There will be a “Save The Pool” rally tonight (Monday, Aug. 31st) from 5pm to 7pm at the Evergreen Pool, which is located at 606 SW 116th St in White Center.
Dow Constantine, King County Councilmember and candidate for the executive position, says that the pool will close Tuesday, Sept. 1st, and stay closed until a new management deal is completed.
Evergreen Pool’s budget was cut by the county, and its future appears to be sinking fast, unless something is done soon…so be there to show your support!
What? First the parks, now the swimming pool, too? Kirk Triplett appears to be destined to be the King County Exec. who killed everything. Not a great political strategy for the future there Mr. Triplett. He must not be planning on running for any public offices in the near future.
Short of funds? Need to close the pool down? Hmm….
Well let’s see if we can find a few dollars lying around here and there within the Burien 2008 CAFR – http://www.burienwa.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DID=969
Sections 5.4 through 6.10 would be a good place to start. A million or two could be skimmed off the top between those pages without to much difficulty.
PS: Do you think I should run for Finance Director or Mayor of Burien a little bit down the road? I think I could perk things up a bit.. WJB
Maybe a million or two can be found here within the City of Burien’s: Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) – http://www.burienwa.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DID=969
Section 5.4 through 6.10 would be a good place to start!
Then maybe a look through the WA Local Government Investment Pool.
http://www.tre.wa.gov/documents/comp_annFinReport08.pdf
The City of Burien had a mere $17,208,083.27 invested there in 2008 (page 43) and King County $360,100,658.44 Again, the City Pool is short of funds? That may be correct but it appears cash rich elsewhere…
Atta a gentlemen seems to me you cought the criminals with their hands in the cookie jar !!! now we need to hang them all because they cover their butt’s with each other , thats why we the people have become victms of a lawless society , Walter when the rest of the people wake up then we will revolt .Its going to take that to save our country and our constitution, Then our childrens future will be saved
Burien did not include Evergreen in their annexation plans so it is still a county Forward Thrust pool. When it became apparent the budget was going to cut Evergreen (that was several months ago), I alerted Highline School District, the MS Society, the Veteran’s Admin. and anyone else I could think of and told them to get busy. Took until the last day of the pool for folks to wake up. Pity!
I put up an article on this issue and a recommendation to all from across the country on similar issues they may face in their local venues – http://CAFR1.com/Burien.html
Becky,
Quite a few of those groups have been working with the County for months regarding the closing of the pool. In fact WhiteWater Aquatics has been attempting to take over the pool. It did not take until the last day of the pool for the folks to wake up. The county has been trying to rid itself of Evergreen for several years and at least some of those groups were fully aware of it.
John is correct. Many individuals and groups have been working to keep the pool from closing since last fall. Becky, you can read the posts about it starting in Oct. 2008 on the blog White Center Now http://whitecenternow.com/categories/evergreen-pool/
Unbelievable! Can you see what happens when one person (Walter Burien) with a keen eye “finds” money that was never “lost”? Imagine if someone from every town and city in this country were to get their hands on the CAFRs (confidential annual financial reports) and publicize the “hidden” money to the public. The officials in all these towns know there’s money there, but they’ll do everything they can to keep this scam going year, after year, after year.
Mr. Burien deserves a lot of credit for having the courage to report what he has found after studying this issue for about 2 decades! (Go to http://www.cafr1.com to learn more.)
The towns love to ONLY count taxes as their income but ALL the liabilities get thrown at the taxpayers. It’s about time that ALL the income of each town and city in America is open to complete scrutiny by the taxpayers. Why should a person have to go to their local town/city hall to find this data?
Well, that’s all I have to say. To the rest of you, wake up to learn how you’re being taken for a ride!
Tom,
Spring Valley, NY
Walter Burien is a freaking GENIUS! Walter, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Learning about the CAFR has completely changed my outlook on everything. For example, when the City, County or State (or Fed) directs us to look at the budget, budget, budget, it (now) seems so obvious how they are directing us to look in another area so they can play their shell game unbeknownst to us. Thank God for people like you, very rare and very wonderful!
Walter (no-relationship-to and non-resident-of) Burien, along with his acolytes, is just hawking his book … he’s another right-wing teabagging nutball who wouldn’t know how to read a budget if it was explained to him. He first jumps on the City for not funding “the City Pool”, which it isn’t, because he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Then uses this as an excuse to pile on his paranoid delusions about government finances. Then someone points out that it’s not a City pool, so he implies the City should and could take on a pool that is outside its jurisdiction by reallocating funds to support it because there’s so much money there. Uh huh, right. Yeah, he makes so much sense. I’m sure he and his ilk are all about supporting and in favor of taxpayer-subsidized facilities. What a ma-roon.
Hey Joe, whoa! Name calling!
Why get lost in the regulation/organization/details.???… Burien city managers decided to annex and be in charge of White Center and that means – absolutely no surprise here – Evergreen Pool! Land grab = pool is in middle of said land. The only surprise is that the “officals” are surprised.
It is the kids, disabled and elderly who count on that pool that pay the price. (And yes, I’m an actual homeowner here in Burien.) We need a pool, it’s here, lets make it work instead of hurling insults (“parnoid delisional, right wing teabagging nutball,etc”). From all sides, put your politics aside, and let’s get Burien and the county to work with the local groups and find a solution. Last time I checked, the city and county, they do ALL still work for all of us.
Actually, no, the pool is NOT in the middle of the annexed area. It is not even IN it. Surprise!