July 18 - Ranty Letter

First - about the picture..  Coooool weather.  Not fun to ride through, mind you..  I got caught right in the storm on the way to work, but coooooool weather.

Anyhow, the letter:

Dear City of Edmonton

I am writing to express my frustration with the spray deck in Hudson at 13625 Cumberland Road.  Today was one of the hotter days we've had this summer, and my wife and I were looking forward to taking our two boys, ages 2 and 4, to the spray deck to get a reprieve from the heat.  We were disappointed to find that things hadn't been turned on.

Around 12:00 noon, I called 311 to find out why the deck wasn't on.  A very nice woman told me she would have to put my message through to Parks, which I can only assume she did.  She declined to give me a direct phone number, and instead suggested I call back if I didn't hear anything.  I left her my name and cell phone number.  As of this writing, I have not heard back from the city.

I also tweeted @cityofedmonton several times during the early afternoon, as did my wife.  In most cases, I have apparently been very fortunate to receive a relatively quick response - surely much quicker than I should have come to expect, because again - I have yet to receive a response to these messages.

I turned my attention to the City of Edmonton website, specifically the section titled "Water Features" (at http://edmonton.ca/attractions_recreation/sport_recreation/water-features.aspx) and noted with interest that "non school sites are open 10am - 8pm daily 7 days a week".  As I discussed earlier, I phoned 311 at approximately 12:00 noon - well within the advertised operational time of the spray decks.  As I scrolled down the page, the specific park (again, Hudson Park Spray Deck), the hours listed are slightly more restrictive - 10am - 5:30pm, certainly within the hours that we were trying to use the service.

When we finally gave up and left around 2:00pm, there had to have been 30 children just standing around, getting eaten by the mosquitoes in their bathing suits, just waiting for the water to turn on.  I had gone to work for the afternoon, and even on my way home, around 5pm, the spray deck still didn't appear to be in operation.

While there's nothing that can be done after the fact, if the City is choosing not to operate the spray decks, please make this known, by means of signage at the facilities, posting the information to your website, and by informing your helpful 311 agents.  As parents, we all understand that "things happen" and the deck may not have been turned on, but lack of communication became very frustrating.

Thanks,

Tim AtLee