Protest for South PVD pool at $500 fundraiser tonight

As a child, I learned how to swim at Davey Lopes pool. I enjoyed hours and hours of free daily swim. As a teenager, I worked there as a lifeguard and volunteered after hours as a swim team coach, rather than become part of the cycle of violence, drugs and promiscuity that’s so prevalent among our youth. I’m quite certain that the experiences and memories drawn from those days kept my path straight and contributed greatly to the positive and productive person I am today.

However, this year, there was no laughter, no smiles, and no direction provided by the pool that was such an important part of my summers growing up in South Providence. Instead, there’s a neglected, decaying shell, and a City government that, save a few clarion voices, seems more interested in spouting hot air, than providing cool water for their citizens. In a bloated city budget of over $650 million, it astonishes me that city officials cannot allocate .0001%, or roughly $50,000, to repair and revitalize this local treasure. At its most basic level, local government should be a place for people to come together, and not to be left behind as is the case with South Providence.