To the Editor: New BG pool fails to do most good for the greatest number

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To the residents of Bowling Green:
How do you like seeing your four-plus million-dollar investment in the aquatic facility in City Park
filled with ice and snow with Mother Nature creating her damage? This will happen every year, except for
approximately three months each summer.
One of the first principles I was taught while developing leisure facilities with public funds was that
you develop facilities that do the most good for the greatest number, and be as multi-purposed as
possible, to get the best value for your investments.
With hindsight, you could have been enjoying a year-round (365 days) indoor-outdoor pool for
approximately the same four-plus million-dollar investment. The pool attached to the current Community
Center would have provided the citizens of the area a leisure facility like none other in the county,
but now we have to live with the hindsight.
The master plan that designed and developed the current Community Center also had, as part of that plan,
that the next new swimming pool to be constructed should be constructed at the Community Center.
As I read in the City Guide, in particular, the sports section titled "Youth Soccer in BG," and
was amazed how the Youth Soccer has grown and organized. My concern here is that those responsible and
who have the authority, research all the ramifications this activity provides for the City of BG, and
use foresight in assisting the Youth Soccer Program, and not hindsight.
With 500 teams, which consists of thousands of players, parents and fans, produce well over $1 million in
revenue to the city’s businesses. That being said, and conversing with the Soccer Club about their need
for additional soccer fields, which are maintained by the club, at very little, or no expense to the
Department of Park & Recreation, it would be in the best interest of the city, Convention
& Visitors Bureau, BG Chamber of Commerce, and BGSU to assist the Youth Soccer Program in any
manner possible, or possibly lose the goose that laid the golden egg in BG.
Another interesting thought came to me concerning the long survey the Department of Parks &
Recreation conducted about the Aquatic Facility, but I do not recall any survey pertaining to the Youth
Soccer facility needs or location(s), unless you believe the "land use" issue that the city is
conducting includes soccer needs.
Dan Rodesky
Bowling Green

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