I have lived in Sebastopol for 34 years and have used our wonderful Ives Pool all of these years - from the yearly times with young children to my retirement years as a regular lap swimmer and Aqua Aerobics participant.
We are so fortunate to have Ives Pool and even more fortunate that our pool serves our WHOLE community - from toddlers to the elderly, from the able bodied to the physically challenged. This diversity of programs is the best! Most programs would like more pool time, but to serve the full range of needs, no one program gets all it wants and that is OK by me as a die-hard aquatics advocate.
The fact is our local swim team, the Sebastopol Sea Serpents, has a contract with WSCS to run their practices during the 3-6:30 "prime time" that this article takes issue with not being available for Recreational Swim. If you live in Sebastopol, you know how important SSS is to our kids and families.
Let's be grateful for what we have and for the volunteer board that keeps the pool going so well, and for our Aquatics Director has operated the pool so well for over 20 years!
This article is really important. My kids have aged out but the schedule at Ives is a clear reflection of the city's lack of focus and care for families. As a lap swimmer and someone over 50, I still fail to see how children having pool time is not the absolutely #1 priority of a municipal pool. I realize the pool is not municipal but it has that mission, and instead it caters to a mostly adult and paying clientele - or a paid swim team. I realize the city is in no place to financially support the pool because the city council has chronically mismanaged the budget so there is probably no answer. But this gets to our priorities, just like the proposal for the soccer fields downtown.
I am a life-long swimmer at Ives Pool, from swimming lessons as a child to lap swim and public swim as an adult. We are so fortunate to have this pool still operating a wide variety of aquatic programs in the West County, and still maintained in good condition, 85 years after it was first opened.
As a non-profit and not a city-operated facility, the pool can only remain open by covering the full cost of operations through user fees and generous community donations, and therefore must consider the broader needs of the community as well as the consistency of pool users. I know that the manager and board of directors work hard to balance the needs of all demographics in our community and strive to provide programs for everyone from the youngest child to the eldest senior.
During summer, children have the bulk of pool time in the form of morning and evening swimming lessons, kids' camps, public swim, and swim team. The article incorrectly suggests that the pool is out of use after 2:45 pm, when in fact that is when it continues to serve children and youth through the Sebastopol Sea Serpents swim team. There is hardly a moment during summer when children are not using the pool and also learning to be safe in the water.
It's understandable that some patrons would like to have a community pool for leisure time for entire summer afternoons, but, unfortunately, those patrons only show up when it's over 90 degrees. A community pool can't support itself on fair-weather users who wish to override existing programs for their own temporary convenience.
That I needed to subscribe to this newspaper in order to leave a comment illustrates the point: you can't have a community resource without consistent community support. Unfortunately, some people get hot under the collar only when it's hot outside.
I have taught Water Aerobics for over 30 years at Ives Pool. I have watched it grow over the years. It was poorly managed 30 years ago, often not even opening at the advertised hour due to staff who did not show up and with no way to reach management. The pool manager was rarely seen at Ives.
In the last 20 years I have watched Ives pool become efficiently managed by a manager who is fully aware of everything it takes to keep a community swimming pool running smoothly and safely. The manager is at the pool and can be reached if there is a problem. Pool users see him and know who he is.
Ives is a relatively small facility that serves many people not just from Sebastopol but from the entire West County area. It is a non profit which relies primarily on user fees to keep the pool running.
The number of community members that use the pool has grown so much in these last years because of the excellent and varied programs offered at our beloved community pool. Over the years I have heard occasional complaints because the pool doesn't offer exactly what a specific person wants at exactly the time that works for them. The management and the board have done everything possible to juggle the needs of so many constituencies young and old, but there will always a few people who will feel disappointed.
The pool is always in use, especially in the summer months. The Sea Serpent Swim Team is a year round program that uses the pool from 3pm to 6 everyday. Ives Pool has been the home of the Sea Serpents for many years. It is an important program for children.
I applaud the Board and management for the great job they are doing to serve as many people as possible in a safe and equitable way.
It seems we have something wonderful to celebrate in a pool that so many want to enjoy in so many ways! That the aquatics director, the pool board and the city have managed to keep this 85-year-old facility (!), not only up and running, but inviting in times when public programs are asked to do so much with so little, is no small fete and something, as a year-round user of Ives pool, I am grateful for. It is also very understandable that families would wish to have more time at the pool during the summer. However, to suggest the pool is not serving families or children seems quite different from what I have experienced at the pool.
For example, as The Sebastopol Times shared earlier in the year, there is the Rotary learn to swim program that is freely offered to the area’s second graders; and over the past forty years has helped to make thousands of children more water safe than they would have been without Ives hosting this program. There are the daily swim lessons when Ives is filled with families; and yes, there are Sebastopol Sea Serpents age-group swimmers who are there practicing in the late afternoons and early evenings -- in a mutually beneficial relationship for the swimmers, their families, and the rental income that helps support the existence of Ives pool with its variety of programs that serve the public.
It makes sense that we all might want more of a good thing. But let’s also be careful to paint a true picture. Much time, effort and experience has gone into creating and maintaining a program that serves everyone, families included; and there’s a long-time director whose dedicated efforts have much to do with why the pool is so highly sought-after and enjoyed by so many, and with fees that strive to be as affordable as possible while operating costs only increase.
Words on the page, including these, are always going to come up short in some ways, and these comments are not meant to discount anyone’s experience. In my own experience, the sound and sights of children learning to swim and enjoying Ives are what I’ve been seeing and delighting in throughout the summer; and I’ve heard from more than one young staff member that a part of what makes working at the pool so special is that they grew up coming to Ives with their families and learning to swim there.
If the pool were not so carefully operating within a schedule that helps meet challenging budgetary demands, we sadly would not even have a pool for people to be wanting more from, but fortunately we do. Ives is a jewel in our community, and I hope it can continue to be looked after and shared for many more years, even decades to come. Hoping you all get to have a swim and/or a splash at Ives when you can if you like, even when it’s not sunny out it can still be really great!
Thank you for asking this question and for this article!
14 hours of public swim a week and they are touting that? That is appaling if they are open 12 hours a day for 7 days= 84 hours a week. That's 16.7% of the available time for open swim. The lap swimmers run the show over there. We stopped going when they would kick us and our kids out at 2:45 with three of the hottest hours of the day to go. It's not a solution if you need to cool down- cuz then what?!
Rather than just complain, here's a suggestion- Adopt a "Spare the Heat" policy. When the temp is over, say, 80 degrees, have extended open swim hours through 6pm using the kiddie pool and a couple lanes in the deep end. People need places to cool off, and our rivers and the coast are far away, can be costly or prohibitive for some families, and are crowded. A program like that may see increased interest and actually bring in more revenue, as well as get people to stop referring to the Ives Pool as the "Lap Swimmers Pool" or less nice names I will not share here.
Like so many things in Sebastopol, resources go to those with money and free time to advocate (and complain). It's hard enough for working families to get to the pool, going to a board meeting for pool access advocacy doesn't really feel viable.
I have lived in Sebastopol for 34 years and have used our wonderful Ives Pool all of these years - from the yearly times with young children to my retirement years as a regular lap swimmer and Aqua Aerobics participant.
We are so fortunate to have Ives Pool and even more fortunate that our pool serves our WHOLE community - from toddlers to the elderly, from the able bodied to the physically challenged. This diversity of programs is the best! Most programs would like more pool time, but to serve the full range of needs, no one program gets all it wants and that is OK by me as a die-hard aquatics advocate.
The fact is our local swim team, the Sebastopol Sea Serpents, has a contract with WSCS to run their practices during the 3-6:30 "prime time" that this article takes issue with not being available for Recreational Swim. If you live in Sebastopol, you know how important SSS is to our kids and families.
Let's be grateful for what we have and for the volunteer board that keeps the pool going so well, and for our Aquatics Director has operated the pool so well for over 20 years!
Virginia Anderegg
This article is really important. My kids have aged out but the schedule at Ives is a clear reflection of the city's lack of focus and care for families. As a lap swimmer and someone over 50, I still fail to see how children having pool time is not the absolutely #1 priority of a municipal pool. I realize the pool is not municipal but it has that mission, and instead it caters to a mostly adult and paying clientele - or a paid swim team. I realize the city is in no place to financially support the pool because the city council has chronically mismanaged the budget so there is probably no answer. But this gets to our priorities, just like the proposal for the soccer fields downtown.
I am a life-long swimmer at Ives Pool, from swimming lessons as a child to lap swim and public swim as an adult. We are so fortunate to have this pool still operating a wide variety of aquatic programs in the West County, and still maintained in good condition, 85 years after it was first opened.
As a non-profit and not a city-operated facility, the pool can only remain open by covering the full cost of operations through user fees and generous community donations, and therefore must consider the broader needs of the community as well as the consistency of pool users. I know that the manager and board of directors work hard to balance the needs of all demographics in our community and strive to provide programs for everyone from the youngest child to the eldest senior.
During summer, children have the bulk of pool time in the form of morning and evening swimming lessons, kids' camps, public swim, and swim team. The article incorrectly suggests that the pool is out of use after 2:45 pm, when in fact that is when it continues to serve children and youth through the Sebastopol Sea Serpents swim team. There is hardly a moment during summer when children are not using the pool and also learning to be safe in the water.
It's understandable that some patrons would like to have a community pool for leisure time for entire summer afternoons, but, unfortunately, those patrons only show up when it's over 90 degrees. A community pool can't support itself on fair-weather users who wish to override existing programs for their own temporary convenience.
That I needed to subscribe to this newspaper in order to leave a comment illustrates the point: you can't have a community resource without consistent community support. Unfortunately, some people get hot under the collar only when it's hot outside.
I have taught Water Aerobics for over 30 years at Ives Pool. I have watched it grow over the years. It was poorly managed 30 years ago, often not even opening at the advertised hour due to staff who did not show up and with no way to reach management. The pool manager was rarely seen at Ives.
In the last 20 years I have watched Ives pool become efficiently managed by a manager who is fully aware of everything it takes to keep a community swimming pool running smoothly and safely. The manager is at the pool and can be reached if there is a problem. Pool users see him and know who he is.
Ives is a relatively small facility that serves many people not just from Sebastopol but from the entire West County area. It is a non profit which relies primarily on user fees to keep the pool running.
The number of community members that use the pool has grown so much in these last years because of the excellent and varied programs offered at our beloved community pool. Over the years I have heard occasional complaints because the pool doesn't offer exactly what a specific person wants at exactly the time that works for them. The management and the board have done everything possible to juggle the needs of so many constituencies young and old, but there will always a few people who will feel disappointed.
The pool is always in use, especially in the summer months. The Sea Serpent Swim Team is a year round program that uses the pool from 3pm to 6 everyday. Ives Pool has been the home of the Sea Serpents for many years. It is an important program for children.
I applaud the Board and management for the great job they are doing to serve as many people as possible in a safe and equitable way.
Ives is a wonderful resource for Sebastopol and county residents.
It seems we have something wonderful to celebrate in a pool that so many want to enjoy in so many ways! That the aquatics director, the pool board and the city have managed to keep this 85-year-old facility (!), not only up and running, but inviting in times when public programs are asked to do so much with so little, is no small fete and something, as a year-round user of Ives pool, I am grateful for. It is also very understandable that families would wish to have more time at the pool during the summer. However, to suggest the pool is not serving families or children seems quite different from what I have experienced at the pool.
For example, as The Sebastopol Times shared earlier in the year, there is the Rotary learn to swim program that is freely offered to the area’s second graders; and over the past forty years has helped to make thousands of children more water safe than they would have been without Ives hosting this program. There are the daily swim lessons when Ives is filled with families; and yes, there are Sebastopol Sea Serpents age-group swimmers who are there practicing in the late afternoons and early evenings -- in a mutually beneficial relationship for the swimmers, their families, and the rental income that helps support the existence of Ives pool with its variety of programs that serve the public.
It makes sense that we all might want more of a good thing. But let’s also be careful to paint a true picture. Much time, effort and experience has gone into creating and maintaining a program that serves everyone, families included; and there’s a long-time director whose dedicated efforts have much to do with why the pool is so highly sought-after and enjoyed by so many, and with fees that strive to be as affordable as possible while operating costs only increase.
Words on the page, including these, are always going to come up short in some ways, and these comments are not meant to discount anyone’s experience. In my own experience, the sound and sights of children learning to swim and enjoying Ives are what I’ve been seeing and delighting in throughout the summer; and I’ve heard from more than one young staff member that a part of what makes working at the pool so special is that they grew up coming to Ives with their families and learning to swim there.
If the pool were not so carefully operating within a schedule that helps meet challenging budgetary demands, we sadly would not even have a pool for people to be wanting more from, but fortunately we do. Ives is a jewel in our community, and I hope it can continue to be looked after and shared for many more years, even decades to come. Hoping you all get to have a swim and/or a splash at Ives when you can if you like, even when it’s not sunny out it can still be really great!
Thank you for asking this question and for this article!
14 hours of public swim a week and they are touting that? That is appaling if they are open 12 hours a day for 7 days= 84 hours a week. That's 16.7% of the available time for open swim. The lap swimmers run the show over there. We stopped going when they would kick us and our kids out at 2:45 with three of the hottest hours of the day to go. It's not a solution if you need to cool down- cuz then what?!
Rather than just complain, here's a suggestion- Adopt a "Spare the Heat" policy. When the temp is over, say, 80 degrees, have extended open swim hours through 6pm using the kiddie pool and a couple lanes in the deep end. People need places to cool off, and our rivers and the coast are far away, can be costly or prohibitive for some families, and are crowded. A program like that may see increased interest and actually bring in more revenue, as well as get people to stop referring to the Ives Pool as the "Lap Swimmers Pool" or less nice names I will not share here.
Like so many things in Sebastopol, resources go to those with money and free time to advocate (and complain). It's hard enough for working families to get to the pool, going to a board meeting for pool access advocacy doesn't really feel viable.