HSSP: If it isn't broke, don't fix it

Most of us have heard the saying “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” Believe me, Hot Springs State Park is not broke and does not need fixing. Maintaining, yes, but what needs fixing?

Our park is a treasure as it is and that is why people have been coming to enjoy it and the Star Plunge, Teepee Pools and Bath House for up to a hundred years.

To make these pools cold water only would finish them off as a business owner. People come here for the therapeutic and healing effect of the mineral water. It was said that the elimination of the Star Plunge in the original master plan was a “mistake” so it was added back into the plan potentially without mineral waters. Are the terraces and fountains really more important than people’s well-being?

A “mistake” of that magnitude is alarming and one wonders how well thought out this project is. The costs incurred in even developing the Master Plan have to be quite large and the costs of making these changes have to be in the millions.

Why are we even considering this when the state is being hard hit economically from the downturn in oil, coal, etc. and cut backs are being made in various programs.

No one I have talked to has any complaints about the park. Our park is treasure. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.