IdeaPaint turns any flat surface into a dry erase board:
Neil Armstrong doesn't do interviews, right? Aussies talked with him and those videos are here.
From the "I told ya so..." file:
Here's part of a recent (June 20) Bay City Tribune article titled Bay City: A great place for family and sport?
This past week as the local swim team was doing its part to bring outside visitors to Bay City by hosting a swim meet, an unfortunate event took place.
In the midst of competition, the meet had to be rearranged a couple of times before it was eventually canceled.
It seem that a few tiles in the swim lanes either had rough edges or were broken. This caused some of the swimmers to be cut as they were making turns in their races.
While Bay City’s aquatic facilities are a far cry from that of the surrounding cities like Lake Jackson or Angleton, it is still one of the few places kids who prefer swimming to other summer activities can go.
Several parents of swimmers who were at Saturday’s swim meet were left with a bitter taste in their mouths about our city and its pool.
Many of these parents took to Facebook to vent and make their make their feelings heard.
One Facebooker shared their feelings by saying we have nothing to offer a young family, nothing to grow and build upon.
When we tried to host a swim meet in our city pool, the same pool the reader had swam in 35 years ago, the pool was deemed unsafe, said the reader. The reader went on to say that, like most things in this town, little effort, time or money has been put into our pool, and because of that our pool was deemed unsafe.
So Lake Jackson, Freeport and Wharton teams had to pack up mid-meet and go home.
Meets like the one canceled this past weekend are a good way to bring in outside money to the city and county – visitors shop in our stores and eat in our restaurants.
While this is not a good sign for the progress being made and a black eye for future events at the pool, city officials were out assessing the problem on Monday.
“We know where the problem areas are and we are working to fix these problems as soon as possible,” said Bay City Parks and Recreation Director Mike Duke.
“We will drop the water level in the pool to an area were we can smooth out and coat the tile and grout that is an issue.”
On top of that the city plans replaster both the high school and Hilliard pool at summers end.
“We will be giving the pools a much needed overhaul as soon as they are not needed for summer use,” Duke added.
Here's a little history lesson for our Bay City readers. I'm guessing most don't know much about our 2006 "pool renovation".
The city and school district agreed to borrow $200,000 to upgrade the facility. They'd pay the loan off over a ten-year period. The plan called for various improvements, including resurfacing the pool and deck, overhauling locker rooms & offices, and enclosing the outdoor facility.
The project got underway and it was obvious from the very start that it wouldn't end well. My concerns were ignored. The "consultant" in charge of the project had never worked on a pool and barely knew where the water went. When I was unable to get school and city adminstrators to listen, I walked.
What did the taxpayers get for their money? Both the pool and deck surfaces are a mess. The locker rooms are a disaster. The building that was to enclose the facility was never built. Many other problems (starting blocks, lifeguard stands, underwater lights, etc.) were never addressed.
Still, they did put up this wonderful $1,700 plaque to celebrate their accomplishments:
Comment on Great Story:
Great article! Leaves me with a somewhat unrelated question though. Way back when, USA apparently sent 3 swimmers per event to the Olympics (Bruner was 4th and missed out). Now we send 2. Track sends 3. What gives?
Back in '76, our Montreal men's squad dominated, hauling home a bucket of medals. The sweeps (1-2-3 finishes) resulted in a rules change that limited each country to just two (2) individual qualifiers per country per event. The quality of swimming around the world has improved greatly since then. It's time to go back to the maximum of three (3) individuals per country.
Pics from Trials are here.
A few results:
DSSC Father's Day
Rice Junior
PEAK Elite
Mustang Classic
Senior Circuit 4
COPS B/C
TRS B/C
SWAT B/C
NTN BB
Bill Nixon Memorial
TRS B/C II
DADS Open/Junior
SPA Elite/Open
AAAA B
AAAA Senior Series II
McAllen Unclassified
AAAA B+
Valero Unclassified
AAAA C
BAS/MSC BB Champs
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