Dear City Council,
After reading the recent SF Gate article, I feel compelled to reach out once again with concerns about how our city is handling its relationship with Tim Sheeper and the management of our local pools.
I don’t know Mr. Sheeper personally, but I swim at the Burgess pool one to two times per week.
Here is what I have come to understand:
* Tim Sheeper and his team currently manage both the Burgess and Belle Haven pools, in addition to operating pool programs in Palo Alto and a triathlon organization.
* We are requiring Mr. Sheeper to keep the Belle Haven pool open for 63 hours per week (nine hours a day), even though there appears to be insufficient demand to support that level of operation.
* The Belle Haven pool is located on one edge of town and is less accessible for a large portion of residents, whereas the centrally located Burgess pool is equally accessible to both Sharon Heights and Belle Haven residents. In fact, the Burgess pool is12 minutes by car from both Sharon Heights and Belle Haven, and even quicker by bike from Belle Haven.
* In my experience—and based on conversations with fellow swimmers—Burgess is a well-run and much-used facility.
Here’s what I don’t understand:
* Why is the City asking Mr. Sheeper to share financials from outside Menlo Park? If there’s concern we’re subsidizing other programs, transparency may be reasonable—but if not, the request seems unnecessary for a successful private contractor.
* Why are we imposing hours at Belle Haven that exceed actual demand, from a practical standpoint? Expecting a business to provide far more supply than demand can support is neither sustainable nor wise, even if we want to do right by our residents.
* Putting the hours debate aside, has Mr. Sheeper’s management of our pools not met expectations? Are there other concerns behind this standoff? If not, it’s unclear why the full City Council isn’t uniting behind the solutions proposed by some of its own members.
Rather than requiring full-day hours at the Belle Haven pool regardless of usage, could we align the schedule with peak demand and encourage off-peak users to use the centrally located Burgess pool? I fully support access for the Belle Haven community, but have we asked what matters most to them—especially given the costs involved?
Finally, I’m very concerned that this standoff with Mr. Sheeper could jeopardize the pool operations at Burgess—either through temporary closure or increased costs if the City takes over operations. That would not serve the community well.
If there are additional facts not reflected in the article, I would welcome the opportunity to understand them. However, based on the information available, I find it difficult to understand why the City Council as a whole and Tim Sheeper cannot come to an agreement that both serves our community and preserves Mr. Sheeper’s viability.
I appreciate your attention to these issues and your ongoing commitment to our community.
Sincerely,
Linda Itskovitz
Sharon Heights
