Both Sides of the Fence
A Tosa resident since 1991, Christine walks the dog, raises kids, cooks but avoids housework, writes and reads, and works too much. A Quaker and
The Aging Maven, she has been known to stand on both sides of the political and philosophic fence at the same time, which is very uncomfortable when you think about it. She writes about pretty much whatever stops in to visit her busy mind at the moment. One reader described her as "incredibly opinionated but not judgmental." That sounds like a good thing to strive for!
It's getting hot in here
By Christine McLaughlin
Sunday, Jul 8 2007, 10:04 AM
It’s a funny thing: the whole purpose of swimming pools is to cool down. And yet the Hoyt Park pool has become a hotbed for contentious dispute in the Tosa Town Square.
I don’t think the discussion there reflects the thoughts of the community. It only shows what a few people who are dogged arguers think. And I happen to be one of those people. It’s no surprise to anyone who may have read my blogs that I’m one of the pro-poolers.
A thoughtful and articulate reader sent this commentary:
If Hoyt is going to become, through innuendo, hostility, de facto segregation, et al., a space for middle class white folks from Wauwatosa, I think the gift from the Mordridges, people of magnanimous civic spirit, is pretty hard to justify. Public is public. Period.
He’s referring to the concerns some have expressed about keeping “bad” people out of the pool and surrounding neighborhoods.
That never-ending discussion always gets mired in the muck of how we know who the “bad” people are.
Some say we don’t until they behave badly. Others say we can assume that people from certain groups are more likely to behave badly, and we can know who they are by statistics. Those statistics lead us to young men. And those statistics lead some to young black men who live in the city of Milwaukee.
Whatever you think about that, it’s illegal to discriminate pre-emptively--most of the time. I for one am glad about that.
Is the “solution” to eliminate public places? I don’t think so. And I’m glad that gifts like the one from the Mordridges don’t have to be justified or “earned.” Sometimes, we are led to being better than we are by the example – and nudge – of people with vision.
And the money to make that vision happen.
