Summer 2004 Edition

Ideas to Spruce Up These Pool Buildings     After a hurricane wiped out the old pool buildings a few years ago, these trailers were brought to Memorial Pool.    In the Spring edition of Fair Lawn News, readers were asked if they had any suggestions for making the trailers more attractive.    Here's what you said:      Todd Malkin, pointing to a trailer said, "These big blank walls need some decoration.  They could have murals or they could be painted a color that is not so garish.  Maybe earth tones,  Something that doesn't stick out.  They could match the gazebo or the slides.  Something harmonious."       Here's the slide and gazebo that Todd Malkin was referring to.          In these graphics, Evelyn McHugh gave the trailers some virtual paint. Simple Touches It doesn’t take much to make something blah look attractive. A simple touch of flower boxes on every window, awnings above each window due to the fact the sun shines over the building without the shade of trees. On the end of the building a painted arbor with a vine of roses or delicate flowers with leaves as a mural will bring a pleasant look to the eye. And these things shouldn’t cost too much to do as they are simple.  Margie   Earth Tone I believe that these trailers are OK. As a student a Memorial Middle School, in some of my classes I am able to see these trailers only because of their bright turqoise color. An improvement that the town could make would be to paint them a different color so they do not stand out so much. If they were to be painted in a light earth tone color that would be nice. Lloyd Mitchell   Mural Competition The cheapest thing I can think of is to create a design competition for high school juniors and seniors to come up with murals to decorate the buildings (perhaps the town could suggest a few themes). Take one (or more) of the best ideas and have the mural(s) painted onto the buildings. Give the seniors a day off from school to paint the murals under the supervision of a high school art teacher or other representative from the town. Other suggestions would be to paint them a neutral or earth tone color and plant low maintenance shrubbery around them (like arborvitae). Mulch and railroad ties could be added too depending on what the budget is for the project. Maybe local nurseries could be contacted for help or plant donations in exchange for some free advertisement. It also might be fun to make the buildings look like railroad cars. Add a few wooden features to simulate wheels and other train paraphernalia, then paint them to match.  Michael Galvin   Paint and Flowers The big problem with the trailers at the pool is the color.  Whoever chose the color did not take into consideration the color of the play equipment -- red, yellow, blue.  So it is a color eyesore. Sprucing up the buildings with plants would help considerably. Non-flowering shrubs could be used.  Jane Spindel   Design Contest I think that the trailers at Memorial Pool look terrible and bring down the 'ambiance' of the pool. On the other hand if they serve a purpose, and save the town money, then maybe they can be made more attractive.  One idea might be to hold a contest to residents of Fair Lawn, on designs that might be painted on the outside of the Trailers. Then we could use School Kids as maybe part of a school project to do the actual painting.  Scott Green   Different Blue?  I live a block away and I think that the facilities at Memorial Pool are ugly. With what we pay in taxes, the new facilities could use a fresh coat of paint. Perhaps a softer blue, or a royal blue. Not shocking blue. Some bushes and greenery going across the main office, lunch areas and bathrooms. The pool should look like a beautiful escape for all of us.  Anita Clark   Paint It  As I try to visualize the old building and compare it with the new, a few things come to mind.   Please repaint it. Bright teal is more of an eyesore, it doesn't go with anything. Try repainting it in a two-tone blue. Paint the stairs, (my choice white), they are splintering, and it is common for kids and adults to walk barefooted. Or replace the stairs with the synthetic deck planks. We have a summer swim team and a camp that is run out of these buildings.  Have an overhang by the bathrooms, with a bulletin board for the swim team. (that used to be available in the old building). CB   Was Teal on Sale? Since moving to Fair Lawn 4 1/2 years ago I have been a member of the pool and I have seen much improvement. I grew up in Paramus and the town pool in Paramus is really nice. The pool in Fair Lawn is nice in other ways but what I find a bit strange is the color of paint that was used on the trailers. It is just ugly and does not match any of the surroundings.  Was the paint chosen because it was on sale or was it donated? The sand at the pool is soft and nice to rest on.  Some fake palm trees on the beach could be a nice touch. Chad Seligman   Missing the Old Buildings "After a hurricane wiped out the old pool buildings a few years ago, these trailers were brought to Memorial Pool". This was the lead in sentence to having people respond to the possible need for alternative buildings at the Fair Lawn Memorial Pool site. I would hardly say the old buildings were wiped out after the hurricane a few years ago. Yes, there was water damage but nothing that could not have been repaired.  The overflow of water from the Passaic River into the pool maybe happens once every 40 years? I know this is the first time I can remember it happening in the forty plus years I have lived in town. I know that the township was able to receive federal funds to replace the old buildings but could not use those same funds to repair the damage done to the old buildings.  Part of the condition of using those funds was to replace the old buildings with new "Portable" buildings in case the same situation occurred again and the "New" buildings could be moved to a safer area. Anyone who has seen and used the new facilities knows that while these trailers should be portable in fact there is no way these trailers could be quickly moved with any kind of short notice. Except for being raised off the ground, for all intensive purposes, these buildings in the short run are just as permanent as the old structures. I have been a long time Fair Lawn resident as well as a long time Memorial Pool devotee. Call me nostalgic, but after growing up with the old buildings, there was a touch of class that a trailer park look does not even come close to surpassing. The old refreshment stand was originally a band shell, and after attending many free concerts in Ridgewood's band shell the last few summers, it would have been very nice to stay in my own town and see our Sunday night concerts in our old but revitalized band shell, rather then sitting in a parking lot and seeing some very nice shows in a portable trailer. I feel we acted in haste to receive a goodly sum of money after the flooding of our buildings a few years ago. What we now have looks like a temporary layout but we know is permanent. Whether one feels that the old buildings needed replacing (before the hurricane) or just some sprucing up, let us not kid ourselves into believing that the old buildings were destroyed and beyond repair. There is know other way to say it, we now have trailers at our pool and they look like a cheap solution to a problem that might not have needed as drastic measures as was taken. In closing I must add that the restrooms are constantly dirty during the summer and if we do keep these trailers as is, we should at the very least keep them a little more desirable to use. M.S. of Fair Lawn     In future editions, Fair Lawn News will follow up to see what happens.