Pioneering Black Private Swim Club In Philadelphia Files For Bankruptcy Protection

Philly Inquirer: Pioneering Pa. swim club files for bankruptcy

Let's replay the senario:

• Location: Suburban Philadelphia
• Facility: A Private Swim Club that provides access to swimming pools for local children
• Prevailing Problem: Fiscal Insolvency that threatens to permanently drain the pool

In the case of the Huntington Valley Swim Club - in the summer of 2009 the decision by the on-duty manager to dismiss a busload of visiting Black and Hispanic swimmers from Philadelphia triggered a set of legal actions that forced the club into bankruptcy.

Wikipedia Entry On Huntington Valley Swim Club:

In July 2009, a nationally publicized incident occurred at the Valley Swim Club in Huntingdon Valley. A group of mostly African-American children from a day care center were kicked out of the club, allegedly due to the children's race. On July 15, 2009, the day care center successfully filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the club. In September 2009, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission found probable cause that racism was involved. The swim club filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on November 15, 2009, and has since gone out of business. United States Chief Bankruptcy Judge Steven Raslavich has jurisdiction over the case and the assets of the club are being administered by United States Trustee Terry P. Dershaw. Financial documents were filed on December 1, 2009. The Valley Swim Club was sold at auction for $ 1.46 million on Thursday, 13 May 2010

View Larger Map (A = Huntington Valley Swim Club; B = Nile Swim Club)


In the present case of the "Nile Swim Club"  we go to Yeadon PA, toward the southwest of Philadelphia.   While this private swim club is also destined for bankruptcy protection it was not the charge of "RACISM" that triggered this pioneering Black swim club into bankruptcy.

Ironically the fall of the Nile Swim Club is a consequence of the removal of SYSTEMATIC RACISM from Yeadon PA and other places who are now regulated by the law.   Here is the background information on the founding of the Nile Swim Club:

The Nile's financial woes mark a critical time in the history of a club, which was founded to provide a place for black children to swim when municipal pools were an unwelcoming place for African Americans.
Members of the Nile's founding families went door to door selling $250 bonds to fund construction. Neighbors bought land from the borough in 1958.
"There is a commitment to the Nile that is unlike any commitment to anything I've ever seen," said Jacquelynn Puriefoy-Brinkley, a former club board member whose family was one of the club's founding families. "It's a painful time, and it's going to be hard, but I think we're going to be fine."
The club's troubled finances are a mirror of similar money problems confronting other private swim clubs, Nile and Yeadon officials say.
The clubs are facing competition from newer facilities with cheaper prices. The economic downturn has meant fewer families are opting to join Nile, which has integrated over the years. At its peak, the club had more than 500 members. In July 2009, there were 300, and now there are fewer than 100.

In summary - absent the prevailing force of RACISM the Black citizens of Yeadon PA chose to go swimming elsewhere.  This allowed them to shop for lower cost swimming facilities than a facility that was not furnished with modern accouterments. 

From the Philadelphia Inquirer Article:

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.


Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20100930_Pioneering_Pa__swim_club_files_for_bankruptcy.html#ixzz1193yfPzt
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