But instead due to lack of foresight we got this
I went to the Recreation Committee meeting last evening and listened to the Aquatic Design companies information and looked at the pictures of projects they have done throughout the Midwest. One of the companies was Ballard & King that designed the YMCA aquatic facilities.
Another was Burbach Aquatics and if you are interested in seeing the projects they have done this is the link to their website.
This shows a really nice display of pools done in Illinois and Iowa. The one I have pictured is from Shelbyville IL. population 4.605
Our pool has not been in good condition for many years but it has always been a patch here and a patch there. And now there might even be some safety concerns about the pool that I will try to get more information on. This was mentioned both by the Mayor and by one of the designers.
I don't mean to slight the other companies but I did not get any information from them.
More to follow:
13 comments:
We had a selfish past Mayor and City Clerk, all they thought of was themselves. If they cared about the Citizens of Peru, they would never have built the new city hall, and would have used the mirror building. I now understand the building was recently appraised for only $593,000. The Loan on the Mirror building is $772,000. Does this make any sense to you? The past Mayor did not look out for the citizens of Peru. We ought to learn from this lesson. Nobody should be in office 44 years.
Pools are an amenity that are wonderful to have in a City. But when the City is in financial straights, I would relegate this need to a future position. A pool is used, maybe 3 mos out of the year, not something that I would classify as a "need to have". The mirror building would have much more value (economic downturn not withstanding). It needs to be either actively used or actively marketed (or both). The value must be recreated to increase its value. Unfortunately, the past City Council did not think it was a priority. But, history is past, and it is time to act for the betterment of the City and its citizens. Cost cutting is a fact of todays life and every wasted dollar is important. All avenues of city government need to reduce spending - whether it is $1 or $1000, it all counts up to saving and debt payoff.
You are right about the 3 month usage of the pools but I was making the point that dollar for dollar invested we have a "white elephant" sitting in our midst in downtown Peru. The cost for the Mirror bldg and the 1990's downtown redevelopment, I will have next week. I have heard 2.2 million and 1.2 million for the Mirror Buiding.
I have a copy of the book published by the company who consulted with Peru on the redevelopment and believe me what they visualized Peru would look like and what happened are 2 different stories. In just a brief 15 years so much has changed in that 2 block area and not what they invisioned. So now we are looking at only 590,000 or perhaps less for that investment.
No development occurred in downtown Peru because you have a Downtown Development Committe that would only consider a generic look. It did not encourage any king of personality. It also limited where you could purchase awnings, what color, design etc. With this in place the City should have paid for that cost. Would you as an individual only consider buying the same clothes as your neighbor. Their big deal was holiday parades thru downtown. WOW! This too is past history - lets move on but lets look to all area of city commerce otherwise downtown will be no longer and I would think those people who still reside north and south of downtown could use services. Great start with the dentists and eye doctors but what is the next step. How about a grocery store, etc.
8:18AM
I agreement with you 100%, those were my sentiments 15-20 years ago and they still are. There are business owners through those last 15 years who wanted to improve their business look in downtown Peru with something other than those "ugly" maroon awnings and they were denied approval. Perhaps the current downtown development committee could take a new look at what we really look like. We can only hope so.
Let's get back to the POOL - my motto is "I'd rather be pooless than clueless"! Translation: If you don't have money - you should not be spending money!
Some alternative resources should be utilized. Arrangements can be made with neighboring cities. We have one of finest YMCA's in all of Illinois and their pool includes a water park.
If there is a safety concern with the present pool which was built in 1928 - we should not be allowing anyone, especially children, to use it. DO NOT OPEN THAT POOL UNTIL THE CONCERNS ARE ADDRESSED AND NOT WITH JUST A BANDAID.
We had to dig up the ball diamond last fall, because of safety reasons, at second base. It was done right away. $42, 000. So I suggest you keep the pool closed until there is enough money to build a new one. But there are more important matters to be handle first. Like the roads .
ANON 11:18 Are you sure the cost for the ball diamond was $42,000? I thought it was supposedly much less. Did it end of costing more than anticipated? Also, you should be made aware that the safety issue you mention has existed for many, many years.
I don't believe it. I have never heard of anyone ever getting hurt.
Just because it has existed for many years does not make it right. That leak is going somewhere and you would think with all the engineers that have looked at this pool they could at least state where the water is going. Why is there not wet spongy ground somewhere around or near the pool. Is the water accumulating under the pool base itself? Perhaps weakening the ground and then, someday, the pool becomes a sink hole. Scares me!
Did anyone notice what's on the agenda for Wednesday's meeting? Here it is - l. Discuss pool (again) and 2. Grant permission for baseball parade. That's it as of right now. I've also heard rumor that some (if not all) of the summer help has been hired. Supposedly if you worked for the city before and were making more than minimum wage you were not rehired. I understand this is probably a way to save some money but is it fair to those hard, dedicated workers who may have been here for several years? I'd like to see the list!
Perhaps they will discuss the safety issues with the pool. We can only hope they make it a worthwhile meeting because that seems to be the only item of any importance. Is this going to be another 30 MINUTE MEETING?
cut out 4 meetings a month. 2 are all that is necessary.
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