Friends:

We have our first challenge. 

Mayor Jennings has called a meeting with the City Council Wednesday, June 7, at 4:30 p.m. in the mayor's first floor conference room to "discuss" the Lincoln Park Pool. 

IT IS VITAL THAT AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE ATTEND THAT MEETING! The meeting must be open to the public if it is attended by the city council members. Even if we are not allowed to speak, we need to show the mayor and the council members that people care about the pool, and that we are willing to stand up for our right to be heard!

It is always possible that the mayor intends to produce all the information we've asked for and enter into a dialogue with the community. He did indicate to the city council members that he plans a "public meeting" on the pool tentatively set for June 13. However, we need to be prepared for the other possibility—that this is a done deal, and that we are supposed to accept what has been decided. 

We have excellent information that the engineering firm of Clough Harbour & Associates has completed a report calling for a smaller pool with a different shape. Our repeated requests for information and a copy of the report have been met with silence, despite our rights under the state Freedom of Information Law. Last Friday we filed an appeal to the denial of information. We believe that no decision on the future of the pool should be made until everybody has access to all the facts and studies. 

Please spread the word. If you have a neighborhood network, please use it. If you have an e-mail list, please use that. If you have suggestions of people we should be talking to, don't hesitate to put it out. We are particularly weak in the South End minority community. If we pool our resources and ideas and hard work, we can turn this thing around. 

Tom McPheeters
for Friends of Lincoln Park Pool
433-0679
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