When Philadelphia area Black kids were turned away from a White/mostly-White swim club, all hell was raised over the injustice and how these kids would not have a place to swim.
“The Nile Swim Club of Yeadon has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, avoiding a threatened tax sale of the nation’s first African American-owned and African American-operated private swim club.
The club, which opened in 1959, owes a total of $90,049 in delinquent taxes through 2009, according to public records. In addition, the club’s $36,768 tax bill for this year is unpaid, tax records say.
“We just couldn’t turn around that kind of money,” said Darrell Henderson, club president. “So that we wouldn’t lose the property, we filed for bankruptcy.”
Club officials filed Sept. 14, one day before the property was scheduled to be listed for a tax sale. Most of the money is owed to the William Penn School District.
The bankruptcy filing gives the club time to reorganize its finances with a goal of developing a tax-payment plan, Henderson said. Officials plan to solicit corporate donors and charitable groups, and increase marketing efforts they hope will stabilize membership.
The club also has been talking with borough officials about the possibility of buying the site, said Yeadon Mayor Dolores Jones-Butler. No decision has been made, but officials are committed to finding a way to preserve the pool, said Asher Kemp Jr., president of the Borough Council.
‘We want to keep the Nile as a resource for our residents,” Kemp said. “Its historic significance enriches our community.”
For those who like to throw up “What is your solution” when they apparently have none of their own, here is my solution to this matter:
Send them some money. And since this club is getting beaten out by competitors, find out if they revised their business plan to compete.
