Get the city more into the swim

Another summer has arrived, and I look forward to being able to take my swimming workouts outside to our 50-meter, eight-lane city pool, the Martin Luther King Jr. pool, located next to what would be the shadows of the old Cooper River bridges.

Hats off to the capable and friendly staff who run the pool. They do a super job with limited resources. However, as was the case last summer, I find that my afternoon swim workouts are not in a pool, but one half a pool.

Each day half of the lanes in this public city pool remain closed. Empty. Unused. Lap swimmers, recreational swimmers and swimming students are forced to share the remaining four lanes. I have heard that this is the result of city budget cuts, which do not allow them to staff the pool with the number of lifeguards mandated by DHEC.

The other day I shared a lane with three other people. No problem, but right next to me were 16 children trying their best to learn to swim, all crammed into the shallow end of a single lane. These children were trying their best to practice their swim strokes, but mostly just kept flailing about as they kept running into their peers.

This is no way to teach our children to swim, let alone treat residents who want their children to enjoy the health and safety benefits of swimming.

The city recently found money to replace the dilapidated winter dome that covered this pool. Surely it can find money to hire a few extra lifeguards and give the pool a much needed facelift. Perhaps if half of City Hall were closed every summer, we could find the money to hire a few summer lifeguards?

JOHN PETERS
Coral Reef Drive

Johns Island