Donations help ‘the little pool that could’
Place where Olympic medallist Penny Oleksiak learned to swim will get $45,000 for programs
Talk about making a big splash.
At the same Leslieville pool where Olympian Penny Oleksiak learned to swim, a $45,000 donation will keep alive the swim programming and, with it, neighbourhood kids’ gold-medal dreams.
“It’s the little pool that could,” Councillor Paula Fletcher said Tuesday after Daniels Corporation ($30,000) and Sierra Building Group ($15,000) stepped forward with the money.
The city will also contribute $10,000 if a motion at council passes next week, Fletcher said.
The pool, located inside the Duke of Connaught Public School, which is attached to the S.H. Armstrong Community Centre, is one of 29 school pool locations used by the city to offer swimming lessons and other programming after school hours and on weekends.
As part of the 2017 budget process, council approved the relocation of the pool’s aquatic programming to other cityowned facilities within roughly two kilometres to save about $162,000.
“I was really sad, I started crying,” Keagan Valentine, 11, said Tuesday, remembering his reaction to the news that his beloved Sharks swim team would no longer have a place to train.
One of the reasons Keagan started swimming there about four or five years
“We love our pool. We love being together.” KEAGAN VALENTINE SHARKS SWIM TEAM MEMBER
ago was the proximity to his house, which is across the street. If the city cancelled programming there, he says he would have missed competing with his “amazing team.”
“We love our pool. We love being together.” He participated in a winter rally to save the community pool.
Oleksiak made waves during the budget debate after tweeting her support to save the programming.
Mayor John Tory agreed to review the proposed cut — tweeting back “gold medal message received.” But he and council eventually voted to pull funding after staff produced figures showing the eastend school pool had a “utilization” rate of only 69 per cent.
Council directed city staff to form a working group, including representatives from the local community, Toronto District School Board and the new HOPE Shelter, to develop a plan to improve the pool’s performance.
The east-end neighbourhood is filled with new families, many of whom weren’t aware the pool existed inside the school or that it was available for community use, local resident Sara Ehrhardt, co-chair of the working group, said Tuesday.
Nor were the swimming programs offered by the city best-suited to the community’s needs, she added. “There is no shortage of demand in our neighbourhood.”
The relocation was problematic for many residents who don’t own cars and either walk places or use transit, she noted. The two-kilometre radius might not sound far away, except if “you’re pushing a stroller with a 2-year-old in the winter.”
Over the past few months, media attention about the budget cut, along with social media, heightened awareness of the pool and pushed its usage to 89 per cent this spring.
The city’s programming has now finished for the season. The pool will remain closed over the summer while it undergoes upgrades but, if council agrees, will reopen in the fall without losing a day of programming.
Earlier this month, the city’s community development and recreation committee congratulated pool supporters for increasing its usage and agreed to Fletcher’s motion asking council to consider restoring programming there during the 2018 budget process.
“I think the community will really show in the fall that this is a popular pool,” the councillor said. The pool isn’t in the area she represents, (Ward 30 Toronto-Danforth), but many of her residents use the facility.
In order to accept the developer donations, Etobicoke Councillor Mark Grimes agreed to move a motion at council next week to reopen the 2017 operating budget for parks, forestry and recreation.
Since council’s decision, there has been a “substantive increase” in the utilization rate, from 69 per cent to 89 per cent,” says the motion, seconded by Councillor Frances Nunziata.
In addition, there are now the “generous contributions of $45,000 from Daniels Corporation and Sierra Building Group to fund the restoration of community programming at the pool.”
Procedurally, Fletcher — and other councillors who voted against the budget — could not move a motion requesting the budget re-opening.