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Mr. Zirgulis at the scene.
For his third longshot campaign in six years to win a seat on the School Board, Robert Zirgulis is waving a familiar mission banner with a new twist.
“Do you know how they teach kids to swim at Culver City High School?” asked the sometimes substitute teacher/realtor before last evening’s School Board meeting.
The question was not rhetorical.
Brimming with his usual strong dosage of enthusiasm and straight-talk, he answered. “They get a medicine ball, and they make the kids get on the medicine ball and do breast strokes. They don’t use the swimming pool. That is one thing.
“The other issue is this statistic. For children ages 1 to 4, swimming is the main cause of unintentional deaths. Among children up to age 14, it is No. 3.”
Not an Encouraging Word
These citations are building blocks for Mr. Zirgulis en route to making another attempt to re-open the Natatorium’s on-campus swim pool that has been shuttered since the early 1990s. Not that there is any more of a sign now that School District officials are hearing or responding to his pleas.
“I am going to make re-opening the Natatorium a big platform this summer and this fall,” said the persistent Mr. Zirgulis.
“For 20 years, nothing has been done about it,” but he is hardly discouraged.
“The District has missed lots of opportunities,” the man known as Mr. Z said. “They have said they don’t have the money for it, but, in reality, there is.
“It is unconscionable that they have not done anything about it. They have had missed opportunities where they had $2 million allocated for it. But they said there was not enough money for maintenance of the pool.
Resurrecting a Scheme
“I think they could sell the Natatorium for $10 million. My proposal was a lease/buyback. It is very simple. Investors, say, buy a post office building, and then they lease it back to the post office. The investor gets a deduction year after year, and they get income from the lease.
“I have proposed many times to the School District an idea that is backed by the real estate industry. The School District could sell the Natatorium for $10 million to investors who would refurbish the swimming pool. Then the District, with its $10 million, could lease back the pool from the investors,” said Mr. Zirgulis.
“The investors get a deduction and a cash flow from the lease. The money from the interest and investment from the $10 million the School District would get, would cover it.
“Also, there is a leaseback/buyback option where the School District, maybe in 30 years, could buy back the swimming pool after the building has depreciated and the investors have zero value on it.”
(To be continued)
