WESTMOUNT – Some parents are making waves over pool restrictions at the Westmount recreation centre.
A peaceful protest was staged Tuesday evening in opposition to adults-only swimming hours at the facility.
“Unfortunately, a petition, visits to city council, numerous emails and so on have not worked, so we’re trying something different this time,” said Angela Lehrer, who organized the swim-in.
“We’re trying to get as many families as possible to come, hang out and show support for what we call ‘share the pool.'”
The current schedule at the pool has adult-swim three times a day, five days a week.
The other two days, adults have two sessions alone.
Lehrer, a mother of three, said one of the issues she has is with the timing.
The evening adult-only swim at 6:30 p.m. falls at a time when many young families want to take their children to the pool.
“Demographics of Westmount are changing, and most people are dual-income families and they want to be here after work with their kids,” she said.
Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., when it was time for adult-only swim, kids stayed in the pool.
Lehrer explained it’s part of her “share the pool” concept.
She believes all adult-only times can be shared with children, with some restrictions.
But not everyone is on board with that idea.
“There’s less and less time for adults; it’s all becoming about families and kids and there’s a lot of people like myself that don’t have children,” said Westmount resident, Johanna Stosik.
“So I think that it would be really nice to have no kids on deck every now and again – the way it’s always been because you could just kind of relax.”