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For 25 wonderful years, the City Hall wading pool has been the glory of downtown Edmonton. Every summer, people flock there to wade and splash. It is our most beautiful, our most delightful, and our most popular downtown amenity. It makes City Hall feel accessible, joyously democratic, a place for the people.

So I was horrified to read Elise Stolte’s scoop Tuesday in the Journal telling us we’re spending $13 million to retrofit the pool as a much shallower fountain. Currently, the water is 40 cm deep, up to my knees when I wade in. The new pool would be 15 cm deep, barely up to my ankles.

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City councillors weren’t given any advance warning, beyond a vague memo dated Sept. 22, 2017.

“The city hall fountain will also undergo construction in 2018 to addressing (sic) legislated safety and accessibility improvements,” it read.

That was it. No mention that the pool, as a functional pool, was to disappear. Indeed, the rather misleading artist’s rendering that councillors received showed kids frolicking in water far deeper than 15 cm.