They even said “this heat is only expected to last another day.” Now this isn’t a political story or anything, but it does raise questions about policy vs. common sense.
The pools maintained by the city of Poughkeepsie are closed. The season is coming to an end, and there’s some work that’s being planned for the pools during the off-season. Fair enough, that’s pretty standard stuff. Close things down, do some maintenance, get them ready for next year. But when the weather takes a turn for the hot, the unusually hot, maybe they should push the dates out a little. So now, in the middle of a heat wave, there are no public pools for the community to use to cool off. The city did talk about the possibility of opening some “cooling centers” though. They’ve been having weather in the mid-90s, with humidity.
I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a strict policy in place. Policies are good. They’re guidelines for how to run things, and they help with organization and management. However, there are always some sort of “extra” possibilities that are hard to account for. This is where a “common sense override,” if you will, can come into play. Yes, they had maintenance teams scheduled and work to begin. Maybe push that off, reschedule it, at least for a few pools around town. It’s not like they’re hiring a team for each pool; some of them can remain open while work starts on others. And yes, there’s a cost to have a pool open. But really, for an extra day or two, it can’t be THAT big of a hit compared to the rest of the summer. Anyway, there’s a good thinkin’ story for the day.