I have been contemplating about Payson being a cool mountain town as they like to promote but I just don’t get it. I am a critic but only because I know you can be so much better. Now that I am back in Payson full time, I get to do things like run, bike, and swim on a daily basis. I’m liking that but I have discovered that Payson needs an upgrade on identity. As I run down the road this morning, I have considered that this really is a dangerous thing to do. Forget crosswalks because cars turn in front of you and believe you me, pedestrians have little right of way. So biking, well lets just say, that this cool mountain town has very little in the way of bike lanes but we sure have nice turn lanes that run through residential areas with the idea that we should just race through town because we must be in a hurry for something important. Then of course there is the road debris. I would think that we sure could use the town sweeper to pick up glass, sand, litter, rocks, sticks, nails, screws, etc, that line the sides of the roads.
Then to top it off, the Town of Payson completely closes the municipal pool on July 21. I just can’t figure it out. July 21, no weekends, no mornings, no swim. Are you kidding me? A cool mountain town? What is cool about a town that has little support for the daily little things that can make lives more enjoyable. A pool closed after the third week of July? I know, I am little thick on the Sedona comparisons but hey my family and I go swim on Saturdays through October at their municipal pool. Not sure how that works but in Payson they have quoted me a figure of $400 a day to heat the pool! Yes, $400! I don’t get it. I am amazed. So how about some of that extra solar energy with the rebates from APS. Forget the ASU thing and lets partner with APS and get some low cost energy at the TOP.
Living here for 31 years, I think I probably have earned the right to be a critic. Note that it is not out of hate but out of love for a place that should be so much better. Payson: Destination or Pass Through town? So much for my rant today. Last summer, my good friend Michael Stoll, built an old school bicycle for me and I was tooling around on it today, riding instead of driving on my errands. You see me on this bike, please be nice. I don’t know if Payson is a “cool” mountain town but I do know some of the residents are “cool”. Ok, I will return to my roots of love in my next post on the act of being retired or simply tired again.
timfruth 
Tim I agree with a lot of what you said, but I do understand the closing of the pool. The mass majority of the staff are high school and college students. When I worked for parks and rec we had lots of the water aerobic and other adult swimmers complain because it was closing. The P&R director at the time offered to have some of them train as lifeguards for free…. Not one of them stepped up. When the schools decided to have a modified school year by giving the students two weeks off in the fall and two weeks at Christmas and then another two weeks for spring break it took four weeks off the summer break. Thus, no lifeguards, no swimmers to use the pool. I 100 percent agree with you on the ASU issue, when pigs fly!
I do agree Charlene. I am just a bit frustrated. Yet I am still trying to figure out how Sedona can manage their pool through October. I think I will talk to their manager for some ideas to make it work. I do know that the high school kids going back to school really hinders the idea of keeping it open longer. Yet there are some that are not high school students who might like to work and earn more money on a part-time basis if they were allowed. Most of them return in mid August. By the way, I have joined the retired group. I’m likin’ it.
I actually called the city and volunteered to lifeguard ( for free) and was shut down the the Parks and Rec Director at the time. We need to keep the pool open on weekends until Labor Day.