I am so happy that you got a commitment from Sheeper to start the Wellness programs 4 timeS/week: 2 classes on Tu. and Th. starting March 1. The classes are to be taught by a Ph.D. Physical Therapist and no doctor referrals will be needed. This is especially important since it makes it less likely that the class will be aimed at Ironman athletes with torn ACLs! You also pointed out that the doors are to be upgraded to ADA compliance later this year, which will be a huge Godsend to many, including mothers with kids. Hopefully somebody will be checking the lift in the warm pool to make certain that this is fully functional for disabled lap swimmers who find it inconvenient to use the steps. It was also great to learn that you left open the possibility of the city running the pool, and that in 2023 you will be sending out an RFP to Sheeper and other potential entities to take over operations for both MP pools. As to pricing, the current members of the Aquafit program pay $78 ($70 for seniors) for 4 lessons/week that are taught by an M.D., a Physical Therapist, and a retired Pharmacist. Therefore, in my opinion it would be discriminatory to charge more for the Wellness classes which would presumably be taken 2 times/week by most participants. Hopefully, those classes could be expanded to more days of the week.
An additional nicety is that you will insure that there is a public outreach as to the community's wishes for the pool. I hope that will reach out to all sections of the population because at present, almost everybody at Burgess appears to be upper middle class whites. There are some Asian patrons in both the exercise and lap programs but I only saw one black guy who used to work at Trader Joe's, but has now left to start a West African restaurant. Just as the masters program has a vibrant social side to it, so do the Wellness and the Aquafit programs. The people in the Wellness program keep in touch with each other and when a person is sick, others make contact and check on that person. Before the pandemic there was a huge party for a wonderful guy on his 100th birthday. Things like this make for a healthy community. Once the program restarts there will no doubt be many more participants.
I would encourage you to make the baby pool more useful to young parents because, for whatever reason, it seems to be a waste of space at the moment. It would also alleviate the problem of terrified, screaming infants on the warm pool steps. It would also be a nice change if Sheeper would be more communicative to us old folks and let us know what is happening, when, and be more amenable to input. Everybody that does not die gets old and needs some compassion for their aches and pains and the Burgess warm water pool offers great relief to many.
AGAIN, THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING CARING AND CONSIDERATE
