Dear Menlo Park City Council,
I have written to you about the positive impact that Menlo Swim and Sport
has had on my family over the past two decades. They taught my children to
swim; they maintain my health through masters swimming and water polo; and,
as others have described, Menlo Swim and Sport has been a supportive
community at times when I needed it.
Today Im writing to you about another role I started this summer,
connected to Menlo Swim and Sport. Now that my kids are out of the house, I
have started volunteering as a coach for Race Swami at Belle Haven. For
those who dont know, Race Swamis athletes must be hyperlocal. It has been
a joy and a privilege for me personally. Part of the joy is getting to
interact with adolescents again. As a former teacher, I hadnt realized
just how much Ive been missing that! The other part of the joy is knowing
the difference that is making in peoples lives. The mother of one of my
swimmers recently shared a story with me that I may never forget. She told
me that their family was at a party the preceding weekend at a house with a
pool. During the party, a 3-year old (not from her family) who could not
swim jumped into the deep end of the pool. She saw this happen and shouted
to her daughter to jump in and save the toddler. My swimmer jumped in,
grabbed the toddler and pulled them out of the water, averting the
potential of drowning. When other people asked how her daughter was so
confident to jump immediately in and strong enough to pull a toddler out
with ease, her response was, "Swim team!"
Menlo Swim and Sport has shown a dedication to bringing in programming that
serves the most possible people--maximizing community benefits from a
community investment. At Belle Haven, this includes working with Race
Swami, and that has already had a positive impact on lives in Belle Haven.
The Race Swami team started small, but is growing. Growth in participation
takes time and it will take public investment. Menlo Park City Council has
invested in beautification of the parking lot around Nealon Park, so that
people playing pickleball and tennis in Allied Arts have a pretty place to
park. Surely it is equally important to invest in life-saving swimming
programming in Belle Haven.
I encourage the Menlo Park City Council to ensure that residents of Menlo
Park continue to have the broad set of programming that Menlo Swim and
Sport has offered. I am strongly requesting that the City Council continue
to work with Menlo Swim and Sport to find a constructive resolution to the
aquatics issues for our entire community.
Hanna Alix Gallagher
Hobart St, Menlo Park (District 4)
On Sun, Jun 22, 2025 at 2:15 PM Alix Gallagher
wrote:
> Dear Menlo Park City Council,
>
> I am writing as a Menlo Park resident and avid supporter of Menlo Parks
> aquatics to ask you to engage in genuine problem-solving to retain the
> exemplary aquatics program at Burgess Park and bring equally high-quality
> programs to Belle Haven over time.
>
> I first began to use Menlo Parks aquatic facilities when I moved to the
> Bay Area to take a job at SRI. Back then, the pool at Burgess was a
> non-standard size--23 yards, I believe. I would go do lap swim sometimes--I
> cant remember if it was during lunch or after work--but it wasnt a great
> facility and I did not use it much. The facility closed to be remodeled and
> I didnt return for a few years.
>
> By the time I returned to using it, the pool at Burgess had been
> renovated. By that time, I had purchased a house in San Jose and had two
> small children. On the recommendation from a colleague at SRI, I enrolled
> my kids in Swim School in Menlo Park--driving them all the way from San
> Jose because of the quality of programming. Menlo Park Aquatics taught them
> basic water safety skills and they had fun! When they got older they did
> summer swim team and swim camp. And somewhere along the way I decided to
> check out Menlo Mavens, the womens water polo team, which had a small
> advertisement posted in the kitchen area of my office.
>
> My family moved from San Jose to Mountain View, which brought us closer to
> the pool. My kids moved from summer swim team to Menlo Mavericks swim team.
> And, as they got older, I started swimming on the masters swim team as well
> as playing with Mavens.
>
> My kids are now older and play competitive soccer, but I am deeply
> grateful for their strong foundational knowledge of swimming. From the time
> they were young, I could take them to visit their grandparents at a lake in
> Maine and feel confident that, with age-appropriate supervision, they were
> safe in deep water. These days, they go to lakes or surfing in the ocean
> without me. The excellent basic swimming skills and love of water that my
> kids learned at Menlo Park Aquatics has served us well.
>
> I currently go to the pool 4-5 days/week. For me it is a cornerstone of my
> experience of the area. I love getting out of the 7am practice and seeing
> over 20 people in water aerobics. I occasionally go to meets and cheer for
> teammates in their 80s who are still competing, and a teammate in his 90s
> who isnt competing any more but whom I still see doing lap swim. Our Menlo
> Mavens water polo team just won a silver metal at the Bay Area Senior
> Games. My experience with Menlo Park Aquatics has redefined for me what it
> can look like to be proactive about healthy aging. And in some tough times
> in my life, my teammates have been there for me, for example, to share
> their knowledge and experience about caring for a parent with Alzheimers.
>
> I would like to see the communities surrounding Belle Haven also get to
> have a rich aquatics experience, which provides exercise and also community
> connection. But, it takes time to build a steady user community. There were
> probably 4 years that I didnt swim at Burgess after it was renovated--I
> got out of the habit; I checked out Santa Clara Masters; I did other
> things. Belle Haven also closed and it is natural that it will take them,
> like me, time to slowly gain awareness of the programming and build a
> strong connection with the offerings in the facility. It will also be
> important for the contractor to invest in heavy outreach and community
> engagement to figure out what offerings would be most desired at that
> facility as well--but we cant expect a contractor to make a long-term
> investment in engaging the community if they are bleeding money as they
> currently are at Belle Haven.
>
> I remember reading the bids to run Menlo Aquatics a few years ago when the
> contract was last competed. Team Sheeper offered substantially more
> programming than the other experienced operator; another bid had never
> actually run a full city aquatics program. To my mind, the City of Menlo
> Park correctly chose what was by far the best bid. I think it is risky for
> the City of Menlo Park to jeopardize high-quality programming by being
> unwilling to modify the existing contract. I have read City documents and
> know that Team Sheepers financial statements have been audited and have
> passed that audit--so they are clearly losing an unsustainable amount of
> money as things currently stand. As my representatives, I call on you, the
> Menlo Park City Council, to preserve a vital city resource. It is worth
> rebuilding Belle Haven fully--including taking the time to build a loyal
> customer base. We need to make sure that a highly-skilled operator is given
> the support necessary for his team to build a thriving aquatics program
> there, while retaining the outstanding program at Burgess Park, so that all
> of Menlo Park has exemplary aquatics programs.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Hanna Alix Gallagher
> 1221 Hobart St.
> Menlo Park, CA 94025
>