Those of you voting in the poll, tell us why you would or wouldn't support the millage.

I like the idea of letting the voters decide.

Keeping the pools is what gives value to our neighborhoods, I hope it is not left up to where each area is voting to support their pool, I would rather it go to a city wide vote, atleast then the Southend has hope, if not the Southend is DOOMED! And we might as well turn LAPEER into a LAND FILL!

Well it wouldn't be an increase in taxes...we already pay in taxes for the center....it would simply stay the same rather than ending next year. Get it?

The Center was a waste.... and most people I talk to don't want to go to a "city run" Facility that they have to share with visitors and parties....neighborhoods are where the money should be spent!

Most residents don't use The Center, the DISC and Dearborn Hills, yet voters approved the millage's for those rec facilities. And on top of the millage voters approved paying on those 3 facilities, all 3 charge additional fees to the people that pay those millage's. With the pool millage all tags are included for individuals and families and with those 3 other millage's expiring within the next few years, paying a pool millage would be FAR less than those 3 millage's combined.

The SOP plan would keep all the pools open, and increase OVERALL city property values and keep Dearborn as a highly desirable city to live in for a long time.

I would support the millage and also to have to pay for the tags and/or day passes. These are needed to pay for the lifeguards and basic health check to access the pool.
I want the children to have a place to spend their time doing fun and safe things, away from crime and bad company. I don't have children and I want to live in a safe and great city.

Why doesn't the city cut spending elsewhere to pay for the pools? Why are they always depending on millage for our favorite services?

Sounds like bad decisions in the past have left the city overcommitted. I'm all for saving our pools, but we have to begin looking at the long run health of the city's tax and spend business model. I just read that the budget goes past bankruptcy in 2015!

One hundred thousand times No, I do NOT want to pay for another so-called millage. We already approved a "millage", and already the power structure says thats NOT enough money. Why do you ppl enjoy, continuously, to pay more and more? You approve tax hike after tax hike like its nothing. Mayby your indepentantly wealthy, and dont feel the effect of more and more money being taken away from your table. I am not, and I feel every dime wasted by this city. These pools are already fully paid for ...years ago by past taxes. Why does it cost 60,000 per annum to run each pool. Could it be summer jobs for the kids with politically connected parents ? I long for the day when my last child graduates from the university of their choice here. It will be a liberation for me to be safely away from all you tax morons, when I move down South.

Notice that this proposal was submitted to the council by a person with a vested intrest to haveing this idea passed. None other than a member of the "Save Our Pools" group. The reason offered...it wouldn't be "fair", to just have households living in proximity to the pools, to pay for the pools. So... SOLUTION...have the entire city pay for the pools. REMINDER...the entire city already pays for the pools thru property taxes. If you dont agree, please state your correction to what I said. (how else were these pools historically supported.) (?) This is a simple case of certain individuals, who want their luxuries, (pools), and dont want the responsibility of paying for them theirselves. (how much better to be subsidised by a double tax on an entire city.) Ppl...you have to recognise that these special intrest groups are self-centered. They will sacrifice the economic well being of every resident of the city to achieve their own final end. Perhaps the word "tax morons", that I wrote was too harsh. I reluctantly strike the phrase "tax morons", and substitute it with "tax addicts".

Dear S.O.P. member. There comes a time in every city's existance that perks such as 6 to 8 neighborhood pools can no longer be considered viable to keep, esp. in these depressionary and economic crisis times. Years ago, when the tax base was doing exceptionally well thru easy to find employment, and world class wages, such perks as pools were a good thing to have. They are not a good thing any longer when the tax base of this city constantly gets hit up for more and more money that they will find they no longer have due to one reason or another. What your special intrest group feels whats fair is a mute point. The mayor of this city proposes an "aquatic center" at Ford Woods Park. (price...5M) if constructed, this magnificent facility should trump your intrest group's small pools. This aquatic center will be difficult enough to pay for. We do not need all kinds of sized swimming pools scattered through out the city when chances are we will have an olympic class one constructed. What needs to be done is close your scattered pools and adhere to the mayors planned world class single pool. I say this because I believe that the mayor will have his way. If you personally do not want to partake of the proposed aquatic center of the mayor, please feel at liberty to purchase your own private pool, set up on your own property.

On the Mark, All the more reason to have the proposal defeated altogether. We need neither the grand aquatic palace, NOR the scattered pools thruout the city. Let each family who wants a pool to go to a pool dealer, and purchase their own pool, then set it up on their own property.

It is not government's responsibility to provide us with entertainment. For our city government to provide us with necessary services in a sustainable manner we need to leave behind unsuccessful and costly programs like the pools, the Center, Camp Dearborn, etc. If we are to avoid complete economic disaster, government must stop spending more than it takes in, and it needs to stop trying to be everyone's nanny by giving us "approved" entertainment and activities.

Marooned in Dbn, you are woefully incorrect. These hard economic times ARE exactly the time to make sure these pools stay open. If people are hurting so bad for employment and cash as you say, how do you expect families to spend thousands for a personal backyard pool? A few extra dollars a month will allow everyone access to a pool. That's really the point of social or city services-- distribute the cost so everyone has equal access regardless of income, employment or lack thereof. Sure it would be great if everyone could afford to have their own personal backyard pool, but as you already said these "depressionary and economic crisis times" make that especially difficult for some families who WANT their kids to have access to a pool but can't afford one for their backyard.

That being said, I sure wish there was half as much effort put into saving our libraries as there is in saving our pools. Shameful.

EMonat, it's the government's responsibility to serve its residents however they see fit. You personally don't get to define what the government's responsibility is or isn't. You can obviously vote for leaders who more closely represent your views, but there is no overarching definition of what a government's responsibility is, other than to serve its residents. Obviously at some time in the past, and even today, many thousands of people DO think it's the responsibility of the government to provide some sort of "entertainment" for us-- whether it's a civic center, or libraries, or pools, or a campground, or festivals, or free concerts, or public art, or whatever. Books, music, art, pools and recreation shouldn't just be limited to those with money.

This guy marooned in Dearborn is free to leave, people like him contribute nothing, the world is filled with this negativity. His comments show he has not even read the proposal, agrees with the mayor building a ford woods aquatic center and the berates people who are working to help
People. His atrocious and hate filled screeds on Bob Ciprianos murder show him to be without class and should and will be ignored

@Steve, I did not imply that recreation belongs solely to those with money. Perhaps I should have discussed the many other options which are available to keep the pools open- perhaps the Save Our Pools group and the City should look into keeping the pools going as a private land trust, or other such options.

What does bother me so much is in the flinging of this rhetoric back and forth, no one bothers to notice that by repeating the same actions one achieves the same results. If millages are to be raised, then why do this now, especially as incomes have generally not raised. Do you feel comfortable with the effects of raising property taxes repeatedly, such as further straining middle and lower-middle class residents' budgets, and encouraging people to move out of Dearborn?

Emonat, the city was given the option of NPO's taking a managerial role of the pools the mayor refused. The purpose of government is the ordinance of reason for the public good. Providing children wholesome, safe and purposeful recreation serves the common good. these pools cost very little to maintain and yet they provide so much value. The costs of these pools are less than the raises the mayor just gave only 7 of his appointees last year. The real cost to this city is not children using pools but a mayor who is incompetent and bungles virtually every deciscion.

Furthermore the vote would not be an increased tax but a continuation of what residents already pay. I understand many people's cynisicm on this issue, that being said the issue here is not an additional tax, but an opportunity to secure continued funding and provide more access and increase the quality of what we have. Yes, some people may question this proposal and that's ok. But if you study the issue you will see it is not a city created proposal but a community driven proposal created by residents. The main reason why we are here is not because of the cost of the pools, but the fact pool revenue was diverted to support other less valuable agendas of the mayor. This proposal will fund the pools and not allow the mayor to fund his pet projects that benefit his administrators and contributors

Perhaps the 6 out of 10 voters who seem to support these millages time after time ought to be stuck with the bill and get a pool tag. The 4 or so out of 10 of us that vote NO shouldn't have to pay, nor should we get a pool tag. I see that Dearborn Schools is once again considering a "sinking fund" millage request. Oh and don't forget the DIA wants a dedicated millage too, double what the the Zoo currently gets. Next could be the Dearborn Historical Society or the Deaborn Arts folks, maybe we should have a Dearborn parks millage, maybe a Camp Dearborn millage, a Train Station operating millage or a Sewer millage (opps, we already go that!). It will never end and Dearborn will become more and more like Detroit with fewer and fewer residents and businesses paying all these "dedictated" millages...

People are against taxes except when they drive on socialized roads, drink socialized water, get pulled from burning buildings by socialized public safety officers, flush their bodily excraments with socialized sewage, walk on sidewalks that are socialized, send their kids to schools that are socialized, are protected from terrorists from a military that is socialized. Most people who rail against taxes are just parasitic freeloaders, who often don't have much to tax anyways. Sorry your against pools for kids, but you are probably using more socialized resources at a greater expense than a few kids. You want to see the results of no taxes look at Mississippi, and Alabama

For those that are not happy with supporting Dearborn Pools, or just not happy with the way the city is running thing, sell your homes and move to Detroit. The don't have pools, the school system is failing its students, call 911 and they may show up after your dead, not only do you pay higher property taxes, you get donate 3% of your income to the city. So quit your whining or leave. Find a better place that suits your needs. Sorry for keeping it real.
Sent from my iPhone

The taxes in Dearborn are lower than they were 5 year ago, and constantly railing about the high cost of taxes shows that some people are more interested in ideology than facts. Dearborn taxes provide services that make it a viable community. You can't have Dearborn services on garden City taxes. That being said the people who complain the most about taxes usually are freeloaders and nobody likes them anyway

Sorry, must post correction to improper word. I should have used the word " fallow", instead of "furrow", in the above posting. I strive for accuracy.

Parasitic free loader? Come on Frank. I pay over $50K a year in payroll taxes then another $6K in property taxes. Then there's gas tax, sales tax, use tax, license fees, vehicle registration fees, etc. that I've never bothered to add up. Plus I send my kids to a private swim club. No, Frank those of us who complain about taxes pay our fair share. We're just tired of paying a lot of other folks' share too!

Let me add resentful, to parasitic free loaders.

I pay to send my kids to a private swim club, I'm a great American worship me.

My wife and I are 65 and Yes we would support our pools and fire and police !!!

The pools are not what they used to be - they were clean, you couldn't even take in a towel, you had to take a shower, you were checked by an attendant before you went in .... Now, you do whatever you want - floating cigarette butts, a film on the water from sunscreen, garbage left on the concrete surrounding the pool - yuck!! If you want to use them - you pay. Creat a pay-to-use fee. Even 50 cents per person per use (probably even 25 cents) would cover the maintenance and staff. We already pay way, way, too many taxes. If you have a modest house and have done any home improvement in the past 10 years (negates the Headlee amendment) Dearborn has the highest taxes around. I think nealy $12,000 a year in taxes is enough!! Dear, dear, Mayor Hubbard is turning in his grave for what Dearborn has become.

A lot of people-- including me--signed the SAD petitions with or without specific details or knowing the final cost. I think that indicates how important this issue is to residents, and I wish the millage option had come up before the first pool closed. I'm definitely for it now.

I support such a millage mostly because 1) Neighborhood pools offer the CURRENT residents an opportunity for children to walk to a pool and enjoy swimming close to home 2) POTENTIAL residents would definitlely be attracted by a community that supported neighborhood pools and parks, a good public safety program, well groomed neighborhoods AND businesses, a good library system and public transit. I would be happy about the pools but not so happy with the lack of library service on the weekend. Yes, I know about the exchange with Dearborn Heights but that is not the same. Let's keep up a POSITIVE discussion by both proponents AND opponents.

Proposed by the city the SAD's were very divisive because they forced the working class residents where the 6 small pools were to pay an SAD or lose their small neighborhood pools. However the city was willing to fund over 1 million for Dunworth, one of the richest areas of the city, as well as put another $4 million into Ford Woods. Yet to put in 6 entirely new pools and fund operating costs for the small pools was only $3.6 million total. A yr or so ago the city resident survey showed residents want all their pools, not just 2 huge pools and saving 6 pools is priority. With the proposed millage all 8 pools are saved for the same cost as the SAD, serving the majority of the residents, which is how democracy is supposed to work.

I forgot to mention that, the proposed SAD didn't include any funding for regular pool maintenance, while the proposed millage does. In other words, decades down the line, the pools won't be in such poor shape as the current ones are. Also, the proposed millage is a win-win situation for everyone. It gets the citizens the pools they want, and gets the city the upgraded Dunworth and new Ford Woods Aquatic Center. It also puts the "monkey" on the back of the voters and off the mayor and council. Knowing that, I fail to comprehend how any city leader could vote against allowing the millage.

Lastly, I want to state that our form of government is representative government, where we vote on candidates to represent us and they vote and/or approve/disapprove issues. However a WISE politician, one who is doing their job as it is supposed to be done, votes with the majority of their constituents. No politician is able to please 100% of the voters all the time because our form of government is majority rules, not all or nothing.

The reason I bought my house in Dearborn, was because it was walking distance from the elementary schools and summertime supervised Rec and pools, it certainly attracts young families to neighborhoods. Vibrant parks improve standards of living for everyone. Mike Albino is 100% correct, he clearly stated the form of government we live under in the USA, and maybe Dearborn taxpayer should read the preamble to the constitution. Maybe Dearborn taxpayer should quit being a victim and understand the purpose of government is to promote the general welfare and insure domestic tranquility. The founding fathers gave congress the right to take your money to improve the general welfare through taxes. If you cannot understand this concept I'm sorry. It is clear Dearborn Residents support strong public safety and recreation programs let's hope they hold the city leadership accountable for maintaining it

DT- Whatever you sound like a crying baby. If you have a problem with paying taxes to promote the general welfare you have a beef with the founding fathers not me or community pools. Go back to your closed loop right wing feedback multi media machine and talk with the other prodigies who get their talking points from the EIB network and leave public policy to the big people. Or maybe create a time machine and go back to the 18 century and rewrite the constitution. This country is a republican democracy which strongly protects the minority. So be glad our founding fathers gave you a right to complain we heard your point. Most people disagree with you and since municiple politics is majority rule, you lose. So quite trying to hijack this thread. Your opinion is rejected, but feel free to bully us with your resentment, revisionist history, and plagerized talking points you stole from the Glen Beck Show.

You sure spend enough time trying to influence those 6 people with your anti tax nonsense. Maybe you should stick to trying to influence the people at your private swim club, wherever that is. I just bet your authoritarian rants against kids using community pools are the hit of the show at your private swimming pool that is filled with publicly subsidized water, that you drive to on publicly subsidized roads, patrolled by publicly subsidized police and watched by lifeguards that are more than likely swim team members from the locally subsidized high school and trained in programs supported by federally subsidized grants. Yes, you support limited government but put what money you do have in a federally guaranteed bank, freely use airports subsidized by people who don't fly, work with people who were educated by the public from k- BA at great expense, hunt or fish on lands where the game and habitat are publicly managed, use the Internet that was created by the DOD and improved by grant managed scholars, watch college football that is free entertainment provided by the state, I could go on but you get the point. You are resentful about kids using a community pool because it might cost you $20 a year. Not even enough money to buy one movie ticket a soda and popcorn. Please type your response on your own private Internet that was created by private capital.

Dearborn Taxpayer, using the "60%" number on a online news paper page is a little foolish, wouldn't you agree? Do you think every tax payer in Dearborn voted on this site? Lets be real here, the same people comment on every article on this page. Notice the facebook page of SOP, we have followers all over Dearborn. Yes, some are not residents but most are. Also look at all the support of the pools we have with fundraisers, family nights, etc. To say the people do not want the pools is absurd. The taxes will decrease this year because the Center is paid off. The proposed millage for the pools will be less than what is now, which means your taxes will still decrease. Not only will we get new pools throughout the 10 years, but families will get free tags and property values will not decrease more than they already have. What do you want the kids of Dearborn to do all summer long? Run the streets..if we have it your way the crime rate will sky rocket sir. Just because your children did/do not use the pools is their choice. Some kids like to get exercise some like to play video games all day. As a child I grew up in the pools and was there every single day from open until close. All of my friends were as well.The children in this City use the pools, notice the number increase over the past 3 years in usage. I do agree with some of the non-supporters comments about taking it to the people.You all will be surprised once you come out of your boxes and see all the supporters SOP has.

A new Aquatic development at Ford Woods, like Dunworth. Something stinks in the keep East Dbn residents in East Dbn department.

In a nutshell, yes, I would vote YES on this millage.

After reading all of these comments I can pinpoint the people that don't have kids that routinely use the pools. I do. My kids have used them for the last 7 years, swim lessons and all. I've paid for the lessons and for the tags. I've paid for them to play sports, for the ump fees, the upkeep on the fields, you get the picture. That being said I do it so my kids have a place to go to be safe and have a good time. If they are hanging out at the park doing nothing then it's a cause for trouble. Why is that better?? How about you "older" generation support some of the younger generation like you had when you were younger?? Dunworth has been there forever, I'm assuming you all went to Seashore. Whether you pay for a private club or you pay for the city pool what is the difference. I'll pay. No I'm by no means wealthy, I work because I enjoy the things I have. All of you "haters" need to find something to do with the extra time you spend on here complaining.....I know go take care of the pools....for free....then we wouldn't need a tax hike.