Berkeley Pools for All

YMCA initiative for the former Warm Pool

The November election is now long past, but the pools campaign is doing its best to use the political capital of having received 62 percent of the vote. We are moving pragmatically, piece by piece, rather than our strategy over recent years of trying to move all pools together simultaneously. First up is the "unfinished business" of the former Warm Pool. For the past few months, we have been working with City Council members on an initiative in which the Downtown YMCA would improve its hours, programming and conditions at Grace's Pool. At 89 degrees, about 1,700 square feet and up to seven feet deep, Grace's is the closest thing to Berkeley's former Warm Pool that we might ever see again. The deal is not yet finalized, and crucial details have yet to be set.

However, the City of Berkeley's Commission on Disabilities and the Commission on Aging have written a joint letter to the City Council describing key elements of the requested arrangement. In the final negotiations, we may not get the full package of these requests, but we should get most.  

The Commission on Disabilities' letter was presented to the City Council at the April 2 Council meeting, and the Commission on Aging's virtually identical letter will be presented at the April 30 meeting. Here is the text of the Commission on Disabilities letter:

In the November 2012 election, aquatic Measures N and O received 62.4 percent and 60.0 percent support respectively. While they did not reach the required two-thirds, they showed strong public support for the pools and for the health and recreation needs of seniors and individuals with disabilities, many of whom formerly used the Warm Pool.

The City's inability to replace the Warm Pool after its closure in December 2011 and its subsequent demolition in July 2012, has resulted in a substantial unmet critical need among Berkeley residents who are persons with disabilities and/or elderly. This is "unfinished business," and the City needs to finish it -- or at least take practical steps in that direction.

The Commission on Disability is encouraged by recent cooperative discussions between the City and the Berkeley Downtown YMCA. This dialogue has the potential for effectively identifying ways to improve aquatics programming and facilities to address the needs of persons with disabilities and the elderly . Specific needs include these:

1) Increased contiguous blocks of hours in the afternoon and evening hours at Grace's Pool for Adult Open Exercise and Aqua Chi.

2) Validated parking for disabled and elderly users of the YMCA of up to three hours at the Standard Parking lot at 2020 Kittredge.

3) Increased air temperature at Grace's and the Shallow pools, and also in the hallway between those pools and the locker rooms.

4) An outreach program at senior residences, the City’s Senior Centers and through Ed Roberts programs to alert people to any new initiative and its benefits.

The Commission on Disability urges the City Council to take all necessary steps to continue the dialogue with an aim to establish and launch the aforementioned initiative.

Looking backward and forward

The final election results gave 62.4 percent for Measure N and 60.0 percent for Measure O. We have been mulling the detailed precinct tallies, which give a lot more granular information. Here are a few takeaways:

• As expected, we did poorly in the hills, receiving as low as 42 percent in the higher parts of the North Berkeley near Grizzly Peak Boulevard.
• We did quite well in the flats, with many precincts in the low-to-mid 70s from King Pool in the north to Willard Pool in the south. These results were good, but perhaps not as overwhelming as we needed to offset our lower support elsewhere. 
• The real surprise was in the student areas of the UC campus and immediately south of campus, where Measures N and O averaged in the 50s. That killed us. We still haven't quite figured that one out, except that students already have plenty of pools on campus and might not have understood the need for municipal pools elsewhere.

As we stated in our "Day After" post immediately following the election, we are incredibly grateful for the unusually broad support we received from across Berkeley's political spectrum, encompassing nearly every political camp in our fair city's normally fractious (to put it lightly) political universe. We ran a positive, upbeat campaign that called out the best in Berkeley. Our very sincere thanks to everyone!

If you're already feeling nostalgic (OK, we are), here are our campaign's printed materials: our yard sign; our first flyer/mailer, distributed in late September and early October; and our second flyer/mailer, distributed in late October and the first few days of November. (Note -- on all materials, the union bug was added at the printer.)

The Day After

As of noon Wednesday, with about 60 percent of the vote counted, Measure N has 62.12 percent of the vote and Measure O has 59.65 percent. Despite initial news reporting, those results are not final. As it turns out, a large number of absentee ballots and provisional ballots remain to be counted. No one knows exactly when the final results will be posted, but it could be as long as one week.

Still, it’s unlikely that both measures will grow enough to go over the two-thirds mark. They would have to win about 75 percent of the remaining votes. Not impossible, but not likely. For up-to-date coverage, see Berkeleyside.

In the meantime, we should take a step back and recognize what we have accomplished. Many different sectors of the Berkeley community set aside their differences on other issues to join ranks behind our campaign. We united people around a vision that was positive, inclusive and forward-looking. It was happy. It was progressive. It brought together all of Berkeley -- kids and old folks, lap swimmers and the disabled, South, West and North Berkeley. Our campaign showed the best of Berkeley values, the best of our community's dreams.

Special thanks are due to Inkworks Press, which played a stellar role in our campaign. (If you have any print jobs to do, we could not recommend Inkworks more highly!) Also the Berkeley Teachers Federation and the Building Trades Unions for their generosity and support. City Council members Kriss Worthington and Gordon Wozniak were extremely helpful, and members of the Progressive slate for the Rent Board provided lots of leg muscle and generosity in helping distribute our flyers citywide. The list of thank-yous is long: Mayor Tom Bates; Council members Laurie Capitelli, Darryl Moore, Max Anderson and Jesse Arreguin; SEIU Local 1021; George Beier for his database advice; Alex Jermyn of Jermyn Manthripragada Architecture; David Petta of ELS Architecture.

We are especially grateful to Dr. Cindy Chang, former chief medical officer of the U.S. Olympic Team, who publicly endorsed Measures O and N and allowed her statement to be used in our literature.

Overall, the electoral message for us is pretty clear. We have had two tries now -- Measure C in 2010 and Measures O and N now, with similar results. For the next couple years at least, we must see what can be done to improve Berkeley aquatics with the resources that the City has at hand. Luckily, the state's Proposition 30 won, so the City of Berkeley is safe from sudden budget cutbacks. Let's hope the economic recovery will continue, allowing municipal budgeting to loosen somewhat and give increased funding for city aquatics. In any case, we aren't going away, and Berkeley Pools for All can and will continue to play a positive role in advocating for Berkeley's pools and aquatics programs. We are the people of Berkeley, and this is our home.

The Daily Cal Endorses Measures O and N

Berkeley has reduced the number of public pools it operates from four to just two. Willard Pool closed in 2010 due to insufficient funds, and the Warm Water Pool at Berkeley High School shut down last December in preparation for the building’s demolition. The elimination of these facilities has left many Berkeley residents without sufficient access to an invaluable public amenity — a problem that Measures N and O can fix. Measure N will fund construction to replace the closed pools by issuing bonds of up to $19.4 million, which are also intended to finance repairs and renovations at the city’s other pools. Measure O will levy a $0.00779 per square foot tax on land improvements to fund the upkeep of the new pools approved by Measure N. Since the closure of Willard Pool, community members have made it clear that pools are an important priority, and they deserve this service. Pools are not a luxury — they are an irreplaceable community asset. Aside from recreational purposes, they provide a space for children and adults to learn the skill of swimming, which can save lives. Elderly residents and children with special needs can also benefit tremendously from a warm pool. Restore Berkeley’s pools to their proper state. Vote yes on Measure N and Measure O.

Judy Appel: Good pools make for good schools

Judy Appel, who is a candidate for School Board, was kind enough to cut a brief endorsement video explaining why she supports O and N. She sums it up in a nutshell: “Having good pools here in Berkeley is critical for the health and happiness of our kids. Good pools make for good schools." 

Caveat: We are fortunate that the other two candidates for the School Board, Beatriz Leyva-Cutler and Tracy Hollander, also have endorsed Measures O and N. All three are fine candidates. Our pools campaign is a "big tent" encompassing a wide variety of Berkeley's diverse political camps, and we are not endorsing any candidate or other ballot measure in this year’s election. Given that, we thought Judy’s video was an especially generous gesture.