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Are “We” Columbia?

 


I am so tired. I have written about this so many times, most recently in February of this year.

A Poolside View, Village Green/Town², February 12, 2026

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.

And here we go again.

Columbia Association board mulls trying to save money by converting pool into splash park, Kiersten Hacker, Baltimore Sun

CA uses the term “low foot traffic.” I don’t doubt that they have counted. What I would like to see is a look at the numbers that show all the Columbia Villages by income level. And then I would like the see the most monetary investment in the poorest areas and the cost-cutting initiatives in the most affluent areas.*

Why? Because the more affluent members of the community have more options to replace the loss of that pool. More discretionary income gives you more choices. The poorer residents do not have those choices. That’s why describing this as a decision based on “foot traffic” is inadequate at best.

In February I suggested that: 

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.

And another thing. According to Dan Burns, CA’s senior vice president of community programs and services:

The splash parks could stay open for a longer season than pools and wouldn’t require active staffing other than someone collecting trash.

In other areas where a splash pad has been integrated into a pre-existing pool location, patrons have the benefit of trained staff on site. In addition to lifeguards, there are other human beings who interact with the public, keep an eye out for overall safety, the daily condition of the facility and equipment, and probably many other things I am unaware of.  Pool staff are invested in the wellbeing of the patrons. I’m many ways they are the face of the Columbia Association to many in our community

CA is (rightly) proud of the employees whose “active staffing” (labor and service to the public) make their pool facilities safe and welcoming. But, in decommissioning a pool, the Columbia Assocation has come up with a solution where they don’t have to invest human capital in lower income neighborhoods. No human interaction. No reinforcement of community values. No one to help you if you skin your knee.

Is it so hard to see that those are exactly the places where human capital is the most needed?

“We are Columbia” but only to the extent that you have the ability to pay. Only to the extent that you are a cookie-cutter Columbian.

I am so, so tired. I am also a little bitter. If CA goes ahead with this plan, let’s make it as just as possible. Let it be the most amazing splash pad ever. And let it be open only to the people in “low foot traffic” areas. 

One can only imagine how our affluent neighbors would react to that.


Village Green/Town² Comments 




*For that matter, that is why Oakland Mills High School should be prioritized for complete repair/renovation before schools in more affluent parts of the county: because the need is greater and the opportunity to offset the deficit is far less. 

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