Another Boxing Gym Shutdown

As soon as I walked into the field house yesterday, I was informed by Coach James that I had to remove all of the signs and posters in the boxing gym.  "The painters are coming in tomorrow," he said.  Steve, the supervisor, passed through the hallway as I found this out.  "I've been in supervisor training all day, and this is the first time I'm hearing about this," Steve said. 

The gym floor has to be re-done, too.  The painters, regardless if they are on the park district's payroll or are outside contractors, have a habit of dragging the work out.  "That's going to take at least two months!  What am I coming down here for when I won't have anything to do?" I snapped.  "Hillari, I know you have to come from far away to get here.  But at least you're getting paid," Steve said.  And so what?  Twiddling my thumbs for several hours doesn't cut ice with me.  Unlike too many park district employees across the city, I'm not constantly searching for ways to sit on my backside and do as little as possible.

I made an announcement in the first class that the participants might as well consider the winter session to be done.  I suggested to Crystal, Armani, and Leslie's mom that she try to sign them up at Simons Park which is the next closest field house that has a boxing program.  Julio had said some time ago that Henry and David sometimes go to Simons, so they have somewhere to go.  I called Leonna, the one adult in the class, and suggested that she try to get a refund since the shutdown of the class is the park district's fault, not hers.  I didn't bother to contact the two teens in the program since they apparently decided not to go to class a long time ago.

This is the umpteenth time in six months that the gym has been shut down due to maintenance and construction issues.  Constant shutdowns and delays in opening the sessions on time DO NOT contribute to getting sign ups nor raising attendance.  Neither do the other ongoing issues such as lack of interest in the sport and numerous shooting and assaults in the park, for example, contribute to having a successful boxing program.  I'm up against too much to make the program work, and I am out of ideas.