Re: Gauche Water Park
My family is appalled to hear that Gauche will close for five months this fall. Our son is a year-round swimmer with Feather River Aquatic Club, and swims for River Valley High School in the spring. Swimming is his passion, and has provided him with exercise and camaraderie for the past several years.
What kind of city shuts down a swimming pool that was dedicated to the citizens in order to create a better life here? What will happen to GAP’S abandoned facility during those five months? The debt the city carries on the pool will only get worse once they’re dealing with decay, vandalism, and trying to bring the pool back to a decent level of heat and cleanliness to allow swimmers to swim safely in it. In addition, every year that the city tries to shut off the heater to “save money,” the strain of taking a pool of that size from freezing cold to swim temperature breaks it, costing the city thousands of dollars.
The city is trying to eliminate one of the few healthy activities available to our youth. Kids of all ages participate in FRAC year round, some of whom are practicing for the high school season. YCHS and RVHS will have swimmers who enter the pool a week before their first swim meet, out of shape and out of practice. To take away club team swimming and shorten opportunities for high school swimmers is to take away opportunities for these kids to take their sport to the next level, in college and beyond.
Don’t be fooled by the offering of other “options” for FRAC. The other “option” the city is considering is renting two lanes in a 3.5 foot deep pool for two hours a night. That’s dangerous and infeasible to fit the 60 swimmers who practice competitively with FRAC.
The employees at GAP found out they were losing their jobs because of the July 15th news article. They were given no warning that they would be losing their jobs. Sharon Guillory has dedicated 20 years to FRAC and 10 to GAP, and not once has a member of the city council or Parks & Rec department talked to her about losing her livelihood. To shut down the facility without bringing in a member of GAP, FRAC, or the RVHS or YCHS swim teams to any of their meetings, simply to allow them to have a voice – that speaks volumes to how little our city’s officials think about city employees and our children.
It’s also appalling, and very telling of the type of “representatives” they are, that not once is the shut down mentioned as an agenda item for City Council meetings. Not only did they not allow the coaches to speak, they didn’t allow the public to speak. They didn’t allow our children to speak. They don’t care about us, and they don’t care about our children.
With Disappointment and Disgust,