Position on the open-air swimming pool: honest, open and factual discussion
The closed door of the meeting hall: the loud protesters outside, the city council members inside who can hardly understand their own words – the event itself provides a fitting symbol for the escalating situation in the volkach open-air swimming pool debate. This is a mixture of facts and emotions: of course the mayor is right when he does not tolerate any safety risk in the operation of the pool, however small it may be. His attitude of not wanting to saddle the city with a mountain of debt because of the open-air pool is also justifiable.
But what the mayor and part of the city council have to be blamed for: they hoped that the baths could be reopened if the forderverein took over the responsibility and if only enough volunteers were found. The black peter was thus out of her hands for the time being.
Burghers have invested time, money and heart and soul
That this suicide mission was more an illusion than a realistic option, because of the known damage, is something that the responsible parties should have made much clearer from the beginning. Now many volkach residents have invested heart and soul, money and a lot of time in vain. Putting the safety issue first now, after many felt they were already on the straight and narrow, gives the impression that the city didn’t care much about opening the outdoor pool this summer in the first place.
On this subject, it is important to talk to each other objectively, honestly and rationally in order to find a way out. The outdoor pool is not lost yet. But this will only succeed if the city council – in contrast to what was heard on monday – does not take the view that the loudly proclaimed will of the citizens is lenient.
