Penza, 5 December 2014. PenzaNews. Denis Simonov, a Penza radio station host who is also writing for his blog “Traveling Penza citizen’s notes,” criticized the new policy employed by the administration of “Burtasy” sports palace, according to which visitors are no longer allowed to traverse the first floor of the building without clean shoes or boot covers sold through a vending machine.

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According to him, the situation resembles a joke where public bath house users have to change clothes in a building across the road.

“Today, to my amazement, I learned that the joke has been fully in action in the way people now have to visit ‘Burtasy,’ and ended up as one of the ‘bath house visitors’ who had to ‘ran across the road’ – just like many other indignant mothers and fathers who brought their children to ‘Burtasy’ ‘bath house,’” Denis Simonov wrote in his LiveJournal at the night of Friday, December 5, explaining that his youngest daughter attends swimming classes.

“On exercise days we arrive to 18.00 when the sessions begin, she leaves her things and shoes in the locker room and goes to the pool, while I’m either reading another book on my tablet (among other ‘waitees’) or go swimming along,” the blogger clarified.

Denis Simonov added that during their last visit, the sports palace met them cris-crossed with red tapes and two guards who were directing people to the closest locker room usually reserved for gymnastic students, pointing to a fresh sign that said “Walking only in clean shoes or boot covers – Administration.”

The blogger noted that guards practically blocked the path to a different locker room normally used by young swimmers and their parents, thus forcing them to buy boot covers. They refused to provide the phone number of their superior.

“[After I demanded to give me the complaint book, ] the guards grew uninterested and started intentionally ignoring me. They stopped answering my questions, and all I got while demanding the complaint book was silence. I even had to snap my fingers before the ‘see-no-man, hear-no-man’ guy to attract his attention: the guard took offense and asked me to go to that to my wife instead. They did give me the book at the end, however, where I filled two pages with requests to Burtasy administration to sort out the bath-and-locker issue that requires people to either change shoes in a different area or buy (which is entirely avoidable, by the way) boot covers. Several indignant people left similar notes,” Denis Simonov stressed.

He also published the diagram of previous floor layout.

In conclusion, the blogger pointed out several issues, including lack of dryers in the locker room where parents are now forced to wait, entirely avoidable boot cover purchases, and reluctance to open the entrance at the opposite side of the building that may be possibly motivated by possible drop of income for commercial venues inside.

“A vicious circle that now the Burtasy admins must deal with, but without any damage to parents and children who come there. Alas, what they have thought of currently is literally ‘locker and bath rooms across the road.’ But that’s not funny,” Denis Simonov summed up.