Residents like open McBean Pool

After being spared from the chopping block by Lincoln's City Council and with an up tick in usage this summer, McBean Memorial Pool is looking to expand its services.Closing the pool was an option City Council recently considered to balance the city's General Fund.Compared with this time period over the last two years, according to Lincoln's assistant director of recreation Mandy Walker, the pool has increased in usage in every area. This includes swim lessons, the pool's swim team, open swim and pool rentals.After considering closing the pool to help deal with the city's General Fund deficit, the City Council voted in April to keep the pool open this summer."This is the only public pool in the community," Walker said. "A lot of people didn't want to lose this amenity."Walker said because of the increased pool usage, the recreation department is looking to expand the pool's swim lessons and swim team. She said the pool is hoping to add children's swim lesson sessions this summer and extend those sessions into the fall. The pool is also considering offering swim lessons for adults.Pool manager Chris Hawley said she knows of at least four adults who are interested in swim lessons.Hawley said she is also looking at expanding the swim team into two squads, an A team that competes against each other and a B team that prepares swimmers who aren't ready to compete yet to join the A team. The swim team currently has 89 members with many more children on a waiting list.Hawley also wants to bring back the water-safety program for area elementary schools next year. The program was suspended this year. Hawley is also considering developing a water aerobics class for adults.Hawley, who has been the pool manager for 13 years, said she was "absolutely relieved" that the pool remained open."Closing the pool has come up before so I wasn't really concerned about this year until I went to the City Council meeting," Hawley said. "Then I said, 'Wow, they may really do this.'"Hawley said she "is glad" that the pool can provide activities for children who don't have other plans during the summer. For Hawley, closing the pool is a public-safety issue."The last thing I want is for kids to be swimming somewhere like the ravine unsupervised," she said.Lincoln residents using the pool on Tuesday said they didn't know what they would do if the pool was closed this summer.Staci Dunkinson, whose children take swim lessons there, said she has access to a private club pool in Lincoln but prefers the services offered by the McBean Memorial Pool. She said the lessons at McBean are run better than those at the private club and she likes that the pool has a swim team.If the pool had been closed for the summer, Dunkinson said, she is not sure she would have signed her children up for lessons elsewhere.Sarah Bartlett said she was upset when she heard the pool may have been closed and e-mailed the city in support of keeping the pool open."I was so excited when I heard the pool was staying open," Bartlett said. "We have been coming here since my daughter was 4."She said her family could have found something else to do this summer if the pool had closed but probably wouldn't have signed up for swim lessons because other options are too far away or too expensive.With budget deficits looking to be a fact of life for the next few years, Walker said she is hopeful that the city will find a way to keep the pool open next summer. For Walker, it is a quality of life issue."Public safety is important, but it's good to have a balance of all factors of life," she said. "The pools and the library are a family affair."