Tag Archives: Willard pool
Op-Ed: Berkeley — take steps to re-open Willard pool
Sadly, Measures O & N failed to obtain the required 2/3 vote.
I urge the Berkeley Unified School District Board, and the Berkeley City Council, to take the steps necessary to re-open Willard pool as soon as possible.
Re-opening Willard pool would cost just a fraction of the costs that would have been incurred under Measures O & N. Prop 30 passed, and we ought to be able to afford to re-open Willard pool.
Berkeley has access to measure … Continue reading »
Pools campaign holds mock swimathon for Measures N, O
Angel Jaramillo, a 4th grader at John Muir Elementary School, has never swum at Berkeley’s Willard pool. His family sometimes take him to the Richmond Plunge. But, he said, he hopes that by the time he’s in 7th grade he will be able to swim at Willard — and he’ll be bringing his snorkeling mask.
Jaramillo was one of many children who came to the middle school pool on Derby and Telegraph on Saturday Oct. 13 to drum up support for ballot Measures N and O which would raise the funds necessary to re-open the pool, build a new warm pool, and maintain two other city pools. Willard Pool was closed in June 2010 and filled with dirt in January 2011. Corn and other edible plants now grow out of a section of the main pool and vegetation sprouts from the diving pool. … Continue reading »
Save our pools: Invest in people, close the opportunity gap
When the last bell rings and school is out for the summer, I want my fifth graders to be reading, having adventures, and… doing cannonballs. Swimming is good, clean fun — and pools offer water safety, fitness, healthy social development (removed from phones, television and video games) and a sense of community.
Prior to 2010, there were four operational city pools serving four different communities in Berkeley. King pool in north Berkeley, West Campus pool in west Berkeley, the warm … Continue reading »
Community rallies to get pool measure on ballot
About 75 people rallied on the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Derby Street in Berkeley Sunday afternoon to convince the City Council to put a pool bond measure on the November ballot.
Holding signs that read “Save Willard Pool,” and “Honk if you like to swim,” the group of students, parents, and community members yelled, chanted, and encouraged people to sign a petition that called for the reopening of Willard pool, which was closed and filled with dirt in 2010. (The petition is also posted at Change.org.)
“I would like to see Willard Pool open again,” said Amelie Melde Fontenay, a parent of a Willard School student. “My only son got here just in time to see the pool filled in with dirt. I don’t think it’s fair that the other two (middle) schools have pools and Willard doesn’t.” … Continue reading »
Will Willard Pool become a vegetable garden?
About a dozen UC Berkeley students were working at the filled-in Willard Pool on Saturday, cleaning up the premises and hauling rich dirt to place on top of the soil used to fill in the pools after they shut down.
The students were part of The Berkeley Project, a Cal group that sends volunteers to the city of Berkeley to help out community groups. Each fall, The Berkeley Project hosts a project event day where thousands of students work around the East Bay. In the spring, it hosts a project month where volunteers help community organizations the last three Saturdays before spring break.
The students working at the Willard pool were loading dirt piled on Derby Street into wheelbarrows, rolling them to the small, filled-in pool and spreading it with rakes.
“It will be some kind of garden,” said Phil Harper-Cotton, a city recreation program supervisor. “Whether it will be vegetables or flowers , we haven’t figure it out.”
Willard swimming pool is now filled with mud
The city of Berkeley has filled Willard pool with dirt. The pool was shut down June 30, 2010 after voters rejected Measure C, which would have imposed a special tax to help maintain Berkeley’s four public swimming pools.
Don’t make the mistake of trying to dive in.
Comment: Voting on Measure C shows a city split
Robert Collier, co-chair of the Berkeley Pools Campaign, has analysed the results of the votes cast for and against Measure C, the failure of which led to yesterday’s closure of Willard Pool.
At 7:30 pm Wednesday, after exactly 46 years and four days of serving the children and adults of south Berkeley, Willard Pool closed for what may be the last time. Swimmers finished their final laps as the sun set westward. Lifeguards drew the covers and prepared to turn off … Continue reading »
Swimmers lament today’s closing of Willard Pool
By Elinor Holland
Despite a last ditch effort by a city councilmember, Berkeley’s Willard Pool is scheduled to shut today, Wednesday June 30. (Watch the slideshow above to see views of the pool on its last day. Click on “captions” for information on the pool.)
The City Council on Tuesday voted down a plan put forward by Gordon Wozniak to keep the pool open by diverting payments from employee health club benefits to the to the pool. … Continue reading »
Last-gasp bid to save Willard Pool eyes city subsidies
An eleventh hour attempt to save Willard Pool, at least for the summer, has been hatched by the head of a Berkeley neighborhood association and will be presented at tonight’s City Council meeting by councilmember Gordon Wozniak who supports the idea.
The proposal, conceived by George Beier, the President of the Willard Neighborhood Association, would see money diverted from subsidies currently given to city employees for membership of the YMCA. The city provides $230,000 a year to subsidize … Continue reading »
Some Berkeley city offices to close two days a month
Some Berkeley city offices will be closed two Fridays a month, as well as the week between Christmas and New Years, under the $318 million city budget adopted Tuesday night by the City Council.
The customer counter at 1947 Center Street, as well as city offices at 2180 Milvia Street, will be closed 29 days in fiscal 2010-2011, compared to 19 days this year.
The extra closures means the city will not have to lay off any workers … Continue reading »
