Monday, June 18, 2012

Summer Fun Delayed


War Memorial Pool Monday morning 9:30 AM

5:20 PM Breaking News:  Opening Delayed by one week (Shocked, shocked I say!)
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So the likelihood of the Town Manager announcing tonight that the "grand reopening celebration" of the long closed War Memorial Pool optimistically set by Leisure Services and Supplemental Education for June 23rd is still a "go" is about as likely as Amherst supporting Scott Brown in the upcoming Senatorial election.

While all my otherwise reliable sources refuse to comment today, the photo from this morning speaks for itself (and counts for at least 1,000 words).

In an effort to save money the town had the DPW do major site work rather than contracting it out to the private sector, such as Taylor Davis Landscaping--who specializes in meeting deadlines. 

Friday June 15th: All DPW hands on deck

 And of course to adhere to that penny wise philosophy, the DPW did not work on the project over the weekend as that would have added the high cost of paying overtime to workers (not to mention having dads work on Fathers Day).

11 comments:

AlexKG said...

Between the demands of doing things quickly & efficiently and doing things cheaply, government has a tough job.

Larry Kelley said...

As do the taxpayers.

Anonymous said...

LSSE seems to be in denial about the delay. I called on Fri and was told they were still planning on the pool opening on time.

Anonymous said...

That looks like Alan Snow, tree warden, in the photo.

"All-hands-on-deck", I guess...

Larry Kelley said...

Indeed.

I biked by at 1:45 PM and still no concrete has been poured or anything resembling a new liner being attached to the old metal bed.

Anonymous said...

We all know that if the DPW is doing the work this pool will not be open until maybe mid-July. I don't say that because I think the DPW is lazy but because they also have other work to do. Let's just hire Taylor Davis and get going on this thing!

Larry Kelley said...

Especially since we were given a state grant for $200K worth of the work.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the dpw has otyher work to do, like manicuring the baseball field on a daily basis with silver spoons.

I have never seen a field, other than Fenway Park, so well groomed. Wonder if that has anything to do with its namesake being someone with a lot of pull at the dpw.

The amount of tax dollars spent in maintenance on that field is beyond the imagination.

Nate said...

At the HS level, poorly groomed baseball fields are dangerous--think hard hit balls, bad hops and broken chins or bloodied eyes. Ziomek Diamond is no better groomed than any other high school field, just as it should be. For what we ask DPW to do at the budget we give them, they do a nice job, in my opinion.

I am Not a Robot said...

The DPW is cheaper than the private sector?

Hell, if I was in town I'd head down to the high school, grab some football players, and open up a construction business for this job alone. Anyone could do the job twice as better for half the cost, myself included.

Anonymous said...

For what we pay in taxes, the town should look like it was groomed with tweezers. It doesn't...we're basically getting ripped off.