Community urged to fight pool closures

Neighbours were quick to react when news broke late last week that the pool at Duke of Connaught Junior and Senior Public School, which is used by S.H. Armstrong Community Recreation Centre, and the programming at Fairmount Park Community Centre (CC), which is connected to Bowmore Road Junior and Senior Public School, were both facing the chopping block in the city's 2012 operating budget.

On Tuesday, Dec. 6, dozens of supporters gathered at Lazy Daisy's Cafe, near Gerrard Street East and Coxwell Avenue, for a letter-writing session calling on the city to maintain the programming at Fairmount Park Community Centre and keep the pool at Duke of Connaught school open.

Councillors Mary-Margaret McMahon (Ward 32, Beaches-East York) and Paula Fletcher (Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth) both came out to show their support.

Fletcher said taxpayers didn't bring in Rob Ford as the city's mayor to see services cut, adding there's actually a projected budget surplus of $139 million.

She also said pushing through the proposed budget - and the "deep community cuts" that go along with it - in such a short time frame and during one of the busiest times of the year, just doesn't make sense.

"It's terrible timing and I'm not sure it isn't designed to damper down response," she said, adding the cuts, particularly to pools, have come out of the blue.

Fletcher also pointed to two years of discussions between the city and the Toronto Lands Corporation (TLC), which handles real estate for the TDSB, to try to find a way to keep pools open into 2012.

"That went right out the window with the announcement by the city that seven pools would be closed," she said.

Angie Law, chair of the S.H. Armstrong School Council, strongly urged area residents to sign up their children for swimming classes at the local pool as a way to show it's a much valued and necessary resource in the community.

"The key message is to get registration up," said Laws, the mother of a six-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter, who are both enrolled in swimming lessons at Duke of Connaught in January.

She said the best way to support local resources is by making use of them. So far, only 100 of the 351 spots open have been filled, Law said.

"The community needs to show in a clear way that it wants a local pool and recreation programs," she said, adding talk of a potential labour dispute shouldn't deter people from signing up.

In the event of a strike or job action, she said people would simply get a refund.

Susana Molinolo, a social-media savvy mother of two children who attend Bowmore Road Junior and Senior Public School, is strongly against the proposed cuts at Fairmount Park Community Centre and urged people to gets on the official public record with their opposition to them.

"People should write a letter to the budget committee. We must share our views to get heard," said Molinolo, adding parents and supporters are also concerned about the possible closure of Fairmount Park Community Centre's pool.

"I'm just as concerned about Duke of Connaught. There's a lot of great programming at different locations (in our community)," she said.

"Cuts affect all families for many different reasons."

The city's budget committee is recommending ceasing programs at seven pools namely Bedford Park, Frankland Community Centre, Gordon A. Brown, Hillcrest Community Centre, Runnymede Collegiate, Duke of Connaught and Sir Wilfred Laurier.

It is also looking to eliminate programming at a dozen Toronto District School Board (TDSB)-owned sites including Bloordale, Brown, Earl Beatty, Fairmount Park/Bowmore, Hillcrest, James S. Bell, John English, John G. Althouse, Keele, McNicoll, The Elms and Thistletown.

These cuts could add up to $6.1 million in savings for the city.

McMahon was unable to share her views on the cuts with The Mirror by press time.