Six years ago, I was trying to convince my family to leave a hometown in Illinois that they loved so that I could take a new job in Cary. My children were avid year-round swimmers and telling them that Cary had just passed a bond issue to build an aquatic facility was so appealing that it made our move more of an intriguing adventure.

Over the years they’d ask about that aquatic center, and I never had a good answer. Thankfully, volunteers formed the Triangle Aquatics Center and, without asking for any help or money, went ahead and accomplished the impossible, creating the genuinely world-class aquatic center that I had promised my children years earlier.

Now we have a unique opportunity as citizens to make this facility our own. Reasons for the delay since 2003 are not terribly important now, but the fact remains that voters approved of the idea and the funding to make this possible. Waiting these six years actually may have been a blessing in disguise, since the Triangle Aquatic Center is available at a tremendous value compared to what we would have to spend to replicate it.

For six years now, there’s always been a “reason not to” or a “competing priority.” There will never be a perfect time to spend money on an aquatic center, but there is only this time — now — to take advantage of the opportunity to buy this facility at such a value. Let’s do it!

Mike Holsinger Cary

TAC huge asset

To the Town of Cary: I am writing to encourage you to purchase the Triangle Aquatics Center, which has been presented for sale to you. I truly believe that TAC has been a huge asset to our town since its opening. Our children and families have experienced a state-of-the-art facility that has promoted instruction, exercise, competition and fun in a variety of water sports. Having been to many meets at TAC, I have heard nothing but positive, glowing comments from the out-of-towners who come to participate. Those of us who have invested in TAC through our swim teams know that we have also invested in the town of Cary because the people who come to swim events also stimulate the Cary Towne Center mall, our local restaurants, hotels, gas stations and the many other establishments which surround TAC. The facility has also attracted Olympians like Cullen Jones and Amanda Weir, who have made such a wonderful impression on the kids who got to see them swim and personally hear their words of advice and encouragement. The town of Cary needs TAC and all of the opportunities it brings. Please buy it for our kids, our families and our community.

Elise Speaks Cary

Town budget red, not black

The mayor’s letter from May 6 states that the town “… will be roughly $3.8 million in the black …” when the fiscal year ends on June 30. Unless the town experiences a huge increase in tax revenue in the next few weeks, its bottom line will remain red, not black. According to financial data provided to us in February by Scott Fogelman, the town’s budget director, losses for just eight of the town’s many services and facilities (recycling, C-Tran bus, tennis center, soccer and baseball parks, amphitheater, toilet and lawn buy-back) amounted to over $11 million in FY 2008, and similar deficits were expected for the current fiscal year. All these programs and facilities were originally proposed as money-makers, or at worst, revenue-neutral.

Continued money-losers like these have resulted in a veritable mountain of debt in Cary today, $300 million. Worse yet, the service (principal and interest) payments on this debt now represent 12.4 percent of the town’s entire budget, up from only 2.4 percent in FY 2000. Governments unfortunately redefine what we’d call a loss in the business world as a “subsidy,” and even include this in the budget. Cary’s finances are not in the black, they’re bleeding red all over, and something dramatic must be done in the FY 2010 budget since tax revenue is plummeting and there is no reason to expect an economic recovery for a long time.

Money-losing non-essential services and facilities must be terminated and associated staff positions eliminated, not just shuffled into another department. Many essential services can and should be privatized, allowing free markets to provide cheaper and better alternatives to taxpayers. Cary Town Council: please follow the lead of businesses now struggling to survive without a government handout: Cut your losses now or risk future insolvency.

Ray Czarnecki Kent Misegades Cary

Make a difference

I have long been concerned about the direction, motivation, and responsiveness of our school board as evidenced by the recent plan to release students an hour early every Wednesday, the latest ruling in favor of the mandatory year-round school calendar, annual reassignment of thousands of kids in an effort to manipulate school test scores, and elimination of magnet schools for some communities altogether. Even if you are happy with your current assignment and options, a look at their recent actions should make you think it isn’t a matter of ‘if’ their actions will negatively affect your family, but when and how often.

There is no doubt that the current school board, with the exception of Ron Margiotta, has little regard for the input of their constituents. This year there are four school board seats up for election and on Oct. 6, we can make change happen. Please remember when and how often you have been affected and if you don’t want it to continue get out Oct. 6 and be part of making a difference — it can’t happen without you.

Marguerite Greene Fuquay Varina

Tarp for TAC

It wasn’t all that long ago that TAC backers tried to convince the community that their wonderful aquatics center would be a veritable money tree for Cary, an economic engine that would generate millions. In their great benevolence, Mike Curran and his pals would even manage the facility if the town would kick in a few million taxpayer dollars. Town leaders rightly eschewed a partnership that would use public money to primarily benefit a private swim club.

Curran and company sure showed us: With jutting chins they went forward with the scaled-down project that now sits on prime real estate at Cary Towne Center. Curran boasted that “TAC’s vision [was] for several facilities throughout Wake County” (The Cary News, Oct. 3, 2006). But their financial model was inherently flawed, and as one of our neighbors pointed out two years ago: “The TAC facility is almost guaranteed to lose money and fold within a few years (Mike Scott, The Cary News, April 18, 2007).

As Mr. Curran has reminded us several times, the TAC facility was built entirely with private money. This was only right given that the primary objective was always to serve a private swim club. But the original financial fallacies are now evident and the bank is breathing down TAC’s neck, sextupling fees and demanding more collateral. Now comes Mr. Curran, hat in hand, hoping that the town will bail him out. Council should not consider this request.

Council should only consider a purchase at a severely discounted price. Buying TAC for pennies on the dollar at a foreclosure auction might be cost-effective. The property should come unencumbered, with all ties to Mr. Curran and any other private entities null and void. Anything else will reek of political shenanigans.

Michael Ellison Cary

Enloe did respond

After the death of one of our students, Kris Marceno, the Enloe PTSA determined it was necessary and appropriate to inform and help educate the Enloe families about the choking game and other dangerous activities in which teens might participate. At our Feb. 10 PTSA meeting we discussed the topic of risky behaviors.

A classmate of Kris Marceno’s opened the meeting with remembrances of him and a wish that other students would learn from this tragedy. A member of GASP (Games Adolescents Shouldn’t Play), who lost his own child to the choking game, and a DARE officer talked to over 70 parents and students in attendance. In addition to the choking game, Emo, inhalants and prescription drug use were also presented, followed by a question and answer period. Attendees were given resources to help in the awareness and prevention of risky behaviors. Enloe PTSA has been committed to providing programs that help inform and educate our community and will continue to do so.

Adrienne K. Lumpkin, Enloe PTSA president Lorraine L. Johnson, Enloe PTSA president elect