Dear members of the Menlo Park City Council,
I am writing in support of the continuing operation of Burgess Pool under Team Sheeper. I have been a resident of Menlo Park since 2007, living in the Willows neighborhood.
Last week, while at Burgess doing strength training on a section of the pool deck with the triathlon group around 5:30pm, I looked around the pool area. It was one of those perfect sunny summer evenings, with lots of daylight remaining, but not too hot. Youth swim teams were laughing and diving into the water. Families with small children splashed through open swim with pool noodles. Adults were diligently getting in an after-work lap swim. There appeared to be at least one swim lesson in progress. Other children were doing warm-up training around the grassy knoll as they awaited their pool time. Parents waited on the white plastic lounge chairs in the sun for their kids to finish. The red lifeguard buoys added to the colorful scene. I thought about how lucky we are to live here and have this facility and the people who make it possible.
I don’t know how many of the attendees at the pool that lovely summer evening were Menlo Park residents, but I hope there were quite a few taking advantage of the gem we have in the pool and the programs offered.
Because I currently swim with Menlo Masters and am part of the triathlon group (as a middle-aged, back-of-the-pack triathlete), I am of course biased in favor of the current operator. Tim Sheeper’s coaching and the community of the groups have helped me become not only a better swimmer (although still in the slowest Masters lanes), but also a better teammate – to the people on my athletic teams and my life team. So I can’t be entirely objective, but offer a few viewpoints:
• I don’t remember exactly when we started going to Burgess, but I would guess it was around 2010, doing lap swims at a time when we had trouble making it an entire length of the pool and taking a swim lesson at some point. We were amazed to have this pool (pools) available to us. I think the resident lap lane cost was $5 then. The lap lane situation was a bit confusing as a newcomer, but it didn’t take long to figure it out, and the website offers plenty of information about lap lane availability. The lifeguards were happy to answer questions. When I mistakenly got into the wrong lane one time, I remember someone telling me it was for something called “masters” but being perfectly nice about it and telling me I was welcome to try it out. It was several years before I was willing to try Masters.
• If some residents do not go to the pool much now, perhaps they never would. It’s easy to think “oh, I would do such-and-such so much if it was only easier” – but then never follow through.
• On Wednesday and Saturday, I went to Masters at 6 a.m. On both days, the instructional (warm) pool was entirely available for lap swimmers, and there were at least 2 lanes open in the performance pool for lap swimmers. I know it is not always ideal for those who want to swim before or after work, but there is availability for lap swimming if people will take advantage of it.
• While going through cancer treatment in 2019, I was not going to Masters so went back to finding lap lane time when I wanted to go to the pool for light swims and pool running. And there were a lot of lap lane times, even if it did not always work perfectly with my schedule and preferences. Sometimes it was crowded. Sometimes I had to wait a few minutes to find someone leaving because I didn’t want to circle swim. But it always worked out. I also tried the aqua aerobics program during that time, and it’s been nice to see that group be able to resume classes after the pandemic shutdowns.
• I understand from a recent article there is discontent regarding lack of wellness programs, but would suggest that could be solved through solicitation of interest from potential participants and scheduling discussions among the right people. This seems like an area where the city and the operator could work together to find the right programming opportunities (although hiring the right person for a new program might be difficult in this environment) or reserved lanes for a group at select times.
• The pandemic has impacted all of us in different ways. In terms of pool time, there was less availability – no one would deny that. The lack of family swim time was probably particularly problematic. On the flip side, the safety precautions meant that the pool operator was operating under a completely different revenue model. As for many small businesses, that would have been difficult financially. Personally, I felt that they did a good job keeping pool users safe; and although it was difficult to find lap time, it was possible with advance planning.
• In the comments to an article earlier this year, someone referred to Burgess seeming too much like a “private club”. Anyone with $10 can walk in and swim most times during the week – that’s pretty much the opposite of a private club. (I recognize that there are real concerns about costs to residents, which I expect could be addressed by the city in some manner.) However, it seems as nice as a private club in its maintenance, employees, water quality and opportunities.
• I do not know about the financial aspects of the pool contract, and realize that some of the rhetoric may be negotiating tactics, but:
- I question whether those who think they can find a cost-effective pool operator without significant fall-off in quality of programming and maintenance of the pool have really done their homework. Also, if the city is considering hiring more city employees to help run the pool, that sounds like a costly endeavor, particularly in the long run.
- I am concerned that news about how difficult it is to find lifeguards in parts of the country right now has not been factored into your equation.
- I would expect that the city council has an interest in supporting local businesses who are providing important services to city residents. Longer-term contracts give better financial viability to a small business, making it easier to hire quality employees and make investments, while also providing residents the assurance that a high level of services will continue to be available.
- I view the city’s arrangement with Team Sheeper as an effective example of public/private partnerships.
Finally, I hope that the council considers the impact of its decisions on residents who actually go to the pool regularly and have found it to be a saving grace in difficult times, a benefit to physical health, a way to increase the feeling of community and another reason to be proud to live in Menlo Park.
Thank you for your consideration.
Cindy Akard
3 Cleland Pl., Menlo Park
