GRAYDON: IMPROVE IT, DON'T LOSE IT
In response to the RPP efforts to rip out Graydon as it currently exists and covert it to a complex of concrete swimming pools, an organization has been formed
called the Preserve Graydon Coalition. It is our goal to keep Graydon's sandy bottom surrounded by its sandy shores, while pursuing cost effective strategies to keep the water clear. If you are interested in being informed on how to stop Graydon from becoming a concrete facility, please send your name and contact email address to preservegraydon@verizon.net
It is time to give a voice to those who want to preserve a Ridgewood icon.
Thank you,
The Preserve Graydon Coalition
Posts
40 comments:
Finally, a much needed organization to save the things many of us really appreciate about our Village. Thank you.
Any remodeling that includes a sand bottom pool ... will not meet the DEP specifications requirements ...
sorry.. You have a wrong agenda "keeping things the same"...
It will not fly....your kind of organization adds nothing but confusion....
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Nice looking photo of an empty sandy bottom pool....
it will still be that empty as a new sandy bottom pool.... that design (to keep the same) will not be approved by the DEP.
...
Allendale and Fairlawn have sandy bottom pools.
I love Graydon and want to preserve it.
I will join.
Here's my take on Graydon.
Numbers have been declining steadily over the years, and the prevailing reasons given for people dropping out are the appearance of unsanitary conditions. The natural sand-bottomed pool gives it the look of a grungy lake, rather than the crystal blue waters that we prefer the look of. The presence of wildfowl probably doesn't help. either.
While these might be valid reasons, I don't believe that we would see a significant increase in numbers if we went ahead, spent millions, and ended up with a crystal-clean looking waterpark.
Why ?
Times have changed. Today's parents aren't into sitting out at Graydon for hours while their kids play in the water. There will still be the concerns over the perceptions of germ-filled water. Today's families are more into backyard pools, where the parents can still go about their home-based lifestyles while their kids play.
As for Graydon, I say convert it into non-water recreation, such as mini-golf, volleyball courts, and a kiddie playpark.
"it will still be that empty as a new sandy bottom pool.... that design (to keep the same) will not be approved by the DEP."
Exactly. They may as well change the name to the Close Graydon Now coalition because we as taxpayers should not allow the facility to be run at losses just to avoid change.
"will not be approved by the DEP"
The sandy bottom pool is already here. What is there for the DEP to approve?
There goes the "blue" blogger who told us a few weeks ago that the pool was going to be closed by the state. He is not the know-it-all that he pretends to be.
"Nice looking photo of an empty sand bottom pool"
The only reason it is empty is because of the negative propaganda and deliberate boycotting of Graydon by RRP supporters.
The RRP folks are willing to destroy Graydon to make their point. They should be ashamed of themselves.
That was a beautiful photo of Graydon.
Build a cement bottom pool over at Habernickel. Nothing goes on over there anyway. Another big waste our money.
I'm on board. Thank you.
Once again we see that Ridgewood residents have only polarised views of an issue, no attempt at compromise! In the current economic climate a new 'water park' is a non-starter, a new sandy bottom pool is a non-starter! Improvements to what we have is do-able. I don't know what improvements have been made since last year but this afternoon there was 12 foot visibility, I was there I checked! What we now need is 'common' sense to prevail, but in Ridgewood common sense is in short supply. In fact it should be known as uncommon sense!
The RPP prople are not interested in compromise. They want to destroy Graydon to prove that they are right. A very selfish group.
6:01 "a new sandy bottom pool is a non starter"
Who said anything about a"new"
sand bottom pool.
Improvements can be made to the current facility. One of the reasons that the water visibility is 12 ft now is because aerators, that pump oxygen into the water to control algae growth, have been installed. Last summer we had 1 aerator, this summer we have two. If 2 work well, than 3 or 4 aerators will be that much better. The water visibility has been 12 ft consistently this year. Tell your friends. People, like what you did, need to come to Graydon and see for themselves.
A single, olympic sized pool at Habernickel would be a great swim center. It could be used for lap swimming and swim lessons.
The field is an ankle killer for soccer players.
fill it in. make it another soccer field for the new arrivals
the reason that there is better visability this year is that there is no one actually swimming int he pool....the the membership was back at 6,000...do you thinkthe visabilty would be 12ft as you claim....
Q. Why do people go swimming?
A. Because they are hot.
It has not been hot this year. Most home owners have yet to turn on the AC this year.
what planet are you on....my AC has been on since March....certainly not consistantly everyday....
i went to graydon yesterday. it was a nice sunny day and there were lot's of people there.
the water was clear.
the people there were happy and relaxed.
5:21 The pool was pretty crowded yesterday. Had to park all the way by Maple Ave. Visibility was 12 ft.
I am interested to see how many people sign up for this committee....if the organizers dare to share the membership figures.....
I'm in! I agree its very clear this year. How much do the aerators cost and can the pool handle 3 or 4??
And membership now is about the same as last year, FYI, 5:21pm. And if people are swimming less its because of the weather, but the water at Graydon is no doubt clearer.
I haven't turned on my air conditioner so far this year. I do open windows.
I am very sensitive to heat, so it has not been hot this year.
Hot is 90 or above in my book with high humidity.
Let's not forget the purpose of this entire exercise. Parks & Rec helped establish the RPP because they needed a solution TO BRING RESIDENTS BACK ... the pool is self-sustaining upward of 5,000 members. After doing their research for quite some time, plus having the Village engage a specialist in recreational swimming design and trends, RPP and Parks & Rec learned that the ONLY thing that will bring back that huge supply of residents is a clear, disinfected pool. Great if you want to keep it as it is, but where are your facts to show that you can bring 4,000+ people back without changing what we have now? Or, if the argument of the Coalition is to let Graydon stay as is but not be a swimming facility, then great, but with a budget crisis facing the Village we shouldn't be committing more than a half a million dollars a year to run Graydon when we know we can't come close to making it up in revenues.
Why is it so hard for the RPP folks to believe that the water is clear? They don't go to Graydon so how can they dispute this?
Did they get rid of the geese and their poop droppings?
Will the water still be clear in August?
I love the moron who keeps quoting the DEP regulations. There would only be strict adherence requirements if you CHANGE the current configuration of Graydon. It's like remodeling your home. If you CHANGE the current configuration, you have to meet modern codes. So, leave it alone!
Without the RPP people the water is cleaner? Problem solved.
2:06 "Parks and Rec helped establish the RPP"
They are a self-appointed special interest group. One co-chair is affliated with the Ridgewood Swim Team and is looking for a year round pool for this reason. It is also in the plan to put a giant bubble/dome over this pool so it can be used year round, by the swim team.
They are definately a Special Interest Group. The citizens appointed to the committee should have been friends who want a new pool. They should have looked for residents with different points of view. What did they expect?
There has been a segment of the Ridgewood population who for a fairly long period of time has been looking for a Village owned/controlled swimming facility. The initial renovation plans for the last RHS addition contained an indoor swimming pool that the community was going to have access to but the BOE waffled on the issue, allowed it to become a lightning rod for opposition and removed it after the first proposal was defeated. The points that upgrading or dramatically changing the Graydon site is problematic from a location/DEP standpoint are accurate and any renovation or redevelopment plan will be met with a lot of regulation, delay, and additional costs as anything that close to the brook is going to be very closely scrutinized by Trenton. There is a possible alternate site for an indoor/outdoor year 'round swimming facility that has been mentioned before and that is the Habernickel Park.
The lower back portion of the park has been looked at as a possible site for an amphitheater or an additional gymnasium. I think there is enough room back there for a concrete bottom competitive type swimming pool that a lot of people seem to think we need. The pro-swimming groups should follow the lead of the "Lacrosse Dads" (who proposed, designed, built and paid for Maple Park) and work a deal with the Village to float low interest bonds with the guarantee that they will pay back the principal and the interest in a predetermined amount of time. Following that path, Graydon could remain Graydon, the true swimmers would have the venue they are looking for which would include year around swimming, (The BOE might even be interested as they spend a small fortune renting pool time for the RHS swim teams) Habernickel would finally start to be utilized, the Graydon Pool site would retain it's visual charm and the Village would not be on the hook for the money.
Things are too unsettled and money is too tight for the Village to be expected to incur the kind of costs being talked about for upgrading Graydon. "Joint ventures" or privately assisted public projects are going to have to be done more often if we want to upgrade aging facilities or build new ones as increasing taxes in this environment should not even be considered. Graydon is a beautiful park, maybe no longer a great swimming venue, but a beautiful park and I think if push comes to shove the majority of Ridgewood residents are not going to want to drive down Linwood and see the open green space of Veteran's Field on one side of the road and a concrete and bright blue swim park on the other. If Ridgewood were a blank piece of paper there is no way anyone would propose to build a swimming facility on that site in today's world. We need to look at alternatives and I think Habernickel might be an attractive site to take a look at.
This thread was "Improve it, don't lose it"..... that is exactly what is being done....
The conceptural design contacts have taken ALL the input of many residents... and the Engineering Consultants and Architectural consultant used all that information to make it part of the "Improve it, don't lose it" philosophy.....
What remains to be done is to proceed accordingly and receive the various "proposals and recommendations, financially and most beneficial" for review... that is still the intelligent way to proceed.
Yes, I still post in BLUE...only to get your attention.
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9:55 You have some really great ideas. You should give your name and email address to preservegraydon@verizon.net
so you could learn more about their organization and their goals,
12:32 You have got to be kidding. The RPP does not want to 'improve it don't lose it" Every concept design they came up was ripping out Graydon and replacing it with a complex of concrete swimming pools and sandboxes.
If the water wasn't clean the county board of health would shut it down. It's open. Nuff said.
I thought that you posted in blue because you didn't know how to use the computer.
Very flashy.
I have been at Graydon all season this year. It is sooo lovely. My kids have had the best summer and I can't say enough how beautiful, clean & FUN it has been. I feel GRATEFUL to have such a place to go to for such a low cost. I so wish some of the members of the RPP (Cronk & Morales) would come, sit, bring the kids, have a snack & ENJOY Graydon. How could they not? Try it - you'll like it, and maybe not be so set on destroying something so beautiful. Once its gone - its gone forever!
I used to bring my children to Graydon; was one of the attractions that led me to settle here. I did not care about the Geese droppings as it did not make us ill.
To have some thick wallet person tell us, Ridwood residents, what we need is an afront to me personally.
The pool should stay as is; if it needs some type of filtration system, then that is doable. Please folks, do not throw the water with the baby. Just remember folks the municipal building was slated to cost ^6 mil, it ended costing 9 mil. We are still paying insterest for that, as well as the High School.
Leave Graydon alone!!!
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