CS survey about Thomas Park

threecatcorner

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College Station is asking people about what they want for the redevelopment of Thomas Park (full name apparently is Mabel Clare Thomas Park).

Their email (if you've signed up to let them send you newsletters) says that they're having a meeting tomorrow, September 24 and they also have a survey open until October 4.

The survey is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YCX72DY

I can't help but notice that "bring back the pool" isn't listed anywhere on that.

I looked at the survey and after it asks if you're a College Station resident, if anyone in your family currently visits it, and if you're in an HOA or special interest group that's involved with Thomas Park, it has a list of 13 items that they want you to rank in order of importance. The pool isn't on that list.

After the gigantic list, it asks about resurfacing the tennis courts and if you prefer tennis courts, pickleball, or both, but nothing whatsoever listed at all about bringing back the pool.

I get that it might not happen, but it ought to at least be listed considering all the other stuff they've got on that list.

Oh, another thing conspicuously absent from that survey that's definitely an issue near that park is anywhere for people to park. Having some parking spots should be somewhere on the list too.

Several of the items that are on the list look fairly similar to each other, and it's not that easy to move stuff around.

Anyhow, the pool and parking ought to be on there somewhere.

Also, I thought I'd mention the meeting and survey since I don't know how much they're telling people about it in advance.

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Chrundle the Great

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4:28p, 9/23/24

AG

Thanks for posting

Question 8 was a free space for comments so I joined you asking for the pool back.

Having you rank 13 items, but pre-filling them so they come automatically ranked is a lazy way of polling. My money is on the avg response being relatively in line with the way it was presented. Most will just pick their favorite and move it to the top then ignore the rest.

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AggiePhil

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4:43p, 9/23/24

AG

Saw the survey shared on Facebook last week and filled it out. Thought it was done pretty well.

threecatcorner

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In reply to Chrundle the Great • 6:35p, 9/23/24

Chrundle the Great said:
Thanks for posting

Question 8 was a free space for comments so I joined you asking for the pool back.

Having you rank 13 items, but pre-filling them so they come automatically ranked is a lazy way of polling. My money is on the avg response being relatively in line with the way it was presented. Most will just pick their favorite and move it to the top then ignore the rest.

I absolutely agree with you about the 13 items they want ranked. That is a terrible design and they'll probably get the results they want. Whatever's most important to the people making the poll is probably at the top.

It'd also be good if some of that stuff had prices listed. There are some things that I think would be cool to have but they're not several million dollars cool.

Bob Yancy

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10:41p, 9/24/24

This council has asked for more transparency and more citizen feedback, and in my estimation, staff have responded. The event tonite was attended by maybe a dozen citizens in the half hour I was there. There was good feedback and I appreciate the after hours time staff put in. I wish more folks had attended to have their preferences heard.

The pool was voted down by the voters in the last bond election. It would be contrary to the will of the voters to simply move forward with the pool now.

I voted for that pool and was disappointed when it didn't pass, but the larger will of the electorate was heard.

My son lifeguarded at that pool for three years. He remembers it as a wonderful community pool of happy kids, birthday parties, swim lessons and robust attendance. That's why I supported it.

Perhaps after a while the city can revisit the issue. But the will of our bosses, the citizens of College Station, must reign.

By the way, the O&M to run that pool would've been about a half million annually.

Respectfully yours,

Yancy

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taxpreparer

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8:00a, 9/25/24

AG

I like to swim, it is my excersise of choice since it is easy on the joints and works out the whole body. However, I was driving past Hallaran pool the other day and thought about the wasted resources pools represents. They are not cheap to build and maintain, and the city only has them open three months. They sit empty and unused 3/4 of the year. Public pools cannot possibly pay for themselves.

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Roxie146

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In reply to taxpreparer • 11:28a, 9/25/24

I also like to swim and do water aerobics- it is an underutilized method of cardio especially for certain ages- great for joints. But maintenance is high - and no one -of a certain age group - wants to swim out doors in the winter including me - But I've lived elsewhere - other more northern states where they put a top on the pool so it can be utilized year round. If we could get one pool in this community where this could be done - I think it would be utilized. The commercial gyms around here take insurance for the Silver Sneakers - could the city (either of them) do the same?

It's not rocket science- it is done elsewhere and as we all know we don't have a Y

The deep water classes Aerofit had at their Bryan classes were overattended in the summer months until they filled in the pool - (it was old and leaked).

I just keep hoping.

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Bob Yancy

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In reply to Roxie146 • 12:52p, 9/25/24

Roxie146 said:
I also like to swim and do water aerobics- it is an underutilized method of cardio especially for certain ages- great for joints. But maintenance is high - and no one -of a certain age group - wants to swim out doors in the winter including me - But I've lived elsewhere - other more northern states where they put a top on the pool so it can be utilized year round. If we could get one pool in this community where this could be done - I think it would be utilized. The commercial gyms around here take insurance for the Silver Sneakers - could the city (either of them) do the same?

It's not rocket science- it is done elsewhere and as we all know we don't have a Y

The deep water classes Aerofit had at their Bryan classes were overattended in the summer months until they filled in the pool - (it was old and leaked).

I just keep hoping.

We have just conducted phase 1 of a rec center study and writ large the folks surveyed agree with you. They want an indoor pool. We directed staff to move forward with the consultant for phase 2 of the study to look at things like where and how much. I voted against it but the council chose to proceed. I respect their decision.

My concern is cost. There is no area- none, zero- not strained right now. We need more police, more roadways, more water wells, more sewer lines, more housing. More more more.

The decisions we make now as a community are going to reverberate for decades. While that's always the case, it is even more pronounced now.

Discretionary projects have to be put under a microscope and headache inducing research done. When we do a discretionary project, I wish we would do them together, cooperatively.

The future waits for no one. We need a vision for how we are going to grow and we need those pieces to fit together like a snug puzzle. CS can't go it alone. Neither can Bryan. Nor Tamu or the county. Certainly not as efficiently as we can when pulling the wagon together.

My $.02… Sorry I digress.

Respectfully

Yancy

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AggiePhil

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In reply to Roxie146 • 3:57p, 9/25/24

AG

Roxie146 said:
The deep water classes Aerofit had at their Bryan classes were overattended in the summer months until they filled in the pool - (it was old and leaked).

Was that the Aerofit on Villa Maria or the one on Carter Creek?

threecatcorner

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6:37p, 9/25/24

So, you (Yancy) said that voters had voted down rebuilding the pool and that it's expensive.

What about all that other stuff that's on the survey? There are a lot of items on there of various types of play areas and various types of open areas (I guess mostly grass where people can just hang out). Is the city potentially doing multiple of these or are they trying to figure out which are the most popular and then maybe put in one or two of the play areas and maybe one of the areas that's just like a generic park?

Also, what about the question that asks about tennis versus pickleball? It asks which surface you prefer or if you like both, but there's no option to say you're not a tennis player or pickleball player and would be fine with the city skipping that completely. Were tennis courts something that voters said they wanted? I didn't, but I can't remember if I've seen a bond proposal that included tennis/pickleball courts listed. I also don't remember if that park had a tennis court before or not.

I haven't been over there in a while and don't remember what all that park has or had. I know that they got rid of the pool (initially to analyze whether they should repair or rebuild, and instead they got rid of it). I think (but am not positive) that they got rid of some swings. I can't remember what else is there or used to be there. I do remember that there's not much parking so if you tried to take a kid to swimming lessons, finding a parking spot was a bit difficult.

Thanks for your time.

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Roxie146

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In reply to tu ag • 6:51p, 9/25/24

Not a CS voter- so my 2 cents mean nothing- just a voice from a group of water aerobic enthusiasts who dont care about city limits and would support a pool.

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Roxie146

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In reply to AggiePhil • 6:59p, 9/25/24

Carter Creek- for the deep pool, then the one on Longmire and the one on Villa Maria- went to all 3

Then went to St Joes at Traditions - but we know what happened to that one.

I now go do my own thing at Longmire - I actually do Fluid Running now which only requires about a 5x5x5 water square. There is quite a following for marathoners recovering from injury who rehab by Fluid Running.

It takes thought to have a mutifuncional pool - to accommodate of variety of water aerobics including traditional lane swimming.

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Bob Yancy

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In reply to threecatcorner • 9:38p, 9/25/24

threecatcorner said:
So, you (Yancy) said that voters had voted down rebuilding the pool and that it's expensive.

What about all that other stuff that's on the survey? There are a lot of items on there of various types of play areas and various types of open areas (I guess mostly grass where people can just hang out). Is the city potentially doing multiple of these or are they trying to figure out which are the most popular and then maybe put in one or two of the play areas and maybe one of the areas that's just like a generic park?

Also, what about the question that asks about tennis versus pickleball? It asks which surface you prefer or if you like both, but there's no option to say you're not a tennis player or pickleball player and would be fine with the city skipping that completely. Were tennis courts something that voters said they wanted? I didn't, but I can't remember if I've seen a bond proposal that included tennis/pickleball courts listed. I also don't remember if that park had a tennis court before or not.

I haven't been over there in a while and don't remember what all that park has or had. I know that they got rid of the pool (initially to analyze whether they should repair or rebuild, and instead they got rid of it). I think (but am not positive) that they got rid of some swings. I can't remember what else is there or used to be there. I do remember that there's not much parking so if you tried to take a kid to swimming lessons, finding a parking spot was a bit difficult.

Thanks for your time.

Definitely not just grassy. This city blog gives a good synopsis. It'll be transformative and very nice because the bosses (citizens) said to do it.

https://blog.cstx.gov/2024/09/18/your-voice-matters-public-input-needed-for-the-renovation-of-venerable-mabel-clare-thomas-park/

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dallasiteinsa02

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10:18a, 9/26/24

That survey is the typical rigged process. They already have a plan and the choices overlap just enough to allow them regardless of the results to do their plan. Their only hope is maybe the pavilion and restrooms fall far enough down that they can value engineer them out.

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