This week’s City Council Budget Hearing brought out the best in Seattle’s swimming community. Pool supporters attended the budget hearing in force, backed by the support of the Northeast District Council, a group of 20 community and business organizations, and several community clubs. Councilmembers Della, Conlin and Clark have already offered their support for a pool feasibility study. Thank you!

Letters of support have poured in to the City Councilmembers, but there’s still time to add your voice before the second and final round of hearings on October 30th. You’re also encouraged to express your support at one of the neighborhood meetings with the Directors of Park Planning and Aquatics (see the top, right-hand column for schedule).

We’ve posted details about the pool feasibility study here. You can also read letters of support from the NE District Council and the Laurelhurst Community Club. The entire budget meeting is even available online, so you can watch Christine’s presentation at 1:05:00 in the 10/10/07 video and Catherine’s presentation at 1:19:00.

Christine Larsen’s full testimony is available here. Excerpts:

"A city-wide study is required to properly site additional public, outdoor pools in Seattle. Right now, we only have 2 and both are located west of Aurora-99. A study of this nature ensures an appropriate level of community input.

More outdoor pools are needed to address the imbalance in our City’s offerings. A number of private swim clubs were built years ago on the east side of Seattle. Unfortunately, those clubs now have 5-12 year waitlists and membership fees of $2,000 - $25,000.

Outdoor swimming… has become an exclusive activity.

Magnolia’s Mounger Pool is a great model for a successful outdoor pool operation. In FY2006 there were 80,000 visitors and it essentially pays for itself during the months of May - September."

Catherine Clark spoke of her neighbor, a high school student who rises at 4:15 a.m. to swim in the Ballard pool at 4:45 a.m. She also spoke of her own gratitude for having access to pool facilities as a young person. These allowed her to swim her way to a college scholarship and a world of opportunities. She wants to see today’s kids have similar opportunities to get involved in healthy activities.

The Council was also impressed by Catherine’s supporters. Two outstanding representatives of the Seattle swimming community towered beside her: Whitney Hite, Head Coach for the Husky Swim Team, and Tommy Hannan, Husky Assistant Coach and a gold medal winner at the 2000 Olympic Games. Both Whitney and Tommy hope to see Seattle’s kids have the same opportunities they enjoyed while growing up in their hometowns.