City plays dirty pool

According to the report, the city has long wanted to remove or reduce the Olympic-sized pool to make room to widen the beach promenade.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY
The troubled Gordon swimming pool is back in the news, with the city now reneging on its agreement to reduce the size of only two lanes, and presenting entirely new plans to cut the pool in two, reports Yediot Tel Aviv. Locals have vowed to fight the new plans, saying they cannot understand why the city is not sticking to the compromise agreement it signed with them several months ago. According to the report, the city has long wanted to remove or reduce the Olympic-sized pool to make room to widen the beach promenade. But local residents have fought a heated battle to preserve their historic and much-loved swimming pool, and several months ago, they and the city reached a compromise agreement that would keep most of the pool intact while reducing the size of two of the eight lanes. Now, however, the city has presented the district planning and construction committee with entirely new plans that would result in the pool being cut in two. "We were sure the compromise would be managed exactly as per the agreement, but it was just lip service (by the city)," a resident said, and the residents' committee vowed to fight the altered plans before the planning and construction committee. But the renewed dispute means that the pool is unlikely to reopen in summer of next year, remaining shut for what will be the third year in a row.