| A splashy new era >> Walls come down from
last bastions by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR
All for only three bucks a day. But don’t get the impression that Westmount’s brass is particularly thrilled about the new megacity realities that require the former municipality to open its doors to anybody living on the isle. “We’re a community of 20,000 people. We have one swimming pool that accommodates 300. It can barely accommodate the needs of this community on a nice day,” says Westmount borough chairman Karin Marks. Marks suggests that there’s no need or real justification for residents of neighbouring communities to don Speedos for a frolic at the Westmount outdoor pool. “NDG has five pools, St-Henri has three,” says Marks. “It’s ludicrous to say that it doesn’t matter which pool people go to.” She also suspects that the rules will encourage car traffic. “Westmount’s pool doesn’t have enough parking already. We’ve always encouraged our residents to come by foot, so why open the pool to everybody on the island to come in their car? It goes completely against the spirit of what the Tremblay administration says it represents.” Marks says that Westmount residents would be footing the bill if non-Westmounters were treated equally. “We never charged user fees for our recreational services, we took it from our tax revenues raised in our community. In some other towns people have to pay $12 an hour to play tennis. We have a different philosophy. It’s unreasonable for us to say we won’t charge outsiders more than what our own citizens pay.” In
spite of the resistance, the new rules appear reasonable for non-residents.
Westmount residents can buy an $11 card, ($22 for a family pass) that
allows unlimited use of services. The same cards will be offered non-Westmounters
twice a year for a week, September 9 being the next such offering. Verdun’s two pools and the solitary outdoor pool in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue will cost you $2, half that for kids, while access to Dorval’s three pools is $3.50. Those who want to dive into Ville St-Laurent’s eight pools can get unlimited access for two years at the price of an $11.50 pass. Most of the former municipal receptionists responded enthusiastically to queries about the rules for non-residents, and none reported negative impact from the abolition of old barriers. However, the receptionists at such former municipalities as St-Leonard, Pierrefonds and Senneville were unable to explain their new rules or find somebody who could. : |
A
great historic moment passed quietly on July 5. For the first time since
the era of top hats and buggies, non-Westmounters got the freedom to
jackknife and back flip into the former exclusive city pool and hit
balls into the nets at the sumptuous city tennis courts.