Renovate Crystal pool, don’t build new

Re: “Proposal to build Crystal Pool housing is dead, mayor says,” July 17.

Now that the bizarre idea of building housing in a park is off the table — an idea hastily concocted to cover up, literally, paving the park to create 100 extra stalls for a new pool — let’s go back to square one.

Rebuilding the pool to the south means wiping out all the outdoor recreation amenities in the park: The Steve Nash basketball court, the tennis court, the exercise equipment installed in 2013, the kids’ playground and more of the green space.

This destruction of outdoor facilities was ignored when the pool plan was launched — a major oversight. It was all about the pool and no interruption in pool activity. The free outdoor recreation opportunities are as valuable to the neighbourhood and the city at large as the pool facility. They’re popular, well used, easy to maintain and essential to the health of our inner city.

Not everyone wants to swim and not everyone wants to pay for a bigger pool facility. Note that council prefers not to go to referendum on spending the $69 million to rebuild.

Let’s go back and revisit renovating the current pool.

It would mean protecting the existing green space in the park, keeping the outdoor recreation amenities, saving taxpayers a big chunk of money and not bulldozing the current John Di Castri-designed building for landfill. Check out Victoria Friends of Central Park on Facebook for more information. D.A. Gotto Victoria