Willow Glen Resident
News
San Jose will not rent middle school pool, closes for summer
By Mayra Flores De Marcotte
This summer will be a drier one for Willow Glen residents.
Markham-Willow Glen pool at the middle school will be closed this year due to budget cuts.
These cutbacks are to compensate for a $400,000 reduction in the departments 2005-06 budget.
The pool is owned by the San Jose Unified School District, but the district rents it to the city, said San Jose Department of Parks, Recreations and Neighborhood Service spokesman Ed Bautista.
"Because we have city-owned pools throughout the city, we don't have to pay rent for the school ones," Bautista said. "The city-owned pools are running year-round."
To some Willow Glen neighbors, the summer closure of the middle school pool came as a shock. Residents are upset there were no community meetings to discuss the plans.
"It makes me crazy when the city does things in a way that it doesn't check things out to see what the residents want or need," said Willow Glen resident Kimberly Daly. "It's so wrong. There are so many young families that have come into the neighborhood, and we all love the aquatics programs there."
Not only is the pool viewed as a place to spend time with the family and a source of summer jobs for the teens in the area, Daly says, the pool has sentimental value as well.
Daly said her husband's best friend, now in his 50s, likes talking to her husband about the memories he has of "Friday Afternoons at the Races" at the pool.
"His fondest memories are at the pool," Daly said. "It's such a great tradition, and the childhood memories are vivid for everyone. I learned to swim there, and so did my kids. I know budgets are always used as reasons, but I think this pool was an important part of the neighborhood."
Last summer the city closed Biebrach Community Pool in the Gardner District. That pool is being renovated and brought up to code, Bautista said.
In addition to Markham-Willow Glen, San Jose and Leland High schools will also close their pools and summer aquatics programs. The schools are undergoing construction projects in their pool and locker-room areas. These facilities are among 22 schools in the San Jose Unified School District that are undergoing some form of construction over summer, according to district spokeswoman Karen Fuqua.
Bautista said the city's decision not to rent the pool makes geographic sense.
"The city needed to consolidate, and utilize its remaining resources to provide programs and activities to the rest of the city," he said.
The city is using two school-owned pools--James Lick and Peter Burnett--because it does not own public pools in those two areas.
Bautista said the city also looked at available options in each area.
"Some areas have alternative pools," Bautista said. "They also have programs offered by other community-based organizations, such as the YMCAs."
