Winnipeggers look to keep local pool afloat

Winnipeggers continue to make waves over a plan to close their local pools, with thousands of signatures now signed hoping to reverse the decision and keep the pools, like the one at Happy Land Outdoor Pool open. This as a protest is planned outside of city hall on Monday.

The new four-year budget calls for three pools to be shut down and 20 wading pools would be replaced or decommissioned. South St Boniface Residents Association President Teresa Cwik said the community doesn’t want this, as they have over 2,300 people who have signed the “save the Happyland pool” petition, which could be saved with a few changes.

“I hope the mayor makes the right decision and he really thinks about this more than just a budget, but about the lives of the children and people,” said Cwik.

“If we took a portion of that money and a portion of the 20 million, they want to spend on splash pads that only small children can use, not everybody can use then we could probably build a new pool, and we could definitely renovate and maintain the pool as it is.”

Also advocating for the pools to stay, is Saint Boniface councillor Matt Allard, who has been running his own petition which has over 900 signatures. He says there is $1 million in new funding for a splash pad that no one asked for, saying the community doesn’t want new amenities in exchange for their pools.

“If you’re going to build a local recreational amenity, put a pause on the splash pad take the million, and fix the pool because that’s approximately how much money is needed to get a long-term fix on the pool problem that’s there right now,” said Allard.

And Allard says if the city won’t use the central budget to save the pools, he hopes to step in.

“We can keep operating the pools through the Saint Boniface city councillor ward budget, even though if that’s the direction then for the rest of this term will be tapped out with discretionary dollars but I think it’s worth it to keep these pools open.”

Allard says there hasn’t been a proper examination of what other pools cost to run, as Happyland is ahead of eight pools for cost per person, and Windsor is tied for first for outdoor pools.

“No, that we should be demolition any of them, but these are definitely not the ones that we should be demolition, this is young people’s summer in these neighbourhoods and not all of them have a car to get to the beach,” explained Allard.

Until the final vote, there will be three opportunities to speak to council, with the first beginning on Monday.