The Wilson Aquatic Center, when it’s open. (Photo by tzk333)
How is Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) spending her summer recess? Well, she’s probably not spending much time at either the Wilson Aquatic Center or Tenley-Friendship Library.
On Monday, Cheh sent two letters to her D.C. Council colleagues with respective jurisdiction over the District’s public pools and libraries informing them that the facilities, both of which are located in Tenleytown, in the heart of Ward 3, are having some maintenance issues. The problems are made more infuriating by the fact that both sites were rebuilt in the past few years.
When it’s open, the Wilson Aquatic Center—which reopened in 2009 after being closed for six years—offers an Olympic-sized lap pool, a leisure pool, a whirlpool, and men’s and women’s locker facilities. The Department of Parks and Recreation calls it the District’s “premier indoor aquatic facility.”
Unfortunately, the facility, which was only reopened after a $35 million upgrade, was closed for nearly a week earlier this month when the air conditioning failed. And there have been plenty of other issues, too, Cheh writes in a letter to Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8).
A few months after the pool reopened, large white markings appeared on the building’s exterior that had to be removed. The pool has had recurring problems with water pressure, causing showers to be inoperable. Last year, the pool was regularly closed because the pool was under-staffed. It was also closed because a pump failed. Parts of the facility have been closed in the past after the pool’s chemicals were mixed improperly. Additionally, the pool has experienced a spate of thefts, apparently by persons who enter the pool with bolt cutters that they use to open lockers.
McDuffie chairs the D.C. Council committee that oversees the Department of General Servcies, while Barry’s oversees the Department of Parks and Recreation. Cheh asks that both committees to schedule a hearing about the condition of the Wilson Aquatic Center when the Council reconvenes in September.
Meanwhile, Ward 3 residents seeking to beat the heat have found little respite at the local branch library, which itself was rebuilt in 2011.
“Although the building is only two years old, the Friends [of the Tenley-Friendship Library] reported that the heating and air conditioning systems have been ‘spotty’ since the library was rebuilt and opened in 2011,” Cheh writes in a letter to David Catania (I-At Large), who chairs the Coucil’s Education Committee. “They say the library is often excessively cold in the winter and hot in the summer.”
Cheh was harsher about both buildings in a letter last week to Mayor Vince Gray. “Irrespective of the cause of the problems, the situation is unacceptable,” she wrote. “And the response has been unacceptable. And the communication to the public has been
completely inadequate.”
Ginnie Cooper, D.C.’s chief librarian, wrote back, saying that only three of five air conditioning units were functioning on a recent scorcher, and that when the temperature inside the library reaches 82 degrees, the affected area is closed.
