Why America stopped building public pools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If I had an extra public $ to invest, I would place it in housing subsidies for the elderly, low-income, homeless or maybe in food banks rather than in building a public pool or golf course.

That's not racism. It is a sober assessment of where public funds are most needed.


We should be doing housing, food banks, libraries, and public pools. The latter keeps kids off street, helps during heat waves, and teaches a valuable skill, swimming, that can help ward off tragic drowning incidents.

+1 Someone mentioned that golf, tennis, and swimming are "country club" activities. No. Swimming is a survival skill. Golf and tennis are not. The Navy would like recruits to know how to swim. It is preferable to learn this skill as a child. I would like first responders to know how to swim during flooding events. It is nice if people can help themselves during those events.

One of the biggest fears some of my minority coworkers have (and talk about) is being stuck in a car with water rising around them. They also mention how they were not allowed to use pools due to segregation back in the day (places like Glen Echo did not allow them to swim). It is truly something that they would like to have learned and it is not for "country club" or "elite" reasons.

Learning to swim saves lives. There's a reason that the Red Cross promotes it! Look up Red Cross swimming lessons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


Where did people swim? Where did they learn to swim? Did the schools have swim teams? If so, did the swim teams "share the pool"? How does that work?


NY poster here. I didn’t know anyone on a swim team and don’t know if high schools had them. Swimming lessons were not a priority, certainly not proper strokes. I can do a basic doggy paddle. We swam if we ever went on vacation to a lake or a place with a pool. The local Y had a pool but I don’t remember taking lessons. To this day, my father in his 70s can’t swim. Also, I never heard of beach week for teens until moving here.

Okay, so you did have access to a pool. You probably didn't swim because your father didn't swim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a town in NJ that was mostly white and there weren’t any community pools. First time I ever heard of such a thing was when I moved to VA. Nobody cared at all. Why would there be shared pools?

Same experience in NY. It wasn’t as hot as VA but there wasn’t the obsessive pool and swim culture. When my kids were younger, we didn’t belong to a pool because of wait lists. We went to the rec centers, the Watermine and spray parks. There were plenty of public options.

I’m also from New York and there was absolutely obsessive swim and pool culture, especially at the high school level. The stark difference I have noticed is that while my (suburban NYC) summer swim team was competing area municipalities, the NoVa swim teams are all private pools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a liability issue. For example, Recently there was an incident and now many of the public lap pools in DC make you get out every 45 minutes on the hour.

There has always been adult swim like this.

If you mean the clear the whole pool, that is likely because they don't have enough lifeguards to also give breaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Temperatures like this have happened on the planet before and even while our human ancestors were around. Global temperatures have only been tracked since about 1880. So not a long historical record.

What we have going on right now is not normal.

[Anonymous]

Public pools are so revolting. I wouldn't even touch the water.

You might as well invite the neighbors over to take a bath with you. Gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a liability issue. For example, Recently there was an incident and now many of the public lap pools in DC make you get out every 45 minutes on the hour.

There has always been adult swim like this.

If you mean the clear the whole pool, that is likely because they don't have enough lifeguards to also give breaks.

+1 Our neighborhood pool has done this for over twenty years. I think it is also to make the young swimmers take a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC Parks & Recs is building a new public pool at Walter Reed? Maybe more of a M and V problem. DC has limited land but I feel like Wards just have to get the requests heard. I personally hate indoor pools so I don’t go to DC pools.

DC has a ton of outdoor pools. I am actually surprised to hear they are building another, but that spot kind of makes sense because the only other pool in that area is indoor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a town in NJ that was mostly white and there weren’t any community pools. First time I ever heard of such a thing was when I moved to VA. Nobody cared at all. Why would there be shared pools?

Same experience in NY. It wasn’t as hot as VA but there wasn’t the obsessive pool and swim culture. When my kids were younger, we didn’t belong to a pool because of wait lists. We went to the rec centers, the Watermine and spray parks. There were plenty of public options.

I’m also from New York and there was absolutely obsessive swim and pool culture, especially at the high school level. The stark difference I have noticed is that while my (suburban NYC) summer swim team was competing area municipalities, the NoVa swim teams are all private pools.

My mom was born and raised in Queens in the 50s and 60s. She swam at the local Y and was on the swim team, I think through her Catholic diocese school. There was no way my grandparents could’ve afforded a private pool membership, given that my grandfather was a glass blower and my grandma was a waitress. She said they also swam in the ocean at Brighton Beach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public pools are so revolting. I wouldn't even touch the water.

You might as well invite the neighbors over to take a bath with you. Gross.

How is that different from private pools? Please explain...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC Parks & Recs is building a new public pool at Walter Reed? Maybe more of a M and V problem. DC has limited land but I feel like Wards just have to get the requests heard. I personally hate indoor pools so I don’t go to DC pools.

DC has lots of public pools, indoor and outdoor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a liability issue. For example, Recently there was an incident and now many of the public lap pools in DC make you get out every 45 minutes on the hour.

There has always been adult swim like this.

If you mean the clear the whole pool, that is likely because they don't have enough lifeguards to also give breaks.

+1 Our neighborhood pool has done this for over twenty years. I think it is also to make the young swimmers take a break.

+1 Our neighborhood pool does this as well. It’s to keep kids from getting overtired and gets them to go to the bathroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a town in NJ that was mostly white and there weren’t any community pools. First time I ever heard of such a thing was when I moved to VA. Nobody cared at all. Why would there be shared pools?

Same experience in NY. It wasn’t as hot as VA but there wasn’t the obsessive pool and swim culture. When my kids were younger, we didn’t belong to a pool because of wait lists. We went to the rec centers, the Watermine and spray parks. There were plenty of public options.

I’m also from New York and there was absolutely obsessive swim and pool culture, especially at the high school level. The stark difference I have noticed is that while my (suburban NYC) summer swim team was competing area municipalities, the NoVa swim teams are all private pools.

I grew up on Long Island, and that's how it was for us too. Our public high school had a pool, and the swimming and dive team competed with other high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a town in NJ that was mostly white and there weren’t any community pools. First time I ever heard of such a thing was when I moved to VA. Nobody cared at all. Why would there be shared pools?

Same experience in NY. It wasn’t as hot as VA but there wasn’t the obsessive pool and swim culture. When my kids were younger, we didn’t belong to a pool because of wait lists. We went to the rec centers, the Watermine and spray parks. There were plenty of public options.

I’m also from New York and there was absolutely obsessive swim and pool culture, especially at the high school level. The stark difference I have noticed is that while my (suburban NYC) summer swim team was competing area municipalities, the NoVa swim teams are all private pools.

My mom was born and raised in Queens in the 50s and 60s. She swam at the local Y and was on the swim team, I think through her Catholic diocese school. There was no way my grandparents could’ve afforded a private pool membership, given that my grandfather was a glass blower and my grandma was a waitress. She said they also swam in the ocean at Brighton Beach.

I do not recall a pool at the Y nearest us. Was only there a couple of times with a friend. i didn’t have a car to get there. Backyard swim lessons only taught most of us to sorta tread water — my feet always hit the bottom of the pool. Most were circular or short ovals that were at best 30’ long (that was the width of most houses). They may have been shorter.
-white urbanite

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a town that was almost 100% white and there was no public pool. Not everything is about racism.

Seriously 😒