There has been much discussion regarding borrowing the money to replace the badly aging Four Seasons Leisure Pool and Fire Hall #1. I will be voting yes to borrowing the money to replace both buildings and I am in favour of keeping the Pool downtown. When I was younger, the first time that I rode the city bus downtown with my friends, it was to go to Four Seasons. It was a chance to prove that I was growing more responsible and a chance for my parents to trust me with a limited amount of responsibility. Going to the pool was great and nothing untoward happened. Going home was a bit of an issue. At the time, the buses going to the hart from downtown ended at 6:00pm. In my twelve-year old wisdom, I chose not to call my parents when we all made our way to Pine Centre Mall. I knew I was going to be in trouble so my friend's mom drove me home where I then got into a world of trouble for not calling.
The pool should remain downtown and it should remain publicly owned. I gave grave concerns about a private company running a community pool for a few reasons but chiefly, I am concerned because public works should not be a for-profit enterprise. Everything is expensive and when you have a family with young children, it is hard to find inexpensive activities that are fun for the whole family. Four Seasons has seen better days. It is crumbling, aged and stained. The floors are well-worn with the patina of a hundred thousand wet feet and the family changerooms are bit of joke. That being said, how many residents have learned how to swim at Four Seasons? How many people have gone to a birthday party at the pool? How many people in Prince George have climbed the metal slat stairs to the very top of the waterslide and have waved at their family watching below? How many people in Prince George have dived off the small diving board and have jumped off the high diving board? How many people have climbed up to the high diving board only to chicken out at the last minute and have to climb down the ladder of shame?
My whole family can go to the pool for as long as we want for under $20.00. If there is a public/private partnership running the pool, do we have to become a member? Will the daily rates be anywhere close to the great deal that we currently get at the Four Seasons and the Aquatic Center? Current membership fees for my family of four at a local gym costs a minimum of $85.00 a month. I find it hard to believe that we wouldn't have to pay for swim lessons on top of a membership fees making this possibility less-than-affordable for the average family. I doubt that the individual user fees will be less expensive than the current model.
Any public/private partnership is usually a good deal for the private company. Is it a good deal for Prince George? What happened when the family swim times aren't making enough money and the company decides to rent out the pool to other groups? Maybe they could fill-in half the pool to build a tennis court? Where would the oversight be and if it wasn't working, how do we untangle the relationship?
There were handball and racquetball courts in Prince George for many years at two private organizations. As private companies, they have the right to re-tool what they are offering to their members. Both organizations eliminated the courts to make way for more lucrative opportunities and there were no public options to keep alive a number of different community and youth sport organizations that now, due to a lack of facilities, have all but collapsed. The Canada Winter Games brought pop-up courts to the Northern Sport Center and the Racquetball games were watched by hundreds of people. How much money did we pay in the Canada Winter Games to bring in temporary facilities rather than invest it in facilities that could be used by citizens for years to come?
Keep the pool downtown, run by the city workers and protect family swim times. Consider also adding some courts to the pool.
