Monday, July 2, 2007

Kiddie dilemma in Uptown Dallas

By Fiona Norton

DALLAS — In the past three days, in between storms, my apartment complex pool has been invaded by kids four times - non resident kids. Because my balcony directly overlooks the pool area, I have been disturbed by their noisy horseplay. Each time, we, or the apartment staff, have politely asked them to leave. If it happens again, I am going to call the police.

They haven't been getting up to mischief, apart from the trespassing. They are just kids enjoying playing in the pool. However, it does raise a number of problems. Firstly, you just can't have unsupervised youngsters in a pool - it isn't safe for them. Secondly, although they may be harmless, if they start spreading the word that this complex is easy to break into and security is lax, it may encourage visits from those whose intentions are much darker. Thirdly, and bottom line here, I pay a lot of money to live here and a part of what I pay for is a quiet, exclusive pool.

Yet, this has got me to thinking. Where are these kids coming from? All the apartments around here have pools, so they can't be local. And if they don't have easy access to a pool, that kinda sucks in a hot city like Dallas (current weather not withstanding).

It occurred to me that it would be nice if the Uptown apartment complexes banded together to open up their pools, and in cooperation with either DISD, or a local youth group, invite groups of children to swim. Each week a different apartment could host a group. It wouldn't be much of an imposition on residents because the pools are underused during the working day and it would only affect your pool on an occasional basis.

Now, I realise this raises all kinds of legal and insurance implications and at the very least, a qualified lifeguard would have to be present. But I wonder if this could be possible. Or am I just being hopelessly naive? It would certainly be one way that affluent Uptowners could give back to the wider community and provide fun for kids who don't have their privileges.

I live right by the North Dallas High school and it has always struck me as weird that barely any of its students live in Uptown. Now, that is mostly because Uptown is populated by singles, young couples and retirees who don't have school age children. However, it is also due in part to the economic divide: North Dallas High School students travel in from less wealthy areas.

The high school is completely isolated from the immediate community, and I think that is unhealthy. So many of us do gooders will travel into poorer areas to help out, but how do we feel about inviting the less privileged into our own environs and lives?

This story was submitted by a member of the Pegasus News community.

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