We have a beautiful, new very expensive swimming pool in the Mendenhall Valley. One the city insisted we needed and spent a lot of money on. It opened, but it is still not functional. The slides are used only occasionally, and not at all in the evenings. There are the “party rooms” in their facility, but renting the pool is not available because they do not have enough staff. The pool downtown has always had staff for pool rentals. Since the two pools work for the same company, the city, is there any reason the lifeguards from Augustus Brown cannot go to the valley pool and lifeguard for a private function? I have been trying since June 5 to do a private rental for 50 people on July 31 or Aug. 1, 2, or 3. All my family will be in town at that time and I promised them a night at the pool. Yes, we can probably rent from Augustus Brown, but everyone is excited about the beautiful extras at the new pool. First I was told we had to rent for a minimum of 2 hours at a cost of $325. Then when I try to do so, they will not do it. Why did we spend all that money on a facility that is so poorly managed?
Dot Wilson
Juneau
Comments (6)
Add commentNo surprise
Because they work for the same company- the city.
In fact, the city is not a company but a government institution that seemingly provides services upon politician's whims, logrolling, and for constituents with bright ideas.
If a private enterprise started a pool they would have to stay in business- the city doesn't have to stay in business. They don't have an incentive to rent to you other than what is convenient to them.
Didn't anybody read their economics textbooks? Voting on on services is "equitable", not efficient. So now we all paid for it and everybody has the equal privilege to not enjoy its services.
14 million dollar pee pond
we have a lovely 14 million dollar pee pond, come on down and slide on down into the sess pool of urine and turds floating around.. wooohoooo my idea of a family gathering... I guess sharing the love brings a new meaning in the pool..
Give it some time
I went to the pool with my family for the first time recently. I really enjoyed it. The staff seems to be pretty green and is still being trained, but the City delivered what it promised me: a nice pool facility in the Valley that caters to families. The work out equipment is not in place, they do not yet have enough staff to run every perk and feature, but hang in there and it will all be in place soon enough. It must be a monumental task to interview, hire, and train all the staff necessary for such a large and diverse facility. I, for one, am giving the City some time to bring it all on-line.
I for one...
I was one of those nay-sayers regarding the pool. First off, I didn't agree with building it in the first place. Well, that's because I didn't know how much different it would be from the downtown pool. It is a water park. Then I was upset about the height requirement for the slides, well my 6-year-old, though she cannot ride the slides, has plenty of other things to keep her occupied. As for using all the equipment, the only equipment that is not operational when I've been there is the kids lap pool which is not open only if it is a slow night and no need for it and the drop slide which is only open on weekends, which is posted on the schedule which you should read before visiting the pool anyhow.
As for your issues with pool rentals, I can see your point. It would be nice if they could pull staff from the practically vacant downtown pool for private functions. But give it some time and it will all be working well in the next couple months I'm sure.
As for the comment regarding urine and turds floating around, I have witnessed no such things in my four trips to the pool. There are pools all over the country, ours is no different. But it is newer and cleaner than many which I have seen throughout my days. I believe this poster made this comment just because they built it in the first place. In all reality, it will provide countless hours of entertainment to children and adults alike.
Valley Pool better investment than most
The city wastes a lot of money and runs things very inefficiently. But I supported the valley pool because the city finally put some recreation facilities in the valley, where all the people are, instead of just adding more to the powerful downtown and Douglas.
Also, recreational facilities that are available in the winter are badly needed.
Downtown Liberals Hate the Valley
The downtown liberals hate the Valley and this is just the 432nd example of how they discriminate.
They had to keep the Downtown high school, even with enrollment dropping.
They had to remodel the Downtown High School years before building the Valley high school, so it was done before people noticed that it made no sense.
They had to build the ice rink in Douglas to keep their support, even though it made no sense to build a recreation facility on the extreme far end of the road system.
Downtown has the youth recreation facility, even though 80% of the kids are in the Valley.
etc., etc. etc.
When are the Valley voters going to wake up?