It's truly amazing that a town of this size, and with 4/FOUR pools in it, although one, the Boy's & Girl's Club pool being closed for the last several years, cannot support/fund them to keep them open on a regular basis for the public to use.

Swimming is one of the best therapeutic exercises for people of all ages. But not only will the short opening of the Swim Center's 3 months hinder those of us who might want to use it for exercise, recreational swimming, & lap swimming, the local High School Swim Teams and Swim Clubs are now being forced to use the Petaluma High School pool at a disadvantage to all. Simply meaning that there is over crowding, and over use of the facility which will mean higher maintenance, and frequent closures for treatment because of over use.

Being a former competitive swimmer and Swim Coach, and having been in contact directly with Don Streeper, the Recreation Supervisor, their must be something we can do to extend the months of operation of the Swim Center, and get the necessary employees to work there too.

Decades ago, our youth used to aspire to be a Lifeguard, work on the pool deck, and be in an environment that was healthy, and a stepping stone to responsibility in their lives. But now they seem to think that this job is beneath them(my observation). There are hundreds, if not thousands of us Baby Boomers out there who have an Aquatic background, could still contribute to the community by helping out at these pools, but you need to let yourselves be known!

So get off the couches, put down the evening Martini's, and let's get something started so that Petaluma's pools don't close down, or ultimately be torn down like other Cities/Rohnert Park, and step up to the plate and take action by contacting Don Streeper @ 707-778-4349. I know that he would love to hear from you with any ideas.

Please take this serious.

Just a few thoughts"

The Swim Center is a gem for Petaluma and the central location is great. We took our kids there for many many years.

It seems like it used to be more fun. The full snack bar was nice. The "adult swim" where all the kids got out for 15 minutes was nice.

They used to have good speakers and played upbeat music. Happy vibes.

I'd like to see more of a "country club" atmosphere. Clean it up. Spruce it up with some paint and take care of some of the small details. Fix the fence near the skatepark. Fix the lawn area. Trim the trees. Keep it raked. Clean up all the scotch tape and old flyers on the front doors and windows and make it more appealing and not so tacky and neglected.

Hire FRIENDLY people who smile and appreciate having a job.

Get some chairs and chaise lounges and umbrellas(rent them for a small daily fee).

Raise the price of admission a buck or two to pay for these things.

Have community barbecues in the barbecue area. How about a Swim Center fundraiser? Our mayor can work the grill! Or a beginning-of-summer ice-cream social party.

More publicity to keep attendance high! The Argus used to print lots of pics of kids swimming and the water aerobics class which should be much more popular than it is.

I'm sure there are many other ideas out there....