January 5, 2005

Remember the Land Swap?

Tony Desmond, Los Altos

As a lifelong resident of Los Altos and a supporter of the Rosita Pool project, I have attended more city council meetings than I want to recount. However, a couple meetings worth remembering happened in 2000 when the "land swap" between the Los Altos School District and the city was conceived and then approved.

The school district had planned a large mantenance yard at Rosita Park, which would have eliminated the mini park and the tennis courts.

The land swap moved that maintenance yard to the McKenzie Park and the pool plan to Rosita.

The entire Rosita neighborhood may not have been aware of what was happening in 2000, but some were at the meetings and one of the loudest proponents of that swap is now just as loudly claiming he doesn't think Rosita is a good place for a pool.

There was a pool at Covington School for 50 years, but now it is a "blight," according to the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, the school district maintenance yard has been built and is operating at McKenzie Park while Rosita neighbors are threatening another lawsuit.

January 26, 2005

Why Two Pools are Necessary

Barbara Callison, Los Altos

This letter is in response to Eric Lutkin's comments on retaining one pool similar in size to the previous Covington pool.

Senior citizens, young children and water exercise classes require higher water temperatures than master swimmers or competitive swim teams.

A single pool would not accommodate the needs of a community the size of Los Altos. After waiting 4-5 years to build a pool, it would be a shame to build inadequate facilities.

Two pools would allow Los Altos to provide warm water to encourage beginners and the older population into physical fitness programs.

Water at least 85 degrees is best to teach Red Cross lessons to young children. Drowning is still the number one cause of deaths among pre-school children, and Los Altos has a high ratio of pools per house. I taught young children to swim for 22 years.

Other programs require temperatures around 80 degrees. I am a master swimmer of 32 years always swimming in Palo Alto because Los Altos has never had a pool with sufficient number of lanes or deep enough water to make safe flip turns.

I coached the Covington Critters for five years in the 1980s. Neighbors complained about parking and noise then so it does not seem like a lot has changed in 30 years.

As for traffic, I have not seen mentioned the fact that pool traffic would be highest in the summer but school traffic would be lowest at this time. Where does the reported increased traffic come from?