Group calls to keep Edmonds pool open
Published 10:47 pm Wednesday, April 1, 2009
EDMONDS — Mitchell Stern practically lived at Yost Pool last summer after he sold his longtime dental practice in Meadowdale.
He swam six days a week, sometimes more than once a day, in the city’s aging, now-endangered outdoor pool.
This spring, Stern is helping fight for the pool’s future.
Mayor Gary Haakenson said last month that Yost Pool would not open this summer for its annual four-month season, as the city wrestles with a deepening financial crisis. Officials plan to go to city voters for a multimillion-dollar levy in November.
In the meantime, expenses must be curtailed, said Haakenson, who now is negotiating concessions from the city’s labor unions in order to save the budget.
At first, Yost’s closure wasn’t a discussion; it was an announcement from Haakenson that caught even City Council members off guard.
Last winter, after months of wrangling over the pool’s future, officials announced the pool would open for its 2009 and 2010 seasons. Suddenly, though, it wouldn’t. Closing the pool would save the city between $80,000 and $120,000, Haakenson said.
The mayor is trying to close a retail sales tax shortfall of $1 million for 2009. The city’s general-fund budget is $34 million.
Stern was shocked about Yost’s closure. He had just seen “The Last Samurai,” a Tom Cruise movie about ancient Japanese warfare. “I said, ‘I’m going to fight this to the last man,’ ” Stern said.
“This is really about the kids and the families of Edmonds, the second generation of people going through that pool,” he said.
Stern joined a cadre of impromptu Yost Pool activists and watched happily as a group of more than 730 people joined a Facebook group in support of the pool.
The group started raising awareness and looking closely at city budget numbers.
Last summer the pool earned money from fees collected on 735 swim lessons and from 195 swim team members and thousands of people swimming just for a day. That raised about $33,280 for the city.
Another $40,000 could be raised if Edmonds charged higher fees, on par with Mountlake Terrace, said resident Scott Hopper, a longtime banker. Donations could raise more. The group already has come up with more than $8,000.
If the pool isn’t opened, the donations will be returned.
Haakenson gave the group until April 14 to convince him and the council that their plan can work.
“If they think they can do it, more power to them,” Haakenson said. “I just know it’s a big number that needs to be raised.”
Enterprise Reporter Amy Daybert contributed to this report.
How to help
Donations to support Yost Pool can be made by check or in person at the city parks department. Make checks payable to the city of Edmonds Parks Trust Fund. Write Yost Pool on the memo line, attention Renee McRae. The address is 700 Main St., Edmonds, WA 98020.
