From today’s Seattle Times: Injured vets to lose rehab pool in White Center
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.
In April, groups of pool supporters in both NE and SE Seattle submitted applications for neighborhood matching fund (NMF) grants. These grants would make it possible to begin the planning process necessary for adding and/or upgrading Seattle’s public pool facilities.
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)
Tight budgets and deferred maintenance have impacted a growing list of swimming facilities and programs in the past six months. Recent news:
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."
- Another local pool may face closure, this time Ruiz-Costie in Bothell (Bothell/Kenmore Reporter, 7/20/2009)
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):
UW Hec Ed Pool (Seattle) endangered:
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.]
