About 100 people, including many children in bathing suits and goggles, gathered Thursday in a High Park neighbourhood to protest the looming closure of their swimming pool.

The Keele Street Public School pool is one of six pools in city schools to be shuttered this fall due to a lack of funds for maintenance costs. Another 30, not yet named, are scheduled to close in 2009.
 
"Spaces in swimming programs are few and far between, and we cannot afford to lose these multi-million-dollar investments in pools for the want of a few hundred thousand dollars in maintenance costs," area resident Mark Walker said at the Thursday morning demonstration.

Children wave colourful placards protesting the closure of the High Park-area pool, one of six to be closed this fall.
(Jamie Strashin/CBC)

The Keele Street pool needs an estimated $200,000 in repairs. Until recently the city took care of operating costs, even though the Toronto District School Board owns the pool.

Protesters say the six school board-owned pools are used by communities as well, but are falling between the cracks as the municipal and provincial governments both refuse to cough up the money.

"The government can cut a cheque right now to make the necessary repairs. That's what they can do and that's what they should do," said Parkdale-High Park MPP Cheri DiNovo, who represents the area.

But Education Minister Kathleen Wynne said there will be no extra money since the school board already received an additional $4 million for such costs.

However, local residents say they plan to keep the issue afloat with demonstrations until someone steps up with a cheque.