My fellow council candidate karima budhwani (yes, spelling is in lower case) just issued this media release today. I support where she is going with this and hope we can give the Canada Games the opportunity for a second lease on life!
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New Westminster (June 30th, 2022): New West Progressives council candidate karima budhwani is requesting the City of New Westminster explore all options regarding the existing Canada Games Pool building. She’s calling for a cost-benefit analysis to be conducted and shared with the public regarding the feasibility of refurbishing the current building envelope in order that it can house a new year-round indoor sports and recreation facility.
“We’re about to tear down what appears to be a perfectly good building while we are facing a major infrastructure deficit in our city,” says budhwani. “I think we should be exploring whether we can remove the pool, while keeping the building envelope and converting the inside to a year-round facility that can be used by our seniors, youth and families.”
The floor surface area within the Canada Games Pool building is large enough to house a significant number of indoor sports and recreational activities. This could include new pickleball and volleyball courts as well as indoor gymnastics and other recreational activities that are well suited for the indoors.
“Our city is rapidly growing and we need to explore every opportunity we can to be adding capacity for our citizens who want to participate in sport and recreational activities,” says budhwani. “The thought of tearing down what appears to be a perfectly good building and hauling it off to the dump and recycling centers doesn’t makes sense to us unless that was the only option available.”
According to the City of New Westminster website, the current Canada Games Pool building is slated to be demolished and converted into new surface parking lot spaces.
“I realize there were some challenges to accommodate parking, but tearing down a perfectly good building that could have been repurposed should haven’t been the only solution.”
