The PG Pool is racist [MD]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The waiting list shuts out white people? How?

It doesn't shut out anyone of any particular race or sex. It shuts out anyone who put their name on the list more recently. It doesn't really shut them out per say, the wait list is just like 10 years or more long currently for people just signing up. I don't really know how long the wait is now, but I put my name on the list in 2009 and finally got in a couple years ago. It's a completely anonymous list.

This can’t be right. There wasn’t a wait list until 2011 or so.

I may be a year or two off - I just know it was around the time my first kid was born and my husband is the one who signed us up and also took care of getting our membership when he finally got notice that our waitlist number was available for membership. LOL, my husband actually takes care of "mental load" tasks that it seems a lot of DCUM husbands don't do...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Umm. It’s not a county pool. Anyone can sign up to join. I understand the racist history from 50+ years ago, but there are no legacy memberships handed down. Are there no publicly available county pools in the area? We live in DC and used to go to the indoor splash park in PG when our kids were little, paying the nonresident fees.

The pool is on public land.

It is not on public land.

The land the pool sits on was formerly public land that was provided for free to create an intentionally discriminatory pool community that excluded Black members.

Correct. The ‘Board of County Commissioners for Prince George’s County” sold over 6 acres of land to the PGP in 1956 for $10.

Wow, the PG Pool history should be detailed on their website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Umm. It’s not a county pool. Anyone can sign up to join. I understand the racist history from 50+ years ago, but there are no legacy memberships handed down. Are there no publicly available county pools in the area? We live in DC and used to go to the indoor splash park in PG when our kids were little, paying the nonresident fees.

The pool is on public land.

It is not on public land.

The land the pool sits on was formerly public land that was provided for free to create an intentionally discriminatory pool community that excluded Black members.

Why would any current members of this pool want their name associated with it and why would any of you want to become members in the first place?

[Anonymous]

For those willing and able to go a bit farther north, I recommend the Greenbelt pool. It is a city facility, but has memberships for non-residents. And there is an indoor pool and gym, so it has year-round value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When will the Prince's George's Pool in Mount Rainier open it's doors to the community? See here: https://pgpool.org

In Mount Rainier, there's a large private, members-only pool that few people in Mount Rainier can actually join. The wait list is like 10 years long! It's called the PG Pool. Most of the members seem to be white and they come from DC/MoCo.

How could this be? The official line from this racist pool has been that membership dropped during the 1980s and 1990s and they had to open it up to people from outside the community (read: non-POCs from NE DC and MoCo). This is a BS racist line, imho.

The real reason: This pool was "whites-only" until 1975. That's not a typo... 1975. Shocker alert: running a segregated pool in a majority-Black county isn't a great way to increase your membership roles. So this weird pool looked elsewhere for members - mostly white people from outside the area.

I wish there was more news coverage on how these racist private pools in MD still operate and essentially segregate themselves from the broader community. End rant.

I am willing to bet you're a troll from NoVa

+1. I went there with a member back in 2010 or 2011. There was no waitlist because the pool was not at capacity. Members could get a small discount if they volunteered before and after the season to help maintain the property. I considered joining because the membership was cheaper than other area pools but it wasn’t convenient. It is the same story as the Cheverly Pool. These private pools were mismanaged for many years, had low membership and were in danger of closing. Nearby neighbors took notice and put time and money into improving them and now those same people are referred to as “colonizers” and racists. The pool near my house has a five year waitlist, btw. This is pretty standard for all area private pools as the population continues to grow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Umm. It’s not a county pool. Anyone can sign up to join. I understand the racist history from 50+ years ago, but there are no legacy memberships handed down. Are there no publicly available county pools in the area? We live in DC and used to go to the indoor splash park in PG when our kids were little, paying the nonresident fees.

The pool is on public land.

It is not on public land.

The land the pool sits on was formerly public land that was provided for free to create an intentionally discriminatory pool community that excluded Black members.

Why would any current members of this pool want their name associated with it and why would any of you want to become members in the first place?

I’m not a member of the pool, but I live in Hyattsville and have several lovely (racially diverse!) neighbors who are. This statement is reeks of hypocrisy- people join the pool for the same reason YOU would send your precious kid to a prestigious university with a racist history. 1. It’s history and not current policy 2. It confers benefits now (nice education/nice pool respectively) that are open to everyone.
Pg pool has a very liberal atmosphere. You guys are consuming your own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't there more community, public-funded pools in PG? Pay to play graft?

No- there are several county pools that are scheduled to be built in the area. I think one is scheduled for the Brentwood/Mr. Rainier area. Another in Hyattsville. There are several in the local vicinity. A couple of comments:

1. I highly doubt PG pool is snyehere near 60 % POC. Someone threw that out that number and it’s clearly false for anyone who has been there. Throwing out an inaccurate number defeats your purpose.
2. Pool has clearly acknowledged the history of racism- more than any other pool in the area. They follow the waitlist.
3. The waitlist is long. People complain every year. At this point, I assume anyone complaining is upset that they too cannot join an exclusive pool and need to use the county pool. The complainers are most likely white.
4. The county pools are an excellent resource. They are not dirty. I’ve been to both. The county pools are typically cleaner, lifeguards are better trained, and there’s more lifeguard coverage. PG pool does have a bunch of mud in the grass snd the changing rooms have rusty stains on the floor. It’s not clean looking either. Frankly, anyone who declares the county pools dirty is probably judging the exclusivity rather than the condition.
5. There are valid reasons to join the more exclusive pools. Primarily, private swim clubs are open in the evening. Any family with two WOHP will be shut out of using the county pools because they close at 6 pm. Alcohol is also allowed. There are more social activities. Swim team is a big one as well.

Finally, the county needs more pools. Most of the county pools are full by noon or 1 pm on the weekend. The county should add evening hours as well to help working families.

[Anonymous]

PG County does not run or operate the pools, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission does that - bi-county agency that administers parks and planning in Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland.

Anyone who lives in PG County knows this (just look at your property tax bill from M-NCPPC!). I suspect the other posters are DC residents who use the PG Pool.

Also, many of the comments from who seem to be PGP members sound very classist in how it talks about PG County. No wonder the community is frustrated with your obnoxiousness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those willing and able to go a bit farther north, I recommend the Greenbelt pool. It is a city facility, but has memberships for non-residents. And there is an indoor pool and gym, so it has year-round value.

Why doesn’t the surrounding municipalities just build a pool like Greenbelt and tax this PG pool to pay for it? This pool’s members keep telling the community to build their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those willing and able to go a bit farther north, I recommend the Greenbelt pool. It is a city facility, but has memberships for non-residents. And there is an indoor pool and gym, so it has year-round value.

Why doesn’t the surrounding municipalities just build a pool like Greenbelt and tax this PG pool to pay for it? This pool’s members keep telling the community to build their own.

Haha! Our neighbors who are members scrimp and save for membership fees. But sure, tax them out of the pool. Go back to your country club and shove it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those willing and able to go a bit farther north, I recommend the Greenbelt pool. It is a city facility, but has memberships for non-residents. And there is an indoor pool and gym, so it has year-round value.

Why doesn’t the surrounding municipalities just build a pool like Greenbelt and tax this PG pool to pay for it? This pool’s members keep telling the community to build their own.

Haha! Our neighbors who are members scrimp and save for membership fees. But sure, tax them out of the pool. Go back to your country club and shove it.

Pool members from DC keep saying this is a private pool and non-members in PG County should just build their own. That's a fair point but you can't also get upset if these same non-members who live in PG County want to raise your private, exclusive pool's taxes to actually build their own public pool that is available to everyone else.

[Anonymous]

I deeply hate the pool because I will never get off the waitlist.


But should I ever get off the waitlist, I am excited to become a member.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I deeply hate the pool because I will never get off the waitlist.


But should I ever get off the waitlist, I am excited to become a member.

What if we had an indoor pool like Greenbelt that everyone could use all year round? I bet the towns along Route 1 could all chip in for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I deeply hate the pool because I will never get off the waitlist.


But should I ever get off the waitlist, I am excited to become a member.

What if we had an indoor pool like Greenbelt that everyone could use all year round? I bet the towns along Route 1 could all chip in for that.

It’s called Rollingcrest-Chillum pool.

https://www.pgparks.com/4543/Rollingcrest-Chillum-Splash-Pool

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I deeply hate the pool because I will never get off the waitlist.


But should I ever get off the waitlist, I am excited to become a member.

What if we had an indoor pool like Greenbelt that everyone could use all year round? I bet the towns along Route 1 could all chip in for that.

We have plenty of public pools. I want to join the private pool I can walk to, lol.