RA: Pool Passes For Residents, Not Scalpers

by Karen Goff May 5, 2014 at 4:40 pm 2 Comments

Is there an emerging black market for Reston Association pool memberships?

Over the weekend, RA staff noticed a posting on Craigslist.com offering pool passes for sale.

The poster said he owns a few homes in Reston and wants to recover the transfer fee of $260 he recently paid when closing on his most recent property.

“I’ve paid for the yearly fees already,” the poster writes. “A single or family pool pass set can be purchased if you email me with your contact info and your address. The Reston Association loophole allows renters with a valid lease … get a pass for the year of 2014. The term of the rental can be a day, or weekend or any time period. I am thinking $100 per adult. $75 rental and your $25 pass fee.”

Laura Kowalski, RA’s Deputy Director for Recreation, says there is no loophole and the passes are nontransferable. She said RA is investigating taking action against the would-be seller.

RA annual assessments are now $634 per household and pool passes are $25 ($10 for under 18) for each family member. RA also has non-member pool memberships available. Those prices vary, but generally range from $365 (individual member) to $625 (family pool and tennis).

Kowalski said that even with rising prices, RA has not seen potential scalpers very often.

RA’s heated pools at North Shore and Ridge Heights open for the season this Saturday. The rest will follow Memorial Day weekend.

Photo: Ridge Heights Pool/file photo

Jenny Gibbers

I am not worried about this scalping incident, the ad seems more politically motivated than an attempt to actually make money. What I am worried about though is the potential for identity theft. The cards have name and address printed on them and often are left behind, given out to the wrong people or left unattended. That creates an opportunity for identify theft and fraud. Ideally, a card should simply say Tennis/Pool pass, some RA logo, and a picture of the card holder. Hopefully RA can make changes to prevent identify theft and fraud.
Phil Lilienthal

Might the “solution” of photo identification for all pool/tennis passes not be worse than the abuse? Was it only a single listing? Is it not easy to identify the abuser and take appropriate action? One would think that removal of pool and tennis privileges for an abuse of the pass would be sufficient without having the entire population have yet another hurdle to leap in order to use the facilities.

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