Embattled pool can't stay afloat [View All]

[ccharles000]

THE SUBJECT LINE on the e-mail simply reads, "The End."

As in, the end of the Valley Club, the small, sleepy Huntingdon Valley community pool that was thrust into the national spotlight this past summer, allegedly for discriminating against minority campers who'd signed up to swim there for 90 minutes each week.

Yesterday, Valley president John Duesler announced that the club's board of directors had voted 5-1 to file this week for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

For months, it had been rumored that Valley would not survive the costs associated with legal proceedings and lawsuits filed on behalf of young campers from Creative Steps Day Camp, a city summer camp whose members are minorities.

Campers' families alleged that their children's pool privileges had been revoked because the club's overwhelmingly white members didn't want children of color at the small, suburban club.

However, in an e-mail yesterday addressed to club "friends and families" announcing the bankruptcy, Duesler said that legal costs were only partly to blame for the club's financial woes.

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20091114_Embattled_pool_can_t_stay_afloat.html