Herald on free pools
The NZ Herald editorial:
He first made this proposal during the election campaign when it was suggested that voters in the rest of Auckland might resent paying for the former Manukau City Council’s free pools. Mr Brown’s answer was that he would extend the policy to the whole of Auckland. This week he repeated that intention as one of his “100 projects in 100 days”.
Free swimming pools would be a complete waste of money for most of Auckland. This blessed city has a vast free swimming pool all around it. Two harbours and the Hauraki Gulf provide warm, calm, sheltered bays in abundance.
Nobody in Auckland lives much more than a 15-minutes drive from a beach, and most live within easy reach of many.
Unlike Wellington, where there are basically no beaches where the water is warm enough for swimming.
Better still, the issue could be left to local boards. Those new elected bodies are waiting for the Auckland Council to define their role. This time last year Mr Brown’s website offered them responsibilities that included liquor licensing, local street management, libraries, swimming pools, public toilets, camping grounds and beach control.
If they are bulk-funded from council revenue for services such as those, the boards would asses the importance of a free pool to their communities against the need for other amenities. No public body is better placed to make that assessment. Voters can punish boards that misread their priorities.
Leaving it to the local boards is a good idea.
But Mr Brown is not talking of delegating the decision. He says his next step towards free pools for all is to commission a report on the cost, equity and fairness of the proposal. He says he picked up an “overwhelming sentiment” in the election that free pools would be welcome across Auckland.
Doubtless he did. Nobody rejects a free offer in election campaigns. He could as easily have offered free gymnasiums, free golf courses or free dance classes in the name of health and opportunity.
Please, don’t give him ideas.