Residents throughout the region tried to stay indoors over the past few days to seek refuge from the ice cold temperatures. But parents of local gymnasts who attend a city-owned rec center say their kids don’t have that luxury. According to the parents, there’s no heat inside the gym of the Kendrick Recreation Center in Roxborough.
“There’s no reason why this should be happening,” said Korlu Ezike, one of the parents. “We’ve written people and we’ve written the city. There’s one pushback after another.”
The parents say there has not been any heat for two months inside the gym where a gymnastics team spends several hours practicing six days a week. They also say a leaky roof and the recent cold weather dropped temperatures to around 40 degrees inside the gymnasium, creating dangerous conditions for the athletes.
“Without heat in these temperatures, it’s daunting,” said Sara-Anne Miller, who coaches the young gymnasts. “For them to come in and watch them visibly shake while they’re waiting a turn or doing their stretches, it’s heartbreaking.”
The parents say the lobby, administrative office and the basketball court inside the facility all have heat. According to the Department of Recreation, $800,000 was given to the Rec Center this year, which makes parents wonder why the rec-center officials can’t provide the basic necessity of heat to the gymnasium.
“I think it should be top on their list to make sure everything is up to par for safety issues for kids,” said Kim Puhl.
The Department of Recreation sent workers to the rec center last Friday as well as Wednesday to try and fix the issue. But the parents say there is still no heat, an unsolved problem that will only get worse if left unchecked as the winter approaches.
