is it hard to swim in those pointy hoods?

[threeplusfire]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Pool-Boots-Kids-Who-Might-Change-the-Complexion.html?corder=&pg=8

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-kilkenny/philadelphia-private-swim_b_228253.html

Wow. Just wow. So if you're a "private" club, you're allowed to discriminate all you want. Way to Go Valley Swim Club and John Duesler - nothing shows off your superiority like kicking a bunch of kids out of the pool. More like John Douchebag.

Quote:
"There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club," John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.

Comments

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is horrible - however I see two sides to it.

Having a private club, and having a selective membership policy is legal - and IMHO acceptable to a point.

Before anyone rigs up the gallows for me, hear me out.

I agree that disallowing membership based on race, religion , and sexual orientation is wrong. However that does not mean that there should be no private clubs at all , or that selective membership should be made illegal.

There are apartment building, ( and I wanted to live in one in LV ) where there is a minimum age of 50. You need to be 50 yrs old or older to get in. If I'm 50 and living ina building I don't want to share with a pile of drunken 20somethings running wild.

Anyone form the old days of NYC clubbing knows the dress code line, or the people who were turned away form the doors of many a club. If you are running a goth/industrial club you don't want a pile of frat boys walking in demanding van halen and wanting to get some " gothic ass " ( yes this has happened , while I was DJing too. )

The ability to own a private club , and to admit specific people is a right of ownership - and should be allowed, but denying membership based on bias is not, and should not be tolerated.

The person tho said " no minorities " should be instantly fired , and the swim club should make amends. If the policy was to not allow children , I can understand that - adults only no screaming kids runnign about and being .. well kids is understandable. That's why some resorts for singles have a no kids rule. However that's NOT the message that was sent here, and yes they should be held accountable for it.

The concept of a private club is valid, and should be legal - and when it is misused / abused like in this case it should be challenged.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

The ability to own a private club , and to admit specific people is a right of ownership - and should be allowed, but denying membership based on bias is not, and should not be tolerated.

I can agree with this statement. I would like to see that private clubs can approve/deny based on activities or expectations but not on anything like gender/race/religion or even age.

The example you mention I find teeters on the edge of a slippery slope. Just because you are fifty does not inherently mean you're more mature or less likely to run around drunk. I've seen enough episodes of Cops and dealt with enough people to know age is a shaky dividing line when it comes to behavior. Instead of saying no one under this arbitrary line of time, maybe applicants have to submit to a more intensive interview/lifestyle application. The club could spell forth expected behaviors of members (and since we are dealing with real estate here) as well as more extreme penalties for disrupting the club.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

I Agree , but the rental people did not. They said it was a " Retirement home " and could have the mandated minimum age. It was some odd housing loophole. Still it was affordable and a nice tower block, but I was still too young.

In contrast, the tower block I did live in ... every year a fresh crop of college students ripe with cash would rent apartments , only to be evicted about 60 days later for various and sundry. I was responsible for some of them , when I found them drinking 40's and smashing the bottles in the freight elevator, throwing things off of the balconies ( land having them land on balconies below ) , and racing in the parking lot ( underground, and tiny, it was insane! )

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Were you living near a campus or a bus route to campus? Nuts. I know I could never live in West Campus here because of the concentration of frat houses and expensive apartments that only parents pay for - barf.

Ahh retirement home - it was my understanding they had to offer a bevy of services to residents to get the legal foothold to slap an age limit. Though I could be totally crazy.

Of course now that I live in quiet, peaceful suburbia I have a total drunk of a neighbor who walks his large dog up and down the street, Budweiser in hand. He kind of gives me the creeps because he just stares at me and never says anything, even if I say "Hi, how are you doing today?"

[avidbeader.livejournal.com]

What makes me so angry about this particular instance is that the club made an agreement, surely knowing the population of the kids' daycare. Then they reneged on the deal (and giving the money back is in no way going to make up for how those children felt to be kicked out of the pool after looking forward to swimming).

And there's the fact that the pool was advertising "open membership" in the first place according to the report I read. I'd love to hear their definition of open membership.