The Ballroom
Barton Springs Pool Doesn't Need Renovation
RECEIVED Wed., Oct. 17, 2012
Dear Editor,
As someone who swims at Barton Springs Pool every day and cares for preserving its natural beauty – unlike Robin Cravey who is a pseudo “friend” of the pool, I say that spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for an unwarranted and unwanted renovation of the existing bathhouse would be a terrible waste of taxpayer money ["Then There's This: Pool Plan Panned and Lauded," News, Aug. 31]. When visiting the pool now, you get a great view of the springs from the existing ticket office, which would be lost if the entrance were moved. I don't want to have to enter and exit through an air-conditioned building to enter the pool grounds. Nor do I want to have to enter separately from men in order to pass through the separate dressing rooms.
The bathhouse is never overcrowded and there is no need to renovate. Simple attention to cleaning is all that I want stepped up. This bathhouse renovation is tied in with the wasteful Barton Springs Master Plan that has threatened to cut down 80% of the tree canopy around the pool (Cravey was recorded saying, "Some of the trees will have to be sacrificed"), wasted $900,000 for a dredging project that closed the pool for months and dug a hole so small that the next season’s floods easily filled it in with new sediment, and that now proposes a Disneyland-like renovation of the south side with extensive, 6-foot-wide walkways and other obtrusive designs like an ornate new gate, bigger ticket booth, and oversized public art.
I don't understand why Cravey's political game involves messing with Austin's crown jewel. Let’s follow the lead of the Save Our Springs Alliance and put our attention on protecting the water in the aquifer from pollution and keeping the pool open to the public seven days a week, without closing it for so-called grounds improvement.
As someone who swims at Barton Springs Pool every day and cares for preserving its natural beauty – unlike Robin Cravey who is a pseudo “friend” of the pool, I say that spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for an unwarranted and unwanted renovation of the existing bathhouse would be a terrible waste of taxpayer money ["Then There's This: Pool Plan Panned and Lauded," News, Aug. 31]. When visiting the pool now, you get a great view of the springs from the existing ticket office, which would be lost if the entrance were moved. I don't want to have to enter and exit through an air-conditioned building to enter the pool grounds. Nor do I want to have to enter separately from men in order to pass through the separate dressing rooms.
The bathhouse is never overcrowded and there is no need to renovate. Simple attention to cleaning is all that I want stepped up. This bathhouse renovation is tied in with the wasteful Barton Springs Master Plan that has threatened to cut down 80% of the tree canopy around the pool (Cravey was recorded saying, "Some of the trees will have to be sacrificed"), wasted $900,000 for a dredging project that closed the pool for months and dug a hole so small that the next season’s floods easily filled it in with new sediment, and that now proposes a Disneyland-like renovation of the south side with extensive, 6-foot-wide walkways and other obtrusive designs like an ornate new gate, bigger ticket booth, and oversized public art.
I don't understand why Cravey's political game involves messing with Austin's crown jewel. Let’s follow the lead of the Save Our Springs Alliance and put our attention on protecting the water in the aquifer from pollution and keeping the pool open to the public seven days a week, without closing it for so-called grounds improvement.
Karen Kreps
