Write those letters/testimony in support -- but more importantly, tell your friends & family to write THEIR own letters/testimony in support, too!   It takes YEARS of "public noise" until public officials either realize or accumulate data/funds to succumb to the public pressure of building these type of projects ... so start now, and get your friends & family to do the same! 

Jody, any word from Susan/Jeff if they are planning on sending out that information sheet to Clippers families?  I haven't heard any feedback. 

Diane

In response to the Dec. 20 article "Wish list may go by the wayside because of cuts in state aid," which discussed various budget project ideas -- one of which was a 50-meter, indoor pool -- competing for a dwindling supply of funds, I'd like clarify an important point:

The 50-meter, indoor public pool is a project that the county is considering funding through bonds issued by the newly established Revenue Authority, not through the traditional funding method of the county's capital budget.

The county is studying the feasibility to determine if such a swim facility would be able to cover its debt service (loan payments on the bonds) through revenues made by user fees, partial- and full- facility rentals and concession sales.

This is an important difference from other projects because a public aquatic facility, if designed correctly, can be a revenue-generator. Users would pay for its costs. It would not drain the tax base. There are plenty of successful examples of such aquatics complexes in the region.

The key is to design such a facility so that it's centrally located or easily accessible to residents, as well as to appeal to a wide range of users and programs: from recreational swimmers, lap swimmers, lesson-takers, therapeutic swimmers, geriatric swimmers and water aerobics participants to competitive and high school swimmers, masters swimmers, water polo, synchronized swimming, triathletes, open-water swimming and scuba diving.

What better, more efficient, way is there to serve the increasing demand of aquatics users than to build the county's first public, indoor pool as one that is 50 meters?

Diane Goodridge

Ellicott City