Dallas, TX
Are Dallas community pools worth saving?
The Dallas Park and Recreation Board saved all nine community pools from the chopping block, at least for now, after city staff recently recommended their closure. But the reality is that city officials will probably have to close pools eventually. Most community pools are decades old, costly to maintain and severely underused.
The emotional attachment to the community pools is understandable. Many children learned to swim there, and Dallas families all over made memories in their neighborhood pools. There are also concerns about equity given that most of these pools are south of Interstate 30 in Black and Latino neighborhoods.
But the truth is that the community pools don’t see as much traffic as they once did. Their deterioration over the years has made them less appealing. And families and young people simply have more recreation options today than previous generations did.
The cold facts are what they are. A community pool like Martin Weiss, in west Oak Cliff, cost the city $139,069 last year, averaging 65 visits per day and generating less than $25,000 in revenue, according to Park and Recreation data. The Martin Weiss, Walnut Hill and Grauwyler pools — all built before 1955 — were closed this summer to repair leaks of thousands of gallons of water, Park and Recreation director John Jenkins said.
Finding parts for these pools is virtually impossible. The city is running out of salvaged parts from older facilities. If the pools run into structural issues, repairing them will be too expensive.
More modern Dallas facilities like The Cove at Crawford and the Kidd Springs aquatic centers, while not exactly money makers, do much better financially and generate stronger attendance numbers.
Right now, the Park Board is buying time. While the community pools will remain open only three days a week, per the Park Board’s recommendation, city staff will also update the Dallas Aquatic Master Plan. This formal assessment will help decide which pools should close permanently, which ones could be updated and which ones should be turned into spray grounds, Jenkins told us.
Rebuilding a pool can cost more than $4 million, but the city will have to wait several years for a new bond package or to find a corporate sponsor. Jenkins told us there is at least one private sponsor interested in investing in a community pool.
While the city decides what to do with its aquatic infrastructure, it should pursue strategic partnerships with school districts to ensure kids can learn to swim, even with fewer city-owned pools across Dallas in the future.
As things stand right now, some of these community pools will fail from old age. Keeping them open without substantial investment is a financial burden that could lead the city to redirect funding for other recreation programs toward pool repairs.
This is a case where the heart says one thing and the head says another. Lean times are here. Ignoring the facts, hard as they may be to swallow, will leave Dallas treading water.
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Oftentimes, it’s a good idea to extend players early. The Dallas Cowboys have learned this the hard way as they’ve allowed negotiations with key contributors such as Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and Micah Parsons to get out of hand.
Prescott was able to use his leverage to land a contract worth $60 million per season, which was a record at the time. Lamb held out during that same offseason, eventually landing a deal worth $34 million annually, whereas Parsons forced his way out after his negotiations stalled.
To their credit, the Cowboys might have tried to avoid more issues by signing a few players early. That includes guard Tyler Smith, who landed a four-year, $96 million extension in 2025. That has proven to be a home run, but the same can’t be said for another one of their big extensions.
Dallas decided to lock up cornerback DaRon Bland, signing the former fifth-round pick to a four-year, $92 million extension. This was a surprise move from the Cowboys since Bland was coming off a frustrating season, which was marred by a foot injury. The Cowboys were banking on Bland returning to the form we saw in 2023, but that wasn’t the case.
Bland continued to struggle with durability and wasn’t the impact player we saw during his breakout season when he was on the field. Now, he enters his fifth season in the league with a hefty price tag, and there are questions about his long-term status with the team.
DaRon Bland’s cap hit in 2026 is a problem
According to Over The Cap, Bland has the fifth-highest cap hit on the team this season. Bland, who is earning an annual average salary of $23 million, has a hit of $17 million this year.
The good news for the Cowboys is that they seemed to protect themselves slightly with this deal. While they can’t feasibly move on in 2026, even if Bland loses his starting job, they do have a way out of his deal next year.
Dallas can release Bland ahead of the 2027 season while absorbing a dead cap hit of $12.941 million. That would essentially make his deal a two-year contract for $36.355 million. That’s still not an ideal situation for the Cowboys, but that’s also what happens when the front office rolls the dice.
It’s also an unfortunate trend, as the Cowboys decided to extend Michael Gallup and Terence Steele while coming off injury-plagued seasons, and the results weren’t much better.
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Why Gabby Williams chose to play for Golden State Valkyries
Valkyries’ Gabby Williams shares with USAT’s Meghan L. Hall why she chose Golden State in the wild WNBA free agency.
Sports Seriously
When the Dallas Wings travel to Las Vegas for a clash with the Aces on Thursday night, they’ll be without one of their key players.
Alanna Smith is listed as out for Thursday on the latest WNBA injury report as she is in concussion protocol.
Smith seemingly suffered an injury to her face on Saturday night during the Wings’ 93-92 win over the Chicago Sky. In the first quarter, Smith was shaken up after a head-to-head collision with Gabriela Jaquez as Smith was defending the Sky rookie’s drive to the basket. At halftime, the team announced that Smith would not return to the game.
On Monday, Smith didn’t play in the Wings’ 112-110 overtime win over the Seattle Storm, listed as being out due to a face injury. Smith has worn a protective face mask after she suffered a nasal fracture in the Wings’ preseason game against the Aces on May 3.
Smith is the highest-paid player on the Dallas roster, signing a three-year deal worth about $3.7 million this offseason. Last season with the Minnesota Lynx, she was the co-Defensive Player of the Year, sharing the award with A’ja Wilson.
A 6-foot-4 forward from Australia who played collegiately at Stanford, Smith found a consistent role over the past two seasons with the Minnesota Lynx, starting in all 81 games she appeared in for Cheryl Reeve’s squad. Across two seasons in Minnesota, Smith averaged 9.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.7 blocks per game, helping the Lynx make back-to-back playoff appearances — including a trip to the Finals in 2024.
With the Wings, she’s started in just seven of the 15 games she’s appeared in, playing an average of 15.1 minutes per game. She’s posting 3.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.
Dallas has instead turned to Jessica Shepard in the frontcourt, who also arrived via free agency after spending last season with the Lynx. The Notre Dame product is posting career-highs in points (14.2), rebounds (11.1) and assists (5.6) per game while shooting 57% from the floor.
Still, Smith brings an imposing presence on defense, one that would have come in handy against the Aces.
A 12-year-old Dallas middle-schooler ended up on the streets, where a pimp discovered her. For as little as $50, he sold her for sex. He withheld food unless she worked. She later disappeared into the state’s foster care system after suffering from depression. She attempted suicide.
A 13-year-old seventh- grader was forced to have sex with men in Houston by a pimp who hooked her on drugs. She died shortly after turning 18 from a fentanyl overdose — a few months before her abuser was sentenced to prison.
A 17-year-old Lubbock runaway was required to have sex with men in hotels and truck stops until she earned her pimp $1,000 daily. That quota meant seeing up to 20 “clients” per day. She spiraled into drug addiction.
These children have more in common than the abuse they endured — and the lifelong trauma that comes with it. Each was mandated by federal law to receive financial compensation from the pimps and pedophiles who abused them.
You can read more in-depth reporting from our media partner, The Dallas Morning News.
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