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Fairmount Park Honcho Objects to Hallwatch Story
By Ed Goppelt Wednesday, 06/19/02 (1024508507146)

As the webmaster of a good government ("goo goo") web site, I get my share of "attaboys" from people writing to say how much they like hallwatch.

But I also get the other kind. The kind from people who are not happy.

I got one of those letters the other day from Barry Bessler, Chief of Staff for Fairmount Park. Together with his boss, Executive Director Bill Mifflin, Mr. Bessler is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Park.

From: "Barry A. Bessler" 
Subject: Fairmount Park Commission meeting
To: webmaster@hallwatch.org
Cc: friends@philaparks.org
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2002 18:47:09 -0400
X-Mailer: Juno 5.0.33

Ed-
I checked out Hallwatch today after we spoke on the phone.  What a
brilliant journalistic piece on the Fairmount Park Commission meeting on
Monday.  I especially liked the caption under the picture of the Great
Hall in Memorial Hall where you talk about the exact three things (the
offices, the bathroom, and the pool) that you asked me about TODAY, four
days AFTER you posted your captions.  Wouldn't the fair and ethical thing
to do be to ask me the questions BEFORE you post your comments designed
to make us look bad?  I thought I gave you reasonable and accurate
answers but, of course, that doesn't matter AFTER THE FACT!
Barry A. Bessler
Chief of Staff
Fairmount Park Commission

The photo Mr. Bessler objects to was part of a photo essay I did on the recent swearing in of the Fairmount Park Commissioners.

Mr. Bessler's email made me feel bad. He was right: I hadn't checked with him to get his side of the story. I just wrote what I had seen, namely that:

1. Kelly Pool, a beautiful public pool next to Park HQ, was sitting empty and unused.
2. I could find no bathrooms set aside for use by the public at Park HQ.
3. Signs advising that the public not to enter the administrative offices of the Park.

So I decided to do what I should have done in the first place: do my homework. Last week I dropped by Park Headquarters to investigate Mr. Bessler's criticisms in depth. Here's what I found:

Kelly Pool, locked and unavailable for use on June 12. As of today, June 19, the pool remains closed to the public..

Mr. Bessler suggested in our phone conversation that Kelly Pool was closed because of the drought. It turns out this is not correct. The official responsible for Kelly pool says public pools are exempt from the drought restrictions. I guess Mr. Bessler didn't know that drought restrictions don't apply to public pools. I was never able to get an answer from him on this that made much sense.

All 3 public bathrooms in Memorial Hall were locked when I stopped by.

I admit it: I have a thing about bathrooms. According to the Daily News Acres of Neglect series Fairmount Park only has 11 bathrooms which are open year round. It seems to me that an agency which plays host to hundreds of thousands of Philadelphians, needs to do a better job of providing for their bodily needs. What goes in must come out. For every water fountain, there should be a toilet. Call it Goppelt's law.

Even at their headquarters, Fairmount Park has no bathrooms which are open to the public. The bathrooms in the public area are locked:

No relief for the public here!

Mr. Bessler insisted on the phone, and later in person, that there were public bathrooms in Memorial Hall. Here I must respectfully disagree with Mr. Bessler. When I visted Park HQ last week a sign on the entrance to the Park's offices clearly states that there are no public bathrooms:

Sign on front door of Fairmount Park offices

After some back and forth, Mr. Bessler promised to remove the sign. With the addition of these two bathrooms, there will now be 13 bathrooms available to the public year round. An increase of about 20% is a good first step. But I still think at 8,900 acres, Fairmount Park can and must provide the public with more than 13 bathrooms.

When I attended the FPC meeting, the back door to the administrative offices had this sign on it:

"Employees Only No Unauthorized Personnel Beyond this Point."

Would this sign make you feel welcome? As a member of the public I certainly didn't feel welcome, but Mr. Bessler had a different take on the matter, arguing that FPC staff merely wants the public to use the right door. Obviously, only FPC Staff knows for sure the sign is intended to shoo away the public. But why not tell the "unauthorized personnel" (aka the public)where the the official entrance is?

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