The Battle for the Pool—and for Common Sense
The big battle is on. The Stooges — Steve Otto, Jim Ferris, and Charlie Bell — are doing everything in their power to drown the town’s chance to build a new swimming pool. Their strategy is simple: keep Payson stuck in the past while pretending it’s fiscal responsibility.
Last night at the town council meeting, Kadizzle raised one small but powerful question: What about the free money?
That’s right — free money. It’s called grants. When a town like Payson steps up and invests in a modern, shovel-ready project — like a community pool — it becomes eligible for millions in federal, state, and private grants. If Payson puts in $16 million, grants could easily add $8 to $14 million more. That’s a multiplier effect for taxpayers — turning local dollars into a regional investment.
But the Stooges don’t want to hear about that. To them, “grant” sounds suspiciously like “government,” and that word makes their MAGA ears twitch. Instead, they’ve convinced the trailer-park crowd that the only thing Payson can afford is another trip to the casino, a sleeve of tattoos, and maybe a new muffler for the truck.
It’s the same playbook Trump used on a national scale: get ordinary people to cheer against their own interests. They’ll call a pool “wasteful,” but won’t blink when their tax dollars are wasted on vanity projects or sweetheart deals for friends.
Meanwhile, the rest of us — the normal people — can see what a new pool really means:
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A place for kids to learn to swim instead of drown.
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A community asset that boosts property values.
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A magnet for tournaments and tourism that brings money back into local businesses.
This isn’t just about swimming. It’s about whether Payson wants to keep sinking into cynicism — or invest in itself like a real town with a future.
The Stooges can sneer all they want. But the rest of us know that when you combine community effort with grant funding, Payson dollars go twice as far.
It’s time to stop letting the loudest voices drag the town down to the lowest common denominator. We can’t build progress out of fear and fake frugality.
We can, however, build a pool — and a future — if we decide we’re worth the investment.
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