Jerry & Tina at it again, A spray ground is no pool. We have the money.
The Louisville Metro Government is ready to move forward this summer with a controversial project that will fill in the public swimming pool at Breslin Park and replacing it with a spray grounds. The Metro Council’s Budget Committee unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday that calls for the Parks Department to use $300,000, set aside two years ago for the project, to begin tearing down the bath house and pumping station at the park. Some of that material will be used to fill the pool.
The spray grounds, expected to open in Spring 2011, will be built near the old pool. Razing of the buildings will open a space larger than a football field, which will remain open for recreational activities.
The plan also calls for parks to build a new restroom and two structures that will provide shade near the spray grounds.
“Having open green space in a park is good,” Parks Director Mike Heitz said.
The project is controversial because several groups, including the Phoenix Hill Neighborhood Association and Save Our Urban Pools, have raised about $75,000 toward saving the pool.
But the city told the groups that they needed to raise more — enough money to pay for operations at the pool for at least three years — before the city would consider investing in the repairs.
Council member Tina Ward-Pugh, D-9th District, said the spray grounds is good for everyone because it will serve more people, remain open 25 weeks a year instead of 10, and will cost less to operate and maintain.
“The group worked hard but did not satisfy the requirements Parks put forward,” Ward-Pugh told the committee. “Now it’s time to move forward” with the spray grounds.
Cindy Brown Kinloch, president of the neighborhood association, said the city should place the spray grounds between the pool and playground to give them more time.
“Hang on to the pool a little bit longer, to see if the economy turns around and a change in (mayoral) leadership makes a difference,” Brown Kinloch said in an interview Tuesday.
Restaurateur Tom O’Shea dedicated $75,000 toward the effort. It would be enough to operate the pool for one summer. A 2008 estimate of repairs and maintenance necessary to open the pool found it would cost at least $110,000 and possibly more.
The pool at Breslin Park was one of five Mayor Jerry Abramson closed two years ago as the administration cut spending to address a $13 million budget deficit. After public outcry, the city dedicated $300,000 toward an aquatics plan, either a spray grounds or repairs on the swimming pools if a private group could pay for and manage operations at the pool.
I am with people who are fighting this, www.williamjaggers.com Vote Jaggers may 18th
