Much-needed repairs and upgrades are coming to the Martin Luther King Center and Joinville pools after years of maintenance and structural issues.
The Joinville facility, located in the Shoreview neighborhood, is more than 60 years old and has several structural defects, as well as mechanical and electrical issues and inadequate storage space. The pool at the King Center, located in the North Central neighborhood, was built in 1969 and also has a number of issues, including filtration and circulation problems.
During the City Council meeting Nov. 18, councilmembers approved some fixes that would cost about $900,000, which would come from the city’s reserves, or rainy day fund.
“This is that rainy day that I'm asking the council for direction and recommendation on … so we position ourselves to make generational upgrades for this community. The time has come and gone. You’re looking at 50, 60 years of these facilities that haven’t had the level of preventative, proactive maintenance recently,” City Manager Alex Khojikian said.
Lisa Tealer, executive director of the Bay Area Community Health Advisory Council, said during public comment that the upgrades were critical but also wanted a commitment to a full design and renovation or rebuild of the King Center.
“I would strongly recommend that the council commit to a comprehensive design to look at the true needs of revitalizing the King Center and not just the pool and changing room and review the King Center as a community hub and resilience center … this is the kind of investment that is long overdue,” Tealer said.
While a new facility would likely cost tens of millions of dollars, Councilmember Amourence Lee said committing to such a project is the least the neighborhood deserves.
Recommended for you
“It’s truly embarrassing that the conditions of our facilities have become so terrible that they’re on the brink of closure,” Lee said.
Khojikian mentioned a brand-new facility would likely necessitate a revenue ballot measure to go before voters.
All councilmembers unanimously agreed to the immediate and short-term improvements.
“I want to do whatever we can do for both of these [pools] to get them up and running for as long as possible. Both of these pools are in priority equity neighborhoods with children who oftentimes need things to do in the summertime without parental guidance but have local people because their parents are off working to pay the bills,” Councilmember Rich Hedges said. “It’s important to make sure they’re working not only for 2025 but out to 2040, whatever we have to do to get the funding, we need to do.”
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.