And with Houston's swimming pools opening Tuesday, they say they want their old pool back.
Hot summer days in Houston have arrived and just about everyone looks for a way to stay cool.
But some Houston residents say their new and improved neighborhood pool in the Glenbrook area is less than impressive.
"When we showed up, they had so many people trying to get into it, they had reached there maximum capacity of 60 people -- six-zero," resident Darlene Kirk said.
She says she was one of those who stood in line, waiting in the heat. But that wasn't the only problem she had.
Kirk says the replacement pool didn't even compare to the Olympic-sized pool that was once part of the neighborhood. It has since been filled in with dirt.
"As I've been speaking with people, they are stunned when they find out what they did to Glenbrook pool," Kirk said.
"I think the old one was better, because it was bigger. There's too many kids in the neighborhood. It's just getting more and more kids," resident Steve Rangel said.
Mark Ross with city of Houston Parks and Recreation Department tells us there was just no way to save the pool at this point; it was too old and outdated.
"It was just in a condition where we could no longer operate it. It just had to be shut down and filled," Ross said.
Ross says the new and improved Glenbrook pool is the direction the city is headed in when it comes to rebuilding any public pools in the future.
The new design is more family friendly with a shaded area, even a beach-style entrance.
"This is the new model, this is the recreational aquatic that we're building now. The old days of the big Olympic pools, that's just over for us," Ross said.
Right now, out of the 38 public swimming pools, the city currently still operates three Olympic-size pools.
Ross says so far no additional pools are in need of demolition but funding would be required for any replacement pools in the future.
