Your recreation millage at work.

Locker room in Hamtramck High.
Hamtramck, MI February 2, 2005

The Hamtramck Recreation Department offers adult lap swim in the high school pool 5 days a week, but almost nobody comes.

I have a pretty good idea why.

The photo shows a piece of elastic lying on the floor right in front of the locker I always use. The elastic came off of my bathing suit while I was changing.

My memory as it is, there's a good chance this happened in early January. Possibly back in December before the pool closed for the school's holiday break.

Regardless, it officially occurred to me on January 21 that this elastic was still there from a previous visit.

I made a point to see if it was the still there the next time I went swimming, Friday, January 28. It was.

As it was Monday, January 31, and as you can see here, documented with my new picture phone, on Wednesday, February 2.

This is disturbing for at least 5 reasons.

1) Foremost, it's indication of a mindboggling absence of sanitary conditions.

2) The janitor's closet is literally 30 feet away, accessed from inside the locker room. Often, a janitor can be seen idly chatting with the person paid to sit in the locker room during the pool programs...

3) Every weekday, from 4:30PM-8PM, the pool is staffed by no fewer that four individuals. This includes the two locker room monitors and two, sometimes three lifeguards.

4) Due to a variety of infuriating reasons, Hamtramck residents are taxed at the highest rate allowed by Michigan law, and included in that, a special millage specifically for the recreation department. The title of this entry (Your recreation millage at work) is the slogan of The Hamtramck Recreation Department.

5) Most disturbing of all: I go swimming as often as I can. Up to three days in a good week.

As vile as this all is, the pool itself could be a lot worse, or at least I've swum in ones just as bad over the years. Also, I feel a lot better since I've actually started exercising.

So, yes, the pool is nasty. But in Hamtramck, everything has its own price, and only occasionally does it correspond to a monetary amount.

Therefore, I suppose, "Nasty" is the price of fitness in Hamtramck.

Nasty plus $20 for the swim card.