Digging a new Sunday Workout
Posted by ecsem1 on Jan 04, 2010Travis Ball knows it is futile to complain, but he can’t help himself. He was the first to sign a petition to keep his neighborhood recreation center, Copperview, open Sundays. But just 13 others signed up, which might explain Apple A1012 why the Salt Lake County-owned facility won’t be open today.
“It’s ridiculous to me,” said Ball, one of four people using the weights and aerobics machines Saturday at the center. But county leaders didn’t listen, he said. “We’re just a bunch of gym rats that don’t have anything better to do Dell KD476.” Copperview’s Sunday closure is part of the cost-cutting 2010 budget the County Council passed last month. The county will spend $160 million less this year than in 2009.
The other centers that will close Sundays are Salt Lake City’s Northwest, South Jordan’s Marv Jenson and Magna.Five others were slated for the same fate, but they make money on Sundays, so it didn’t make sense to close them, said Martin Jensen Dell Inspiron 1721 Battery, the county’s parks and recreation spokesman. The centers that got a reprieve are Sandy’s Dimple Dell, West Jordan’s Gene Fullmer, Holladay Lions and Salt Lake City’s Fairmont Aquatic Center and Sorenson Unity.
Jensen acknowledged the closure will pose an inconvenience for some centergoers, who may have to travel farther to get to an open county-owned gym. “We’re sorry for that,” he said. “It’s tight budget times. We’re doing what we can just to keep the doors open Apple A1039319411-001.” By noon, 15 people had come to Copperview on Saturday. Marv Jenson was busier, with a couple playing ping pong, a family swimming, and a dozen people sweating on treadmills and elliptical machines.
Found in the weight room, Mike Riches, of South Jordan said he works out six days a week and takes Sundays off to go to church. But Ken McCabe, of Bluffdale, said he doesn’t have time to work out during the week because of his job. The closure “sucks. I work out every Sunday here.” While watching her children play basketball on the otherwise empty court, Jeanette Robins, of Saratoga Springs, said she would have liked to have used the center more VGP-BPS9A/B. “There are times we are looking for something to do as a family on Sundays, especially in the winter,” Robins said. Before he stepped onto a racquetball court, Steven Clark, of Millcreek, summed up why Marv Jenson won’t be open. “I didn’t know anybody came on Sundays.”