. Phil there are two rules regarding children: 1) Do not ask them to deal with adult issues. 2) Do not burden them with situations they cannot control. Nick Green and the swim team broke both these rules. If the swim team and company wants to pursue the initiative option to get this project on the ballot so everyone can vote (and they will lose again, I predict), they are welcome to do so; of course, that would take some effort on their part. Their right to vote still exists, albeit along a different political trajectory.

In conclusion, the consensus at most of the recent meetings is to fix and build on what we have in an affordable manner. Mayor Ron Lundbom and council members need to first get their own business affairs in order before pushing agendas for the county that we cannot afford. They have started on yet another agenda to expand the fairgrounds. They had their Macy Walker PR partners write the design and expect the county to pay for that also. Don’t they ever learn? That is how the city incurred the $70,000 expense that was wasted and they were whining about. Common sense.

Bob Pereira

John Day