Residents dive in at city hall meeting to fight proposed community pool closures

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This article was published 11/03/2024 (586 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Preventing the closure of three pools targeted in the city’s preliminary budget was the priority for many delegates who spoke to councillors on the community services committee Monday.

Several who appeared at city hall urged the committee to abandon the plan to close the Happyland and Windsor Park outdoor pools and the Eldon Ross indoor facility.

“(Happyland Pool is located in) a low-income area that does not have any other amenities.… It increases the value of our neighbourhood,” Teresa Cwik, a member of the South St. Boniface Residents Association, told the committee.

”It’s walkable, safe and inclusive for everyone.”

Cwik said many residents near Happyland — located at Marion and Archibald streets — can’t afford private swimming pools or transportation to beaches, making the pool an essential place to learn to swim and cool off in the summer’s heat.

The preliminary 2024-2027 budget proposes a $20-million program that would add 10 new spray pads over the next six years, as some council members suggest existing pools are becoming too expensive to maintain and staff.

Cwik stressed spray pads are targeted to serve young children and offer fewer overall benefits.

“Nobody learned to swim in a splash pad,” she said.

Sandra Dupuis, who is also a member of the residents association, questioned the argument made by some councillors that Happyland suffers from low attendance, noting its capacity has, in recent years, been limited at times because of the city’s lifeguard shortage.

“We submit that it is hypocritical to the extreme to use a measure of lack of attendance (to assess the pool) when the attendance has been depressed by the city’s operational practices…. In no event should it be fairly, properly or in good conscience, shuttered,” said Dupuis.

Corey Mohr, a community development co-ordinator for NorWest Co-op Community Health, said Eldon Ross in the Brooklands neighbourhood is a “much beloved and well-utilized community pool” and provides critical benefits for water safety.

Coun. Matt Allard, whose St. Boniface ward includes the Happyland and Windsor Park facilities, said his first choice is keeping both pools open.

However, if that effort fails, Allard said he’ll raise a compromise motion to put demolition of the pools on hold for one year and have the city plan, budget and start construction of one new outdoor pool somewhere in St. Boniface.

“(Residents) would go one year without (the pools) but then the next year they would have a new, modern facility, instead of two older facilities,” said Allard.

Coun. Evan Duncan, chairman of community services, said council could reverse or alter the pool closure plan but that would come at a cost.

“Where we’re going to find the money to do anything with pools is the biggest question here.… Something needs to be done because we have aging infrastructure that needs capital investment across the city,” said Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood).

The councillor said he’s open to considering changes, including Allard’s compromise motion, once it has formally been raised.

Nearly eight hours into the meeting, the committee had not yet voted on the budget.

The committee also received multiple requests to ensure the Millennium Library’s Sunday hours aren’t reduced in a plan that increases overall city library hours. The current budget proposal calls for nine branches to be open Sundays between the September and May long weekends (up from six), starting in the fall. However, the downtown Millennium branch would close on winter Sundays, eliminating its seasonal hours of 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. that day.

“Closing Millennium on Sundays is not acceptable. This is a deeply important piece of downtown, of the poverty-reduction strategy,” said Joe Curnow, a member of the advocacy group Millennium for All.

Curnow thanked councillors for the overall increase to library hours, then suggested dedicated property tax hikes be used to further expand library service.

“The tax increase (of 3.5 per cent) that’s being proposed here is artificially low. It was set in advance of a real conversation about what we need and many people would say that’s a backwards way to do budgeting,” she said.

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Duncan said he believes the library hours proposed within the budget already offer “a very generous plan.”

“This will allow those folks that need to use the library on Sunday an excellent opportunity close to where they’re living instead of having to travel to Millennium as the sole (option),” he said.

City council will cast the final vote on the budget on March 20.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.