The debate about the upcoming Snoqualmie community center is still very much alive in Yahoo groups, the grocery store and even at middle-school volleyball games. Both sides are touting numbers, some are correct, some ill-advised. It will all boil down to you, the voter. Do you think you personally can afford the pool and are you willing to pay for it?

A question I’ve often heard regards the future of Si View pool.

If the Snoqualmie community center vote fails, it could be an indication that people do want to look at a regional facility. One of the concerns with a regional facility is what would happen to Si View pool? The answer to date is to keep it open which, frankly, goes against the reasons people question a pool anyway – affordability.

Si View pool is old, small and the ventilation is marginal at best. Hey, it is a great facility if it is the only option. I learned from Georgia Kramer how to swim there, as did many others. But if a new regional pool is built, then maintaining such a dinosaur seems kind of ridiculous.

If and when a levy is put on a ballot for a regional facility, I would hope the Metropolitan Parks District commissioners do the cost-conscious thing and close the existing pool and make use of the space for some other function. It will not make sense to maintain two pools, one being very old and small. How do you expect to sell two pools to voters when the idea of even one pool has resistance?

If this issue is muddying the waters for voters in Snoqualmie, then the Metropolitan Parks District commissioners have a responsibility to outline their plans for the existing Si View pool and those plans should be to close it if a regional facility is built.

I think it would help some Snoqualmie voters decide on whether the Snoqualmie community center plan, in its current form, makes sense.