26 June 2008

Kids At Washington Park Pool

Some pics of some beautiful kids at the Washington Park Pool a few years ago:




More recent pic:


These kids love this pool, which is proposed to be demolished soon. Next year, CRC wants them to switch to swimming indoors at the Rec Center Pool on Findlay Street, where there is no sunlight, no visibility, and no diving boards. Our swim team deserves better. Our families deserve better.

5 comments:

Mark Miller said...

Is the place typically that empty?

Most of our neighborhood pools are always so packed you can barely move. Perhaps we need to start hanging out in OTR.

CityKin said...

Mark;
Remember, that most of the housing for the surrounding blocks is currently empty and pending rehab by 3CDC, so there are (temporarily) fewer kids nearby to use this pool.

Also, the pool is only open 4 hours a day, 6 days a week and offers no amenities (chairs, snacks, shade etc) Despite all this, we have an active swim team and depending on the weather, there can be upwards of 50 people at the pool many days. If you get more than that, and it really gets uncomfortable, because there is not enough room around the deck.

There was a big crowd yesterday, but one of the chaperones asked us not to take pictures of the kids.

Mark Miller said...

So this one's crowded too. Darn.

Amenities aren't a big deal. We usually wheel in a cooler full of snacks & stuff. Still have a minivan full of chairs too, left over from soccer season.

I just want an isolated corner of deck where I can read while the kids swim. And a diving board without a line halfway around the block.

CityKin said...

They don't allow food at this pool either. Not sure why they are so anal about stuff like that. Why make it so tough to have fun?

The lines for these diving boards doesn't usually get over 2 or 3 deep though.

Anonymous said...

When you see the playground after the lunch truck leaves you know why they don't allow food in the pool. Public access requires rules, sometimes lots of them.

I was talking to my brother who lives in NYC, upper east side, and he was saying how there are no public pools by them. He states they went to a public pool in northern Central Park once but described it as being run by the gestapo. He says you are not allowed to bring ANYTHING in besides a towel and you can only be in your swim suit and a WHITE shirt only (because of gang color trouble.) He states he went in with his kids but his wife had to stay outside with the stroller, (not allowed)and because she had no bathing suit. He says when they were in there a guard started yelling at him because his kids had illegal arm floaties on. Plus there was no mention of these regulations on the website which they had referred to before they embarked. They do have lockers, but you need to bring your own lock.

So I am grateful that they have relaxed some of the regulations at our pool; they no longer kick everyone out of the pool for an hour when the lunch truck comes and that if you are discrete you can usually sneak in some contraband snacks.

The Emmanuel Center brings kids on Tuesdays which makes it kind of crowded for an hour or so but usually it is pleasantly populated.