Monday, September 28, 2015

The Lake Worth pool at the BEACH! in the Post's print edition today

Post reporter Kevin Thompson's article about the Lake Worth pool at the BEACH! finally made the print edition today (9/28); it's been available to read online for about 3 days now.

There is a factual error that needs to be corrected and hopefully we'll see that in tomorrow's paper. More on that later. Below is the important information that the public needs to learn:
     A total redesign [of the pool] would cost anywhere from $2 million to $8 million, Ruiz [Juan Ruiz, the city’s Leisure Services Director] said.
     “It can get costly,” he said. “Just to put in a couple of slides can cost anywhere from $150,000 to $200,000. But is that really enough to drive additional traffic?”
     For fiscal year 2015, which run from Oct. 1, 2014 to Sept. 30, 2015, more than 5,823 residents and 2,351 non-residents visited the pool, the city said.
     Total pool revenue was $68,206, while the cost to operate the pool was $284,404 for fiscal year 2015.
     In fiscal year 2016, the city said operation costs will be more than $300,000, with revenue projected to be $100,000 to $120,000.
There’s another hurdle Ruiz said the city faces in getting more customers: the beach.
     “People go to Lake Worth Beach to go to the beach.” he said. “I compete against the biggest pool ever — the ocean. We’re doing the best we can to give our users the best experience with what we have to work with.”
     Many residents want to see the pool open longer. Right now, it’s open 29 hours a week, with 16 of those hours on Saturday and Sunday.
Here is a picture of the men's locker room at the pool (I'm told the women's locker room is in much worse shape):
The information below is what needs to be corrected by The Palm Beach Post:
The current pool at the BEACH! was constructed in 1971, not in the 1920's. 
The prior pool was built in the early 1920's and was located north of the current pool. A1A used to be further east near the Casino building and that was what made the pool so attractive to travelers, they could pull over, find a place to park and enjoy the pool for a while and relax. 
Note the location of A1A to the Casino property. Now A1A is further west after in-fill of the western edge of the Lake Worth Lagoon.