• Tomorrow: Planning meeting for the Rainier Beach Pool replacement
  • Tuesday June 9, 2009. 6:30 - 8:30 at the Rainier Beach Community Center.
  • Organized by the Seattle Parks Department, which seeks to “learn about what is important in a community center and pool for this neighborhood.”  The Parks Dept is eager for community input. Details.
• August: Summer Splashtactulars
  • Saturday, August 8th at both Meadowbrook (1:30-3:00) and Rainier Beach Pools (time TBD). [Updated 6/8/09: Time corrected.]
  • FREE admission.  Lots of fun, pool games and prizes.  Info on water safety will be available too.
  • Events are sponsored by both Seattle Parks and Project Seattle Pools.
  • Email Christine@seattlepools.org if you would like to help with either event.

Other updates:

• NE and SE pool planning grant applications submitted
  • Kudos to Christine, Aimee, Yvette and Melanie for their tireless work in submitting Neighborhood Matching Fund Grant Applications.  Details.
  • We expect to be notified of the City’s decisions on these applications by mid-July.  If awarded the grant, work to hire an urban planning consultant would begin early fall.  Public Planning Meetings would be held during the winter/spring of 2009-2010.
• Pool closures looming
  • Many pools in our region are threatened by tight budgets and overdue maintenance.  We’re tracking the list of pools here.
  • In Seattle, supporters of the UW’s Hec Ed Pool seek your support in signing a petition to keep this pool open.

Rainier Beach pool is reaching the limit of its useful life, so Parks plans to replace it when funds become available.  According to Parks, "The design team with ARC Architects in the lead will be running the meeting beginning at 6:30. The pool designer is from California and will be part of the meeting as well." 

When: Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 6:30 – 8:30pm

Where:  Rainier Beach Community Center
8825 Rainier Ave S
Seattle, WA 98118-4928

Contact:  david.graves@seattle.gov

Dear Friend:

As you know, the University of Washington Men’s and Women’s Swim Teams have been cut.  While there is a push to self-fund the swim teams, one possible unintended consequence of the current decision would be to close the Hec Edmondson Pavilion pool.  This closure would ruin at least three more UW associated teams that use the pool (not counting the numerous high school swim meets and that occur there).  Men’s and Women’s Club Water Polo and Husky Masters Swimming use the facility year round and due to size restrictions, the IMA pool is not an alternative.

Please support us to keep the Hed Ed Pool open by signing the below online petition.  We will be sending the signatures to the UW athletic department in the coming weeks.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/HecEdPool

Thank you for your support!

We’re keeping a running list of endangered pools and programs here so that you can keep tabs on pool concerns near you.  New:

• Mount Rainier Pool (Auburn) has been added to the "endangered" list.
• Some public wading pools in Seattle will be closed this summer to allow for updates necessary to comply with a new safety law.

His service as an Army paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division cost Cyril Miller two good knees. A couple of hundred rough landings can do that.

"I was a paratrooper; that’s all you need to hear," said Miller, 71, who lives in West Seattle.

Miller, like some other local veterans, relies on Evergreen Pool in White Center and its weekly rehabilitation classes to feel better. Since leaving the Army about five decades ago, Miller has had both knees replaced, was diagnosed with diabetes and underwent six years of dialysis before receiving a kidney transplant in 2007.

But soon the county budget will cost him, too.

After June 30, Evergreen Pool, owned and operated by King County, will be shut down. That’s because it’s among the "lifeboat" of services funded for only half of the year due to the county’s budget problems. … read more>>

More info on pool closures in the Seattle area is available here.

Thanks go to the many pool supporters who helped with our NMF application by pledging hours of volunteer time as matching contributions.  The grants are now under consideration by the City.

It is important to do planning like this even in lean economic times because public planning is a slow process.  Doing long-term planning now ensure we have well-thought-out and broadly supported plans at hand when better economic times return.  City Council Resolution R31073 recommends that the next Park capital levy address unmet swimming needs, so ready-to-go plans will be needed when that levy is composed.

Southeast NMF Application (.doc)

Friends of Pools in SE Seattle will hire a professional urban planner to work with Seattle Parks and the community to make site recommendations for a new outdoor pool in southeast Seattle, to assess the service capacity of existing indoor facilities serving residents in the southeast, and to suggest long-term financing options.

Northeast NMF Application (.pdf)  Northeast NMF Budget (.pdf)

Friends of Pools in NE Seattle will hire a professional urban planner to work with Seattle Parks and the community to make site recommendations for a new outdoor pool in northeast Seattle, to recommend enhancements to existing indoor facilities serving residents in the northeast, and to suggest long-term financing options.

See also: Letter of support for NE NMF from the Northeast District Council (.doc)

Carole Ann Wald Memorial Pool (Saint Edward State Park) has been closed due to budget cuts.  Will reopen soon, but funding is hazy:

• St. Ed’s Wald pool could reopen soon (Kenmore Reporter)
• New Operator to Reopen Carole Ann Wald Pool at St. Ed (Kenmore Blog)
• Get involved in the effort to keep this pool open, or just stay informed: Join Bill Leak’s mailing list, http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/Support_Northshore_Aquatics/  

Yost Pool (Edmonds) will remain open this year:

• Edmonds pool will open in June, thanks to donors (HeraldNet Everett)
• Contact us if you’d like to get in touch with people involved in efforts to keep this pool open.

Juanita High School Pool (Kirkland) will likely close at the end of the summer:

• Juanita High swimming pool faces shut-down (Kirkland Reporter)
• Facebook group:  Save the Juanita Pool

Info on other pools in danger of closure:

• Pools at Risk (Pacific Northwest Swimming)
• Seattle-area pools in jeopardy of closing (King-5 News, 3/12/2009): "The Fircrest swimming pool in Shoreline will end operations Friday and the Evergreen pool in south Seattle is expected to lose its King County funding in June."

UW Swim Team (Seattle) eliminated, as part of UW budget cuts:

• Washington To Discontinue Swimming Programs (Official UW news release)
• UW Cuts Swimming Teams and UW’s heartless decision leaves swimmers out in cold (Seattle Times)
• Cost of UW athletic programs. (US Dept. of Education)
• Alum efforts to save the teams (and possibly build a pool):
  • Group could save UW swimming program (Video from KIRO)
  • Supporters of UW swim program working to keep it afloat (NWCN)
  • Students, Supporters Look to Future After UW Swimming (KUOW)

UW Hec Ed Pool (Seattle) endangered:

• Petition to Keep the UW’s Hec Ed Pool Open

Mount Rainier Pool (Auburn) endangered:

• KING Pool Closures - A Very Real Problem (KING Aquatics).

Wading Pools in Seattle closed this summer:

• Seattle parks to operate fewer wading pools this summer — (Allows completion of updates necessary to comply with a new safety law).

[Update: We’re updating this post with additional information on pool closures as we receive it.  Newly reported pool issues appear at the end of the list.] 

Tuesday, February 3, 2009:  4:30 – 6:30 PM

• Magnuson Building 406 − Garden Room.  6310 NE 74th Street
• Agenda for the Magnuson Park Community Communications Committee
• Key Agenda Item:
  • 5:00-6:25    Review and prioritize the potential list of amenities and improvements to Magnuson Park—break out session
    
• Meeting notes from the Dec 10 meeting (provided by Parks).  Our summary.

Project Seattle Pools will hold its first meeting of 2009 at the Columbia Branch Library on Wednesday, February 11th from 6:00-7:30 p.m.

We’ll discuss the following:

• How pools fared in the 2008 budget cycle.
• Funding options for the Comprehensive Aquatics Plan & next steps.
• Applying for a Neighborhood Matching Fund (NMF) Grant.

Location: Columbia Branch Library
4721 Rainier Ave. S.
Seattle, WA 98118

The Columbia Branch is located on the west-side of Rainier Avenue South, between South Edmunds Street and South Alaska Street.  Directions to the Library

We’re delighted to report that pools were well represented, so you do not need to drown Tim in pool emails right now :). Thanks to all who spoke for pools last night!

What’s next?  Parks is going to organize another meeting where your participation will be important.  Attendees will be broken up into small groups.  Each small group will come up with a future vision for the park — drawing *exclusively* from items mentioned last night, ideas emailed to Tim or existing plans for Magnuson.  Items included in each group’s vision will need to have unanimous support of all members of the group.   This means there will be some horse trading, so having people who care about pools in each group would be a good thing. 

Yes, the process to shape the vision for Magnuson will be long, but participation is the only way to get pools (perhaps an indoor/outdoor complex?) back into the vision for Magnuson.

Cool thing we noticed:  A graphic showing Magnuson’s potential actually included a pool as a possibility for the Building 2 site. Building 2 (mapped on the right) occupies a large spot in the Historic District and Parks says it must be demolished — making it a perfect site for pools.  The only other potential use Parks mentioned last night was "Potential film studio." 

School of "FISH"

Beginning January 2009

School of FISH (Fun Instruction in our Swimming Holes) is a specially priced, beginning swimming lesson program for families. Learn beginning swimming skills with your school-aged child in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.

School of FISH offers discount pricing of $2 per lesson for a paired parent and child. Your first session (10 classes) is free with a voucher. Please register ahead of time in person at one these three pools, online or over the phone.

This program is intended for elementary and middle school-aged children and their parents. Each child must be accompanied 1:1 in the water by an adult.

Beginning swimming skills taught in this program include water adjustment, bubble blowing, breath holding, kicking on front, back float and using a life jacket.

Join our School of FISH! Have some fun! Jump in the pool!

 » more information