Council member: Disagreements still exist in roads vs. pool debate

The millions La Crosse is spending on road construction this year is well above what was being spent just a few years ago.

Bound to happen when city road projects bump up from 2 or 3 miles in a construction season to about 8 miles in each of the last couple of years.

But it could be even more, says city council member Gary Padesky. He says that $3.99 million promised for a new Memorial Pool at UW-La Crosse could be used for roads in the city.

“That’s the argument on council right now: Roads or pool?” Padesky said. “They’re going to get their pool built but, obviously, for $4 million, we could have done a lot more roads.”

Padesky says specifically the $4 million in pool money could be used to complete the current Losey Blvd. resurfacing project from State Road to Mormon Coulee Road.

“It’d be nice if we could find the money and get that done next year right away,” Padesky said. “If you talk to people around town, they feel like roads are a lot more important than a pool.”

Losey Blvd. north of State Road is currently under construction.

Both Losey and a new pool are likely to get done, especially since the council voted this month to pay Ayres Associates $187 thousand to come up with a pool design for the Memorial site. That pool design is scheduled to be complete by September.  

The city council approved that resolution unanimously.

A timeline for actual pool construction has not been set.

The city shut down Memorial Pool at the end of the end of the 2015 season.  It’s been closed since.