By Karenlyn Barone
"The first day of registration, the first three families in the door were from School District 20," said Assistant Recreation Director Janice Graffignino. "As a matter of fact, almost all the first day registrants were from School District 20."
But, since that day in early March, only nine additional paid registrations have been received from people living in School District 20. That area includes residents of East Rockaway, Hewlett and Malverne who fall within the boundaries of the Lynbrook School District.
"I am disappointed in the response from School District 20 residents," said Richard Flynn, who has been director of the Lynbrook Recreation Department for the last 19 years. "There were inquiries and complaints the first two years the pool was open and we didn't allow them to join, so where are those people now?"
One such resident who would not give his name said he felt slighted the first two year and said, "I won't join now out of principle."
The village has taken positive steps to encourage District 20 residents to join this year. Mailings were sent to homes and flyers were distributed to all district school children and the village public television station is running promotions for the pool. To date, 286 village resident have joined, but there are only 39 School District 20 members. In order for the pool to be totally self-sufficient, the pool board projected enrollment would need to be 1,250 members.
"We are turning a profit for the operation of the pool," said David Smollett, deputy administrator for the Village of Lynbrook "Any excess moneys go toward the bond re-payment and that debt service is the piece where we are still a little short."
There is an outstanding debt of 2.5 million for the bond that financed the pool, and yearly payments are $144,000 according to Smollet.
Flynn and Graffignino acknowledge that there may be several factors attributable to the poor registration numbers this year and cite the economy and weather as the most obvious. "The whole thing in a nutshell is that people will not think about the pool until the weather gets hot," said Flynn.
Graffignino laughs and remembers that the first early bird registration day back in March had people driving through the snow to sign up. "We have had such a tough winter," she said. "And it still isn't warm enough for people to be making plans for summer."
Economically, people may also be waiting to sign up until it is closer to the opening day of the pool, deciding to keep their money in their own pocket, rather than in the village's purse. "People figure that they don't have to pay until they start coming to use the pool," said Flynn "Why should they give us the money in February, when they can keep it in their pockets until June?".
The pool officially opens for the season on May 24 and registration will be available from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., on that day. Until then, registration can be done at the village recreation center, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
"In the past, we have gotten the majority of our registrations Memorial Day through the third week of June, " said Flynn. "I feel positive registration will pick up."
