Swimming Pool Report: No City Take-Over

I was talking with several of my neighbors the other night during the National Night Out and one interesting topic of discussion came up regarding the pools owned by the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association.

You may be aware that last year, a neighborhood further up Tezel Road, New Territories, turned over the operation of their HOA pool to the City of San Antonio. There seemed to be a rumor floating around (no pun intended, really), that the same type of action was being taken by the management and directors of the GNWCIA.

My initial reaction was that I had not heard such a thing from many of the people I speak to or the meetings I have attended, but that I would dig a little to see if there was any truth.

At one point, they considered some sort of legal action to go for the 501(c)4, non-profit status (my assumption being to gain a tax advantage), however, when they looked into it, it meant exactly what the people of New Territories found out - you gotta meet an assload of requirements including opening the pool to anyone - not just HOA residents. Hello? What is the point of paying to live in an HOA neighborhood if any non-paying person can enjoy your stuff?

So, to be clear, the answer from all sources was a flat out big fat "no". There is no truth at all that transferring the pools to the city is currently being considered as an option.

I'd be happy for any of the members of the board to comment on this, just in case I may have gotten something wrong.

UPDATE: An alert reader in the know reports that the neighborhood up the street is New Territories vice Northwest Crossing as I originally posted. Not that Northwest Crossing isn't up the street, but that the pool that was turned over was New Territories. Thanks for the assist and sorry if I gave anyone from NW Crossing a scare! I have made the change.