Elizabeth Whitehouse

Someone also told me that one of the reasons the pool was built in the first place was that kids were swimming in the river and drowning.

You are right. Some parents do not provide sufficient supervision for their children - the the pool or elsewhere. My point is that, with enough teenagers and adults in the pool, "tragedy" is very unlikely to happen.

I am absolutely serious. Parents don't want their children to drown. So they need to keep an eye on them. A swimming pool is not daycare, where you drop the kids off for a couple of hours expecting other people to watch them.

Two points here. First, I lived on Gaines Street for a year and almost always took Robinson St, which meant that I drove around the park at least twice a day. I also knocked on every door along the periphery. Not one person mentioned "incidents". If not many people use it, it could be that the playground and the skate area are in very poor condition, and the splash pad doesn't work. Not much to go for. As for the understaffed Local Law Enforcement. If Elmira followed the national average ratio of police to population, we would have 52 officers. Elmira has 73. They are not understaffed. I may start a separate thread to give my other views about the police!

I'm not sure how to answer that. The pool belongs to the City and therefore does not need to be insured by a rapacious company. Kids who can't swim should only be in the pool with close adult supervision, whether there is a life guard or not. By that I mean, the adult should be in the pool with them. And all children should be accompanied by an adult. Public pools are normally mixed swim - that is all ages mixed together.

Parks are a HUGE resource. Rather, the open spaces they represent are. But they are trees (usually non-native) and grass (definitely non-native) with, perhaps, some swings etc. They could become much-needed carbon sinks: replace grass with wildflowers, add native fruit trees, create teaching spaces (labels), encourage wildlife and biodiversity, create walking paths. Add some interesting features. Add a community/communal garden. Create a compost facility.

I am not the candidate, but I am his campaign manager, so I feel entitled to answer. You say "many of those in the City with any nostalgia are too old to be using a future pool at the site, and given the criminal activity/homeless issues, are not likely to take grandkids there either. " The too old claim is not true. The pool closed in 2005. That means that the kids enjoying the pool then are now in their 20s and 30s. They remember. Can you elaborate on the criminal activity/homeless issues occurring in Brand Park?

Those trees have only grown since the pool was abandoned in 2005. That would have been the time to begin renovations or find another use for the structure. The modus operandi of Elmira seems to be - when faced with an unwanted or otherwise troublesome structure - is to do nothing. Let it rot until the only solution is to tear it down. And I'm hugely bothered by that phrase. You don't get rid of buildings with a bulldozer or wrecking ball. They should be deconstructed. Much, if not most, of the material can be re-used in some way. Or marketed as souvenirs. I imagine there are people who would like one of the letters for nostalgic reasons. The problem here is lack of imagination. What if one abandoned the idea of resuscitating a pool, and just preserved (and restored) the shell? It is a historically significant structure. The story of these above ground pools is fascinating. Weatherproof panels could be incorporated (inside or outside) to tell their story. History is important. This pool was part of Elmira's glory days. And could certainly be included in a tourist itinerary, but that's a subject for another day. What if one turned it into a (community) garden? Or café, or ice cream stand?

Are lifeguards necessary?

No. I absolutely do not think that they are going to the local immigration office. Why would they?

to Ann: If you have indeed provided foster care of any sort, all you need to do is say so. You have not, which leads me to believe that you have not (provided foster care).

I sure hope so, but so far I have seen little indication that that will happen.

Ann. Have you looked at the numbers of people in Buffalo who have been assaulted by Americans? I seem to remember that there was an egregious attack on black people at a Tops store not that long ago.

I perceive a little of Shakespeare's "protests too much" (Hamlet)

I sort of thought that it would come to this. My first impression of Twin Tiers Living was that it was - as you suggest - a forum for all sorts of ideas. But, it seems, those ideas have to align with majority thinking. There seems to be no avenue for dissidents.

That is your view. One that is not supported by actual evidence. Have you looked into the amount of money that these "cowards" send home to their families?

I have clicked on the link (I do know how to) and I have seen this video. It is informative and enlightening. but I do not agree with his conclusion that the only solution is to tear it down.

I don't know. Do you? But I do know that the vast majority of people who seek to move to the US are doing so because they see little hope for their families in the countries where the currently reside. All see the move as improving their lives. Ha! Little do they know that they will be moving to a country dominated by Christian Conservatives who don't give a fig about human rights and civil liberties. Or cares about the future of life on earth. The sixth extinction has already begun, and the US is to blame.

Statistics show that the threat from immigrants is far less than that from citizens. Remember that immigrants want to be here. US citizens are stuck with what they have got.

If you don't like your homeland, you immigrate. Although the US is not my homeland (but after nearly 40 years , my home), I have frequently thought of leaving this benighted country. But I have family, friends and familarity here, and i have chosen to stay. I have that luxury. Millions of people don't, and they do what they have to in order to survive.

Obtuse: annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand; difficult to understand, especially deliberately so. Neither of these applies to me. What you refer to as illegal immigration is, for the most part, asylum seeking. I thought that Americans prided themselves on being hospitable and generous. Apparently not all Americans. We (I am only recently included) have the space and the resources to host far more than those currently seeking a new home here. FWiW, I could/would willingly host 3 families of refugees.

I did not say anyone should disregard American law. If you - knowingly or unwittingly - break American laws you can expect to pay the consequences. However, the Geneva Convention requires countries to be hospitable to refugees and asylum seekers. Oh, wait, the US did not ratify that protocol.

MsKreed. According to Amnesty International (and other sources): The right to seek asylum was incorporated into international law following the atrocities of World War II. Congress adopted key provisions of the Geneva Refugee Convention (including the international definition of a refugee) into U.S. immigration law when it passed the Refugee Act of 1980. Anyone who is on foreign soil and asks for asylum must be granted a hearing.

Did those individuals and groups do their own studies, or did they rely on a report from Fagan Engineering which put a price to fix it based on what their charge would be? There are other ways. For example, a team of masons/building trades students could spearhead the project with volunteers to scrape and paint and do grunt work under supervision. Where there is a will, there is a way. Unfortunately, there is little "will" from the city.

MsKreed. Americans are as unfriendly to foster children as they are to immigrants. Perhaps you should consider taking in one of the roughly 400,000 children who are in foster care.