LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Algonquin Park is home to the only West End public pool, and it’s set to remain shuttered through this year’s sweltering summer months.
Algonquin is where Shane Crowe Jr. was posted up all last summer as a pool lifeguard.
“They had a motto: P-V-O. It means ‘positive vibes only,’” Crowe said.
It’s hard to stay optimistic when Crowe’s neighborhood pool has been closed indefinitely. On Tuesday, first-term Metro councilwoman Tammy Hawkins held a news conference at the park in front of the shuttered pool.
“We just don’t want to keep putting band aids on Algonquin. We deserve equality too. We want our pools to look just like Sun Valley, Mary T. OK?” Hawkins said of other Louisville-area public pools. “We want our pools to look just like theirs too.”
Hawkins has made the future of Algonquin Pool one of her top priorities. Hawkins says not only is she expecting concrete plans for reopening to be released in the next month, she’s advocating the city to invest in turning Algonquin into an indoor pool complex and be open year round.
“I think we’ve sat around way too long. I think we deserve an indoor pool,” Hawkins said.
Patricia Newby was a regular at the pool, taking aquatic Zumba classes. She said the fee for her classes helped make pool admission free for children.
“I enjoyed coming here on Saturdays and giving back. It’s kind of giving back knowing the kids in the neighborhood would be able to swim who can’t afford the Y[MCA].”
As to the pool being closed, Newby said, “It was disheartening, like Tammy said. It really hurt.”
On any given day, you’d also meet people like Belinda Francis, who is looking for a West End pool to take her children.
“Yeah, we just pulled up,” Francis said. “And I told them we’ll go to the neighborhood and search and try to find, but unfortunately on the West End or this part of town, there’s nothing for the children—maybe some sprinklers, but there’s too many kids.”
Francis will have to keep looking. Instead of lifeguarding at Algonquin, Crowe has transferred to the Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center on Louisville’s East End.
“I would like to work and come back here. Hopefully it opens next summer or the year after that,” Crowe said.
Hawkins is vowing to stay vocal on this issue until the Algonquin pool reopens, one way or another.
“Swimming is important. People may think it’s not important to Blacks, but it is,” Hawkins said.