Pools Save Lives/People for Pools talking points and contact info

[Coach Cliff]

Friends of Pools,

Many of you are aware of the controversy surrounding the municipal pools in Anchorage.  It has been suggested, or at the very least implied, that the Anchorage community could be served just as well as it has been by closing two of the 5 pools.

The two pools that are being threatened are Service and Bartlett pools.  Both pools have an extensive list of maintenance items that have been deferred for years due to limited budgets and being low on the list of municipal priorities.  As a result Service pool is in dire need of repairs and may not be open after High School season in November.  A Service closure would have a huge impact on the Hillside/South Anchorage community.  Bartlett pool is not far behind.  The closure of Bartlett pool would be felt state wide.

To learn more about the situation please read a recent ADN article concerning this subject.  If you visit www.people4pools.org and click on the ADN link at the bottom of the page.  Then read the responses to the article.  We are going to try to use this web site as a "clearinghouse" for information regarding this aquatic crisis.

Here are 10 talking points & questions regarding this crisis.

1. According to Alaska Health and Social Services, from 1981-2002, 135 children and adolescents (age 0-14) died in Alaska due to drowning. Alaska's drowning rate for children and teenagers is almost two and a half times the national average and significantly higher than that of any other state. How can we justify shutting any municipal pools knowing this fact?
   
2. Municipal swim lessons dwindled at Service Pool by the year 2000; however, when Swim America came in to offer lessons at that time, they were able to put through 800 to 1,000 swimmers a year. According to Swim America director Cindy Pitta their wait list was 100 names long at times. How can a private business be so much more successful than the city at offering the same services? Is this a question of poor management and marketing of the pool programs?
3. In 2006, the Municipality of Anchorage completed its 10-Year Plan on Obesity and Health. In the introduction, Mayor Mark Begich states that obesity “affects the health of individuals and has many economic impacts in our community.” One of the primary goals of this city plan is to increase the number of adults, adolescents and children who engage in regular physical activity. Are we not countering our own city plans by severely limiting use or entirely eliminating Service Pool?
   
4. Trailside Elementary has been using Service Pool to teach it's students how to swim.  The pool needs to stay open for this learning opportunity.  It needs to be made available for more elementary and secondary schools for the same purpose.
   
5. Service currently serves two high schools (Service and South).  If Service is closed, or is both Service and Bartlett are closed, what will happen?  How will we fit all of the high school programs in the remaining pools?  What would the bus transportation costs be?
6. Service is currently open only for high school practices (2:30-6:30p).  Why are there no other programs being offered?  There are lessons, fitness swimmers, swim teams, and open swim recreation users that could be using the pool.  It is standing empty.
7. Jeff Dillon (Urban Design, Parks & Recreation Director) claims that there are 14 pools that serve the Anchorage public including the 5 municipal pools.  There are 14 pools, but  2 of them are on the military bases, 4 of them are private clubs, 2 of them are university pools, and 1 of them is H20asis (a water park).  These are not "public" pools.  We have already paid for our pools with our property taxes.  They should be taken care of and made available for our use.
   
8. The Service pool has been closed for the last couple of summers.  The rationale has been that the staff is needed for Goose and Jewel lakes.  Jeff Dillon has stated in memos to Mayor Begich that the staff guards 55,000 swimmers at Goose Lake and 32,000 swimmers at Jewell lake.  There are approximately 100 days (between Memorial Day and Labor Day) that the lakes are guarded.  That would be about 550 and 320 swimmers per day at Goose and Jewell Lakes respectively.  I have personally visited the lakes on the busy and slow days.  These numbers are impossible.  If Mr. Dillon is loose with these numbers how can we trust his other statistics?
9. Service Pool is in poor condition with Bartlett not far behind. How is the Municipality of Anchorage prioritizing pools in the funding process? Are we waiting for the state to bail out the facilities? When will pools stop being viewed as a burden and start being seen as a fabulous community resource that can be revitalized and turned into an economic asset?
10. According to the Aquatics Recreation Demand Report from January of 2005, Service Pool had the HIGHEST percentage of capacity use (55.8%) among the municipal pools. This is nearly 6% above the ideal occupancy level for operating a pool. If this isn’t enough, what is the target capacity rate to justify continuing operations? What programs have been tried to increase capacity use? How soon will it be before our neighboring community MOA pools with lower utilization are threatened with closure? Every MOA pool is necessary; every high school deserves their pool.

I am encouraging you to speak out in an effort to revitalize and save our failing pools.  Attached are is a list of aquatic, media, and political contacts.  I want to encourage you to make use of this list to get the municipality to change it's paradigm regarding the public pools. 

• Please call your assembly representative.  A call is worth a dozen emails.
• Please contact your state house and senate representatives and encourage them to help in our struggle.  We may need state funding to help repair our facilities.
• Write a letter to the editor and/or to other media outlets.  The more press we can get the more pressure we can exert on the politicians and bureaucrats that make the decisions.
• Please attend the Municipal Assembly meeting next Tuesday, Sepember 25th.  The meeting begins at 6p at the Loussac Library.  We have been told that Jeff Dillon will be front and center at the beginning of the meeting to be questioned by the the Assembly.  We would like to encourage you come, with your family and friends, and let the Assembly know that our pools are important.  Pools Save Lives!
• Forward this information along to any and all pool users you know.  This is not just a swim team issue!  This is not just a High School issue!  This affects us all.
  
• Feel free to print out the Pools Save Lives! logo.  I am working on getting a batch of new bumper stickers with this art.

Regards,

-- 
Coach Cliff Murray
Head Coach; Northern Lights Swim Club
Head Coach; East High Swimming & Diving
Alaska Swimming Webmaster & Legislative Chair
(907) 277-7946