Today might not be the week to go wandering downtown — especially in the vicinity of the Underwood Pool. Why? Well, its the annual installment of Belmont’s own little experiment in Dickensian justice, otherwise known as “resurfacing the Underwood pool.” It’s a little known fact in town that the work of preparing our badly neglected Underwood pool for the season falls to convicts — but that’s the truth. Those driving on Concord Ave. may have seen the Middlesex County Sherrif’s paddy wagon parked in front of Underwood pool and a gaggle of guys in red jumpsuits standing around waiting for their orders.
I’m not sure what the town’s logic is in hiring cons (not even ex-cons at that!) to do the work, though I’m guessing it comes down to cost. Perhaps, as a public facility, the pool is one of the kinds of projects the State can have prisoners work at. I don’t really know. But I’m guessing that these guys weren’t aquatic recreation engineers (or whatever) before getting locked up. Furthermore, anyone who has used the pool in recent years can attest to the quality of the work — big globs of concrete that seem to flake off from the bottom of the pool almost as soon as they put water in it. That may just signal that the pool needs to be demo’d and replaced (perhaps in a different location). But it may also be the case that we’d get better results hiring a professional firm to do the work. Call me crazy, but…
Paul,
Staying with the Con theme…
Worst Con: Arlington State Senator Jim Marzilli. Can you say Repeat Offender?
Runner Up: Cushing Square
Two seized businesses in a few months.
Beloved Con: Belmont Fire Bug
Time to come out of retirement? There is Insurance money available.
PS: The Fire Bug is a Belmont Urban Legend and I am not advocating the willful destruction of property for those overly sensitive readers.
That pool is a disgrace. I bought a family pass last year and the public works person at the desk prepared me for the disappointing reality by describing the pool as ‘dated’. I’ll take my toddler to the sprinkler park in Watertown as it’s free and it is at least clean without the jagged edges of concrete on the bottom. And the pool house? Just get a bulldozer as that thing is beyond disgusting. You’d think a town where the average home price is as high as it is here would have something that would be cleaner and more appealing than a swimming hole in the ground.
And the convicts? That explains a lot.
I thought they were just cleaning it – I have never heard that they resurface every year, just clean it. And even if they are, I think it is not fair to blame the work force, I think that the pool’s location over a water table is what makes it crack and peel, and will ultimately be its demise.
my understanding was that they clean and patch up the pool’s concrete lining. “resurface” might sound like a bit more than what it is.
paul