Honorable Council members.
I was a Menlo Park resident for 44 years and am now 3 houses away. I continue to patronize MP businesses. My children attended MP schools, they learned to swim at Burgess and I have and continue to swim regularly at Burgess since 1978.
I am writing to ask you to maintain Tim's position at Burgess Pool. There are many things said at your last meeting that were incorrect.
First, during his tenure Tim has increased profitability and popularity of the pool for a highly diverse portion of our community.
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Second, he serves the elderly in a major way.
I am 74. On the masters team alone many of us fall into the elderly category, at least 2 are or are in close reach of 90. I didn’t have time but those numbers are easy to get.
By the comments anyone on the masters team seems to be counted as elite athletes. We appreciate part of that sentiment but it is neglecting the facts. For smiles, Tim divides the team into the fast, faster, and fastest swimmers but make no mistake: A large portion of us are slow, and MANY of us are well over 65. The remarkable thing is that we are supported, encouraged, and sustained by Tim, the team, and the staff at Burgess. Sometimes we even feel fast. We are all unquestionably healthier for the pool, the community it creates, and Tim. We have a community that most of us consider an important part of Menlo Park. Please don't take away what has become central to being part of the Menlo Park community for a number of hundred of us.
In contrast to one of the comments, as seniors, we get a discount.
Third, handicapped are served, often and graciously.
During my time at Burgess, I have swum with a remarkable blind woman, whom Tim assisted in every way necessary to help her not only participate in the workouts but eventually participate in races.
Without anyone even discussing it the entire team participated with another woman with only partial use of one arm. She too competed in meets. Neither won many metals but all of us were enriched. From a distance, I have observed more than one paraplegic swimmer be fully and attentively served. No one talks about this as a program or a pool for the handicapped. It simply includes the handicapped - and the elderly without drama.
Until recently an automated chair at the end of the pool has been used to help handicapped people enter the pool. Staff and swimmers alike have been helpful. I have assumed but don't know if it will be back as COVID is less a factor.
Part of the general supportiveness is because the team has attracted good people. It is also because Tim's emotional compass is inclusive.
Similarly, approximately 20 years ago (?) Tim and many team members established and continue to run Caring Bridges. This is a program for low-income elementary school youth in East Menlo Park It includes both swim lessons at Belle Haven, a mentoring program, and academic tutoring for kids from elementary through High School. Again, a description and numbers and dates are easily available.
Every year during the holidays' people swim distances and for each mile swum, they contribute cans. Huge boxes of canned and packaged foods get taken to benefit groups needing food. Christmas gifts for kids are also often included.
Come to the pool and watch the swim lessons for all ages. (Currently mostly on weekends.) Watch the water aerobics classes and please remember that the water aerobics program was greatly diminished during and because of COVID. That is a group that is on average, older. I am guessing that it is also more immune-compromised. Before COVID there were daily classes and I assume they will return. It was and still seems to be very popular. From just walking past it looks to me like there are often 30 or 40 participants per class. Again, those numbers are available for the asking.
Time should add to his work load is a forth question that I think is misguided..
Running one pool with as many participants and programs as Tim has inspired is a huge job. To divert Tim's attention and skills from the remarkable and uniquely talented work he is good at would be a fool’s errand.
I don't know Tim's motives but I do know it is self-defeating to interfere with a highly talented person who is successfully doing a self-created job that is going remarkably well for both himself and the greater good. We should honor the fact that he is declining to spread himself too thin.
If you believe you can find someone to replace Tim, then why not instead find a second person to do a similar but separate job at Belle Haven? Keep Tim where he has shown such remarkable success. Keep the person who saved Burgess from financial ruin and community apathy.
How many of you remember the pool before Tim took over? At lunch time a few of us typically gathered from nearby SRI and homes lay on the pool deck, sunbathe after a swim. We called Burgess our country club. Often we were only 10 people using the pool. Now it is too vibrant for such self-indulgent leisurely lunches! We liked having our own ‘country club pool’ but we don't wish that on the City of Menlo Park. It was what last meetings commenters are complaining it is.
In sum, I am not alone in hoping you will look at the numbers. Equally important, spend time at the pool talking to patrons and staff. Demand the complaints include data and facts rather than hearsay. The citizens of this very well-educated community are counting on you to inform yourselves before making this decision.
You are threatening to return to the past and lose what is highly valued by hundreds of very divers Menlo Park residents who voted for and are counting on you.
I do hope to do the research to back all of this up and send it to the Almanac but time is a problem and I felt it just go off now as is. I also feel that this kind of research is something you should do before making such a monumental decision about an important community center.
