Monday, November 26, 2007

Swimmer breaks records

From the Kingston Whig-Standard

Kingston swimmer Elizabeth Wycliffe had two record-breaking performances at the Bell Grand Prix swim meet that concluded yesterday in Toronto.
Wycliffe, a member of the Ernestown Barracudas, set the Canadian short-course record in the 200-metre backstroke at 2 minutes 7.5 seconds in Friday's preliminaries.
She later won the final in 2:13.50.
The weekend's competition had short course (25-metre) races for morning preliminaries and long course (50-metre) races for finals.
Yesterday, Wycliffe eclipsed the short-course meet record in the 100-metre backstroke, finishing in 59.85 seconds.
That time was just 52 one-hundredths of a second off Marylyn Chiang's national record that has stood since 2000.
In last night's final, Wycliffe clocked 1:02.62 to win the gold medal, 64 one-hundredths of a second ahead of Kelly Stefanyshyn of B.C.
Saturday Wycliffe added a bronze medal in the 200-metre individual medley.
Erica Morningstar of Calgary won gold in 2:15.70.
Wycliffe was third in 2:19.21.

Friday, November 16, 2007

An aquatics road trip; Kingston could do worse than to emulate these communities

We were a gang of 11 on a recent Saturday morning, setting out in the pre-dawn darkness on a mini-bus bound for Montreal. Among us were three city recreation officials, a city councillor, a consultant and representatives of local swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and aquafit interests. Longtime aquatics enthusiasts Alex Palilionis and I, acting on behalf of the Kingston Association for Aquatics, Recreation and Sport (KAARS), were tour organizers and guides.

Our mission, in the wake of city council's decision to proceed with feasibility plans for a new aquatics complex with a 50-metre pool, was to educate ourselves by visiting three such facilities in the Montreal area: in Pointe-Claire, LaSalle and Terrebonne. What an inspiring trip!

The first thing our genial host at Pointe-Claire, senior culture and recreation manager Gary Malcolm, did upon greeting us was to gesture to the "wall of fame." On it were mounted 25 bronze plaques with the names of the 25 athletes from the city's program who have represented Canada at the Olympic Games. Pointe-Claire has a population of 28,000.

The Pointe-Claire complex, composed of the original 50-metre pool built in the 1960s, a warmer 25-yard pool and a small wade-in pool for toddlers, was teeming with kids of all ages. That's to be expected on the weekend, one would suppose. But Malcolm told us the place is equally busy during the week with "the Arthritics," day-care kids (1,000 a week), those participating in "adaptive aquatics" for the mentally and physically disabled, gym and swim classes, adult swimming lessons, "aqua natal" courses for expectant mothers, the 3F club (fun and fitness after 50), weight training, competitive swim and diving club practices after school, "aqua percept" (non-competitive gym and swim), recreational swims, adult diving classes and much more.

Even though Pointe-Claire is surrounded by nearby communities with more modern and arguably better physical facilities, it is Pointe-Claire that is the champion by far in attracting users from within and outside its boundaries.

To what does this modestly sized town owe its outsized aquatic success? According to Malcolm, the secret is that from the very beginning, the community got behind aquatics. Originally, seven neighbourhoods raised the capital to build seven neighbourhood outdoor pools. They formed advisory groups for each pool and placed great emphasis on participation and programming.
Those outdoor pools are still running today and act as a feeder system to the indoor facilities, supplying users as well as kids who graduate to becoming lifeguards and instructors. The indoor aquatics centre also has a volunteer, non-supervisory board that has perpetuated the founding values of participation and outstanding programming.

Because of the success of its programs and resultant capacity constraints, Pointe-Claire is now embarking on plans for its second 50-metre pool. When the proposal was registered for public comment, not one objection was recorded. The city council voted unanimously in favour.

The next stop was another suburban centre, the LaSalle Aquadome. Here we were graciously greeted and given a tour by aquatics manager Raymond Kubiak. I had swum at this facility during my Montreal days and was eager to show off the leisure pool and its horticultural adornments to my companions. Our host, of course, saved that for last as we toured team meeting rooms, equipment lockers, changing rooms and even the bowels of the complex, "below decks."

Eventually, we surfaced to gaze upon a beautifully tiled 50-metre basin, one not as intensely populated as its Pointe-Claire counterpart but impressive in every other way. And then came the piŠce de resistance, just as I had remembered it: a warm-water "leisure pool," effectively an indoor aqua park, with fountains, hydrojets, a corkscrew waterslide, a gentle slope for wading in and out, big windows, deck chairs, a patio and real palm trees.

If you know anything about human nature, you will not be surprised to learn that the place was packed with happy kids, teens and parents. We even ran into a grandmother who had journeyed from Kingston to the aquadome to be at her grandchild's birthday party.

LaSalle has a population of 74,000 and, unlike Pointe-Claire, it contracts out the management of its facility, including the programming, to a private company. The community is not organically involved and, as a result, the aquadome's 50-metre pool is not the beacon of programming innovation and user demand that is the case in Pointe-Claire. LaSalle's great strength and lesson for Kingston is the heavily used leisure pool, as symbolized by the palm trees.

A parenthetical note: Pointe-Claire is exploring the possibility of incorporating aqua park-like features into its original 50-metre pool once the new one is built.

The third stop of a long day was the less-well-known suburb of Terrebonne, a half-hour north of Montreal. It has a population of but 84,000, and words cannot do justice to the scale of this community's recreational ambitions for its citizens. This past September, it opened an aquatics complex with a 50-metre pool 10 lanes wide (25 metres across) and a leisure pool with all the features of the LaSalle Aquadome's, including palm trees (plastic this time, but let's not quibble) and a pirate ship.

The scale of the entire complex, integrated with hockey rinks - the heat produced in cooling the ice is recycled to warm the pools - and a vast Olympic-style gymnasium replete with all the requisite equipment, was well beyond anything any of us had seen. Jaws increasingly fell agape, especially when we learned that indoor and outdoor soccer pitches and a football gridiron are still to come.

Our smiling host, recreation manager Sylvie Lussier, pointed out that while the care and maintenance of the physical plant have been contracted out to private concerns, it is very much the community and the city that are responsible for programming. Judging from the hundreds of cars we saw in the parking lot, and the happy faces everywhere throughout the complex, we'd say it is a formula that is going to work.

On the bus ride back home, we exchanged thoughts on what we had learned from our excursion. There was a clear consensus: if three communities smaller than Kingston can find the community spirit and the funding to invest handsomely in aquatics facilities (and palm trees), and then build successful programming around them, then so can Kingston.

Because aquatics is so universal in appeal and scope, we must not sell ourselves short when we draw up plans for our new pool complex in Kingston. Let's do it right, with a creative mix of leisure, therapeutic and competitive elements that will appeal to all sectors of the community.

As with Pointe-Claire, LaSalle and Terrebonne, it's an investment that will pay priceless dividends down the road.

- Christopher West has been swimming since he was in his mother's womb. He is a member of the Kingston Association for Aquatics Recreation and Sport (KAARS) and a former member of the Whig-Standard's Community Editorial Board. Swimming Canada, Swim Ontario, KAARS and members of the public generously contributed funding for the Montreal trip. If you would like more information on this story as it evolves, or more background, go to: www.ktownaquatic centre.ca.

Pointe-Claire pool facts
Population: 28,000.
Number of indoor municipal pools: 3 (including one of 50-metres).
Number of outdoor municipal pools: 7.
Number of Olympic athletes produced: 25.
Cost of 2nd 50-metre pool: $12 million.
New pool provincial funding share: 50 per cent.
Number of user visits annually: 475,000.
Daily average number of users: 1,300.
User fees: Low by comparison with other facilities.
Pool rental fees for clubs: Nil.
Operating deficit: $1 million.
Justification: "Our aquatics programs are why people want to live here. We want to maximize sport and wellness opportunities in the Pointe-Claire community."
Could the deficit be reduced or eliminated by increasing fees? Yes.

[Reproduced with permission of the author]

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

A CITY CONSULTS ITS CITIZENS

Committee ponders future of 50-metre Harry Bailey pool
Facility fails to meet international requirements

by Jill Smith
The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

A city committee will decide this week what to do with the 50-metre pool at the Harry Bailey Aquatic Centre.

The public was asked what to do with the pool, in light of the Shaw Centre's 50-metre pool opening in the spring. The pool at the Shaw Centre will meet the international requirements to host competitions -- something the Harry Bailey pool has been unable to do since 2000 when new facility revisions were made.

"When people got the sense that this pool may close early on, a lot of people stepped forward," said Coun. Bob Pringle, who sits on the committee.

A report headed to the committee states there is "overwhelming support" for keeping the Harry Bailey pool open. In fact, no one who showed up at a public meeting held in March was willing to discuss the idea of converting the pool for land use.

"I totally agree with the public on this one," said Coun. Pat Lorje in an interview. "This is not the time to be closing down public leisure facilities in established areas of the city."

There are three options for the Harry Bailey pool, according to the report.
One option is to close the 50-metre pool and revamp the space to accommodate other land recreational and educational uses. But since no one wished to discuss this, administration found it difficult to decide on specific potential programs.
Another idea is to keep the 50-metre pool open and issue a challenge to the public to increase usage. Swim groups are toying with the idea of developing additional aquatic programs for inner-city kids, and pool administrators are planning creative draws like a pool party and battle of the bands, which they expect will attract about 950 people later this month.
The third option is also to keep the pool open, but to get rid of the bleachers surrounding the pool to make way for other recreational programs.
Many respondents to a phone survey conducted in March liked this idea.
Pringle says that option makes sense to him.
"It makes it more versatile," he said.

Whether it's feasible to keep both pools open remains to be seen -- which is why some people at the meetings suggested doing nothing for a couple of years after the Shaw Centre opens to see what happens to Harry Bailey usership.

Coun. Charlie Clark says the real question for him is, "Is it feasible to shut it down?"

"It's very expensive to replace something like that," he said. "Once it's gone, it's gone."
Several councillors say they expect the population to continue to rise in Saskatoon and they believe there will be a need to have both pools.

They added the Shaw Centre isn't as accessible to many people living in the core area.

"We need to plan for the day, but we also need to plan for the future," said Coun. Darren Hill, whose ward encompasses the Harry Bailey.

He says swim groups already predict scheduling issues if only the new pool is open.

The report states that in May 2006, council intended to close down the Harry Bailey pool "immediately upon opening" the Shaw Centre pool. The idea was to use the reduced operating costs from Harry Bailey to off-set the operating costs of the Shaw pool.
Although Pringle sees the benefit of having both pools, he's concerned about the cost -- especially since the building costs of the Shaw Centre have gone up since it was first approved.

"At what point do we put some of these public projects on hold and say we can't afford it?" asked Pringle, who added that project building costs and operating costs do draw from different areas of the city coffers.

Pringle says the cost of building the Shaw Centre pool has risen from the original estimate of $23 million to $39 million.

"We've been assured that that's the end of it," he said. "I don't believe that."

Pringle says the Shaw Centre pool will be a huge attraction for the city, adding that there's only a handful of pools like it in the world.

"I like that too -- if you can afford it," he said.

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2007

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Bullying Won't Stop It

This evening at city council, councillors will once again discuss Queen's Homecoming, and the "party" on Aberdeen Street.

Let's hope that there are no comments like those made at earlier meetings, putting down Queen's students, accusing them collectively of being drunken party-goers, and "laying down the law" to the university.

One is reminded of parenting techniques. When a parent says "this is what you are going to do because I said so" the child immediately gets angry. It only takes a couple of times to say this, and smart parents figure out that this technique doesn't work; in fact, it often backfires.

Homecoming weekend is just a convenient rallying date for students who want to have this event. If alumni weekend were changed to a different, winter date, the Aberdeen event would still take place. It has taken on a life of its own, and will continue, irrespective of a different date for alumni weekend.

So, how should council and Kingstonians deal with it? There is no one, sure way; many small steps, changes in attitude, and less rhetoric will go a long way.

I don't like this party. But it is important to remember, councillors and citizens, that you weren't brought up in this generation. You (and I) don't see things the way a 20 year old does. We probably don't have the same attitudes that this lot of party-goers have.

Let's all, individually, show some leadership here. Councillors and the mayor can demonstrate leadership by doing a bit of reading and thinking about what LEADERSHIP is.

It's time for council and the mayor to offer vision, undertanding, a will to collaborate, a desire to build...in short, leadership. There is always more than one way to skin a cat. Look for other ways to deal with this situation.

Many Kingstonians will be tuned in to Cogeco Cable 13 tonight to watch and evaluate.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

There Is A Reason.....

....that newspapers don't publish anonymous letters or alias "letters to the editor."

Anonymous letters and those signed with some supposedly "cool" handle, are written by crackpots, wing-nuts, and cowards who are unwilling to stand by their opinions.

Rants are meaningless.

Those letters go into the garbage because that's what they are.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Didn't Waste Any Time!

Considering that the intersection alternatives were presented to the public less than 48 hours ago, they sure must have had some blueprints in their backpocket! The intersection has mostly been torn up, gravel has been put down on the location that they will place a lane for traffic, and they have staked a second survey marker that they didn't know was there. It will definitely slow down their progress!
With another survey marker discovered, it is likely that a class 4 archeological assessment will have to take place.
And, of course, survey markers cannot be removed.
All this, and it is only 3pm, a day and a half after the public meeting for input.
Sort of confirms an earlier remark that the city just has these things to mollify the locals, and not to ask for any serious or well-considered, or thoughtful, or expert advice.

Curious Thinking

More on the October 30, 2007 meeting at City Hall regarding the intersection at Ontario Street and Place d'Armes.......
The most curious, and unbelieveable aspect of all this deliberation, re-deliberation, justification of a previous plan, is that when TSH was invited to "study" the intersection (apparently in the summer), they were not given the go-ahead to consider implications on the surrounding area, of ANY change at the intersection.
When questioned about the consequences of either plan "C" or plan "D" the consultant said that they were asked to limit their study to the intersection, and (this is the kicker) not to look at any other intersections because that would open it all up, and the study would be (and this is my word) gigantic.
Well, well! Imagine that!
It is beyone comprehension that a traffic expert could study only one intersection, then provide any kind of credible recommendation.
The configuration of this intersection has tremendous implications. Should there be a traffic light at King and Place d'Armes? How are employees in the OHIP building going to cross the street into Food Basics parking lot? (well, we know the answer to that. They are going to dash among the cars!) What is the REAL reason for putting a westbound left turn at Ontario and Place d'Armes?
If the intersection was going to be re-designed to "fit" the Downtown Action Plan (2003), why didn't the traffic people, various commissioners, senior staff, etc. tell the mayor and the former council that putting this monstrosity on THAT piece of land, with that orientation, was a stupid idea? The probable answer to THAT question, is: they did tell the elected officials, and the elected fficials went ahead anyway. "We know best." "We won't get the money from the BIA if we put it anywhere else."
Kingstonians should go to that intersection, and evaluate for themselves whether or not plan "D" was even possible. The city has spent much of this past summer on underground services in that area. There is no room to construct the 4 lanes that TSH proposed. Just take a look at the large utility/services box, the light pole, the property lines (DND property). Even a child could see that plan "D" was only on paper, and had no possibility of fitting into the proscribed area.
Of course, that left only plan "C", the one the city had in 2003 in the DAP.
Still, what will happen to traffic in that area of the city is yet to be determined. The consultant wouldn't even hazard a guess (isn't that what consultants are supposed to do?).
Once again, the city has dropped the ball. Not instructing TSH to study all that part of the downtown, consider the traffic problems, and propose realistic solutions is pure negligence on the city's part.
The most ridiculous decision that the city has made, probably ever, has been made; a consultant should have been given carte blanche to study traffic, and make recommendations. And the consultant should have come from out-of-town, and not have been one that has authored other studies for the city.
P.S. We would be glad to post the two plans that received most consideration, but they are not available on the city's website.