News on the Natatorium

Last night, city council decided to shift money from the planned natatorium to the "cross-city trail."  It's not like the natatorium has been crossed off the list.  It's been crossed off the list for now.

Still it's funny to see their justifications and the intrigue that can develop around the project.

Wilmington City Council, led by Mayor Bill Saffo, voted Tuesday night to spend the $700,000 now on finishing the cross-city trail, even though voters approved it for a pool.

[...]"This project can't work if there's no private money," said O'Grady. "Just like many other projects we sort of alluded to tonight that make the city a better place to live a natatorium will make it a better place to live. It may attract businesses, but it can't be done just with tax money. It's got to be done with private participation."

Why can't people see how great the city's business plans are? It's not like they've nearly doubled their debt in the last six years or something. Oh, wait a minute. It is.

There was also this tidbit of intrigue according to another story:

We asked the mayor, since voters approved the bond money five years ago, if he thought it was okay to use it for something else. He says he does, even though the bond language never specifies it be used on a "trail."

Councilman Charlie Rivenbark asked the mayor during the meeting if the trail was in the bond. "Yes it is," replied the mayor.

But when we took him the bond language and asked him to show it to us, he told us the only person that could answer that question was City Attorney Carolyn Johnson.

So, we went to Ms. Johnson to ask her. But she rudely responded that she was "too tired" to answer our question.

Tsk, tsk.