In response to Susan Jenner’s letter: Sick of poo in pool (Gazette, July 4).
Dear Susan Jenner, I cannot agree with you more. Trust me I have been working hard to get our city to recognize proper use of this pool. I have sent a letter to the mayor and city council, which was forwarded to a city manager, Chris Jardine, because there are many issues with Grosvenor Pool. I have made a list of recommendations – none of which were even considered.
I am a lifetime resident of St. Albert. I love having our outdoor pool, and as a swimmer I would love to have my morning swim there rather than Fountain Park. It is where we swimmers are relegated to all winter, and it’s such a treat to have a morning swim outdoors. But in 2013, the city took lane swimming and deep tank free swim away from us. Why? Because they said if we want to swim in the morning we can use Fountain Park, or that mire of a waste of concrete in Servus.
And for those of us adults who would like to swim outdoors, we are given 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. What a ridiculous time for adults. I don’t know about other working adults but, sheesh, that fits right in the middle of the day. Now, I swam in the middle of my work day in the past, but would certainly love to have a morning swim, and only have to fuss with my hair once in a day.
I made many low budget recommendations to the city regarding advertising because I know many long-time residents such as myself think the pool has closed, and many newcomers to our city are not even aware we have an outdoor pool. One was a very simple low cost idea – to take a pack of 8x10 paper and create a small two for one ticket for school aged children that would be distributed to schools and included in the child’s year-end report card. This is a very simple low cost way to bring the attention of Grosvenor to city families – and yes Susan you guessed it – not done. I also made many other low cost, no cost recommendations to bring pool awareness to the city and they too were ignored.
And as for the defecating issue, yes that is a horrible thing to experience. And you are so right parents need to ensure their children are wearing proper diaper/swim shorts in public pools to ensure the safety of all swimmers.
Thank you Susan Jenner for bringing Grosvenor pool to the fore, it is my hope with your letter, and mine, perhaps we can bring on some change.
Mary-Lou Drachenberg, St. Albert
