A Poolside View

Once upon a time, when I was a newly elected member of the Oakland Mills Village Board, I attended a big to-do at a downtown hotel which gathered together all the newly elected members of all the village boards along with Columbia Association leadership and the elected CA board members. A festive orientation, of sorts. There were probably refreshments. I don’t remember. 

We were seated at round tables in a large banquet room. It was possible that I knew only one or two people in the entire room. The gentleman across from me smiled and said,  “I’m Billy Smith, the CA Rep from X Village and you’re not going to like me because I want to get rid of your pool!”

That’s one heck of a way to introduce yourself to a new village board member, Billy Smith.*

So begins my story of the trials and tribulations of the Talbott Springs Pool, one of the neighborhood pools being considered for closure by the Columbia Association. For as long as I have understood what Columbia is, and what the Columbia Association does, someone has been trying to close that pool. 

Talbott Springs Pool, taken poolside 

It just happens to be the pool closest to my house.

I’m not an avid pool goer, largely because we’ve never been able to afford the CA costs. We’ve used the Columbia Card to pay our way occasionally, and taken advantage of free Sundays when we could. From the beginning it was clear that the disparity between the Talbott Springs pool and those in more affluent neighborhoods was stark.

Since our funds were limited I was more likely to take my daughter to one of the “fancy pools”. Wouldn’t you?

I remember a meeting where the Oakland Mills board got to meet with the Aquatics folks and I was vainly trying to draw the thing that our pool needed and I knew other pools had. They smiled at me indulgently thinking I wanted a fancy water feature. No. I just wanted a round table with an a umbrella and chairs. Possibly more than one.

I saw them at the other pools. Why didn’t we have any? 

Their excuses felt…disingenuous. They had they grace to squirm a little bit. 

Our pool always seemed to open later and close earlier in the season. Rumours swirled from year to year about possible closure of the baby pool. When it was time to hold the annual Village Pool Party no one wanted to hold it at the Talbott Springs Pool because of all the steps, the lack of ADA compliance, and possibly the obvious disparity between it and the other village pools. 

Truth in advertising: improvements have been made at the Talbott Springs Pool over the years but it has always felt to me that we are in this never-ending cycle where investment is limited due to “poor attendance”. And then poor attendance is the result of a lack of investment. 

And then, may I just rant at the top of my lungs here:

How on earth can it be 2026 and Talbott Springs Pool is out of compliance with ADA requirements? 

Lack of investment. Not wanting to invest in something because you have already decided it is going to fail.

As appealing as the splash pad facility being proposed by CA may be, we need to be clear that this still constitutes the removal of a neighborhood pool. This recent post from the World Health Organization is a timely reminder of the importance of learning how to swim.

If the decision is made to go with the splash pad, I think CA should offer free swimming lessons to anyone living in the vicinity of the Talbott Spring Pool. Plus transportation. Why? Because, by removing a neighborhood pool, they are creating a barrier between residents and water safety. I don’t really know what CA stands for anymore but I’m hoping that creating additional barriers isn’t it.

I read something on Reddit about this issue that struck me. 

Columbia association is interested in removing 3 existing pools in a few of the less affluent areas that see less use and replacing them with splash pads, And want to spend upwards of 4.5mil to do so rather than address the issues as to why these pools are under used.

Now this is probably not entirely 100 percent accurate and maybe somewhat unfair. I do know that, at least in Oakland Mills, various initiatives have been tried at the Talbott Springs Pool to encourage higher attendance. (I might add that much of the impetus came from the Oakland Mills Village Association.)

I feel like CA has long wondered why people don’t use the Talbott Springs Pool the way that the largely white, more or less affluent suburban folks were always expected to use them when Columbia was established. Or, to be less pointed, I feel as though they are operating on expectations and assumptions that may be counterproductive to a solution to this problem today.

The comment on Reddit made me wonder what kind of an amenity would be chosen by residents who were understood and empowered to create something that met their needs?

As an example, consider how Erika Strauss Chavarria and Columbia Community Care have created youth initiatives that meet local teens where they are and give them skills and experiences to succeed and feel good about themselves. There’s a big difference between what statistics can tell us about the needs of those kids and what an advocacy group that empowers them knows from lived experience.

What would the equivalent be for the neighborhoods where pools are less utilized? Whose voice should be at the center of the discussion? 

Are we even having the right discussion? 

I don’t know what the answer is for Talbott Springs Pool or the others under consideration. But I have this nagging feeling that, at least in the case of Talbott Springs, we may have been looking at it all backwards for a long, long time.

Village Green/Town² Comments

*Not his real name.