Members of ‘Save McAdams Pool’ group cry foul to city leaders

Over 40 supporters of a group wanting to save the pool McAdams Park attended the Wichita City Council meeting Tuesday, donning blue buttons with a rubber swim duck and the words “Save McAdams Pool” stamped on them.

The group, which has more than 200 members on its Facebook page that was started in June, had three speakers present to council members Tuesday morning.

The speakers, pediatrician Amy Seery, neighborhood member Timora Parker and Wichita African American Council of Elders administrator Wakeelah Mutazammil-Martinez, discussed the importance and benefits of a community pool, the negatives of splash pads and potential swim education programming that encourages McAdams pool reopen.

McAdams pool closed this year as a part of Wichita’s Aquatics Master Plan, which outlines that all but three city pools will be closed by 2023 and replaced with a splash pad or other amenities.

Seery said she applauds the city’s efforts in bringing splash pads to the community, but they don’t cut it.

“Accidental drownings are a huge cause of death every year for children and we know that swimming skills can be very preventative against that,” she said. “Also, we’re wanting the community to be very physically active, but splash pads are for little kids. What about everybody else?”

Parker, an 8-year-old who used McAdams pool before it closed, shared similar thoughts with the council.

“Only 2- and 3-year-olds like a splash pad. Not big kids like me,” she said, addressing council members while sporting her white T-shirt with the words “Dive in to help save McAdams pool” printed on the front. “A splash pad is equivalent to riding a bicycle with training wheels for the rest of your life.”

State Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, D-Wichita; State Rep. Elizabeth Bishop, D-Wichita, District 1 City Council candidate Brandon Johnson and multiple members of the Council of Elders were also in attendance Tuesday.

Faust-Goudeau, whose daughters learned to swim at McAdams pool, said she’s angered and disappointed with the pool’s closing.

Mutazammil-Martinez agreed, saying that the community needs a place for swim education. That’s why, she said, she’s working with USA Swimming and her chapter of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority to bring a program called Swim 1922 to Wichita.

The program, a partnership between the two organizations, works to increase swim participation and decrease drowning rates within African-American communities through swim programming.

Nearly 70 percent of African American youth have little to no swimming ability, according to research from the USA Swimming Foundation and the University of Memphis.

Mutazammil-Martinez said Swim 1922 has agreed to bring its programming to Wichita, but she will need to work with the council to discuss how and where the programming will take place.

Lavonta Williams, councilwoman for District 1 where McAdams pool is located, said she welcomes the opportunity to talk with the organization and the Council of Elders about bringing more swim education to the area.

However, Williams said it isn’t likely McAdams could be reopened for the programming.

“It would take about $11,000 to $12,000 just to open it for a few days,” she said.

And that, Williams said, is the main issue – money.

According to the Aquatics Master Plan, McAdams pool had the lowest revenue, cost recovery and attendance of all city pools in 2016.

Vernette Chance, one of the leaders of the Save McAdams Pool group, said their goal Tuesday was to show the council the problems with the proposed aquatics plan and let them know the community cares.

“Everybody felt it needed to be said. Whether it changes anything or not,” Chance said. “Because it’s just wrong.”

The group, which meets weekly, will have new speakers present at the July 18 council meeting with more information regarding the benefits of community pools and possible alternative to pursue.

This story was originally published July 11, 2017 at 1:36 PM with the headline "Members of ‘Save McAdams Pool’ group cry foul to city leaders ."