By Dorothy Borchardt
Circle of Friends

The Warner Park Community Recreation Center-Circle of Friends met with Parks Superintendent Eric Knepp at our September board of directors meeting. Eric said he would be meeting with Mayor Paul Soglin and working on a letter of support for the Aquatic Health & Fitness Center in Warner Park so we can do the feasibility study, which would determine if we can raise the funds needed to build and operate an aquatic health and fitness center. Hopefully, by the time you read this article we will have the letter of support from the mayor.

Support for an aquatic health and fitness center at Warner park continues to grow. The Mendota Elementary Community School Committee sent a letter of support to the mayor’s office in June and the Northside Planning Council (NPC) sent a letter to Mayor Soglin in October (see NPC letter below). We know how much this support will help and we are very grateful.

Dear Mr. Mayor,

On behalf of the Northside Planning Council’s (NPC) Board of Directors, we are writing to express our support for Warner Park Community Recreation Center’s Circle of Friends’ proposal to conduct a feasibility study for a swimming pool at Warner Park.

NPC was founded in 1993 and since its inception, year after year, we have heard from the community about its desire to have a swimming pool at Warner Park. We conducted a very thorough community input process this summer with our Northside Navigators, and, once again, in surveys, focus groups and casual conversations, we heard from both adults and youth that the community was very interested in seeing a pool at Warner Park. What’s more, this interest crosses racial and economic lines — this is possibly the most requested facility that we hear Northsiders talk about.

A swimming pool is not only a recreational facility — though, it is very valuable in that sense — but it’s also a matter of equity. As of now, only families with extra means can afford membership to any of the area’s private pools. This means that working class families don’t have access to this option — for exercise, recreation, competitive sports and the water safety skills that can be taught at a public swimming pool. In a city surrounded by lakes, all of this is quite important. Indeed, the Circle of Friends’ proposal is designed to include swimming lessons for children based on the free and reduced lunch criteria used by Goodman Pool.

We’ve been grateful for the Circle of Friends’ work to advance this cause, and while we understand the very real budget constraints the City faces, we believe Northsiders deserve to have the information that a feasibility study would provide. Finally, a feasibility study in itself will be of no cost to the City, as the Circle of Friends have raised the funds needed to cover this step.

We strongly support conducting this feasibility study so we, as a community, can finally better understand what it would take to have a public swimming pool in our community.

Lisa Wiese, NPC Board Chair

Jill Jokela, NPC Board Treasurer

Lauri Lee, NPC Board Secretary