KING Pool Closures - A Very Real Problem

KING Parents and Swimmers:

More or less, since 2003, KING swimmers and surrounding areas have not had much need for concern about pool closures. That is no longer the case. These days, there is serious cause for alarm in light of recent events.

If you do not know your KING and surrounding pool history, I will give you a brief summary leading to where we are now.

• In the summer of 2002:
  •  KING County announced it was transferring ownership of the ’forward thrust’ pools, which were operated as King County Parks, to the cities in which those pools resided. The cities were, in effect, given four months to figure out what they wanted to do with pools which accrued annual losses of approximately $300,000 under County management. Mary Wayte, Kent Pool, Covington Pool and Mount Rainier Pool are former ’forward thrust’ pools which KING uses.
• In the beginning of 2003:
  • Mary Wayte pool was taken over by the City of Mercer Island and operated by Northwest Center and is still to date.
  • Kent Pool was closed for two months, taken over by the City of Kent and operated by Aquatic Management Group (AMG) and still is to date.
  • The Mount Rainier Pool Coalition (Des Moines, Seatac, Normandy Park and Highline School District) paid the County to operate the pool for a year and AMG took over operations in January of 2004 and still to date.
  • Covington/Tahoma pool was in unincorporated KING County at the time and was eventually turned over to the City of Covington which operates it to this day.

Each one of these pools require(d) a significant amount of volunteering, political posturing and under-appreciated hard work to keep open during this critical transition period (and ongoing to date). As noted, Mary Wayte, Mount Rainier and Kent are operated by private companies who are given subsidies by the Cities (no where near the $300,000 mark of loss above, in all cases less than a third), or groups of cities, where the pools are located.

Although I am doing a disservice to the many people who have sacrificed greatly in keeping these facilities going by not mentioning names, that is the brief history to set up the rest of the email. Moving on... 

So, we’ve made it six years, what’s the problem?

There are some sizable issues stacking up. If we don’t take action immediately, we may lose at least one of our main facilities by the end of the year (Mount Rainier).

Factors:

• Carol Anne Wald Memorial Pool - closed this year
• Juanita High School Pool in Redmond - slated to close at end of summer
• Fircrest pool in Shoreline - closed this year
• Evergreen Pool in Burien - scheduled to close in June

Why are these factors? One of the big motivations, in my opinion, to cities keeping pools open in 2003 was a desire not to be ’the only one’ who did not keep their pool open. It was seen as a political disaster to shut down a pool. With at least four pools slated to close this year in the Seattle area, it may be much more palatable for pool funding to be cut. They think , "See, we aren’t the only ones, and we all know the economy is bad." The political motivation to stay open is less. This is a very dangerous position for swimming.

Other factors:

• Highline School District is proposing to cut the swim/dive teams for the 2009/2010 seasons. Not only is this tragic for teams who have a great swimming history (Mount Rainier High School being one of those), but it is also possibly a precursor to closing the Mount Rainier Pool (which is owned by Highline School District).
• UW Swimming was cut a couple weeks ago. This was a tragedy for swimming in the Northwest. I could speak volumes on this topic, but I include it here as dramatic evidence that no pool or program is untouchable. If UW can cut the swimming program with little or no notice, then why would we think closing Mount Rainier is impossible?

Where is the Mount Rainier Pool situation?

Good question. The Mount Rainier Pool Coalition (Highline School District, Des Moines, Normandy Park) has proposed to create a new park district (or pool district) which would oversee the pool management/subsidy and also determine the amount taxed per $1000 of property tax for its constituency to effectively operate the facility. In essence, this is potentially a great model for everyone. It takes the financial burden off of the fiscally troubled Cities and the School District. It potentially generates more tax revenue than currently available to not only operate but to also improve the Mount Rainier pool.

So, what’s the problem?

• The proposed park district can only be created (it is its own political entity) in a general election of the geographic areas it would cover. Voters need to be notified, aware and motivated to go vote. The proposal will be voted on in November of 2009. I’ve never been a part of something like this, but we’ve been told that not being aggressive will almost certainly lead to failure. We must be proactive.
• We have not found a person who is willing to lead the charge on ensuring the continuation of the Highline School programs or organizing people to drive the vote in favor of the proposed park district.
• The Highline School District swimming team decision will happen in the coming weeks.
• If the park (or pool) district is created, it would serve us well to find swimming friendly people to serve on the pool district committee. Those people must reside in the geographically covered areas.

If these things aren’t done and the levy fails, the Mount Rainier Pool will close in December of 2009. It is not only a significant asset to the community it serves, but it has also become an important piece of KING operations. We will not be the same without it. It could potentially affect the programs we offer and also the level of coaching/staffing we can support.

If you are interested in helping, please send an email to SaveMRPool@comcast.net. Both volunteering time and financial support are needed. And, don’t forget, we need a leader!!!

Last minute addition... There will be significant discussion on this topic at the Des Moines City Council Meeting on the 28th of May. If you live in Des Moines or Normandy Park or have children in the Highline School District, please try to attend.

We can make this happen if we band together and do it!

Go KING!

Sean Hutchison
Head Coach