Pool Season starts later this month, but Wondering About the Pools Season has been going strong for a few weeks now. The latter revolves around two core questions:

When do the pools open?

Philly public pools open after Philly public schools close. This year, the last day of school is Thursday, June 22nd. So I would have said that swimming should be possible come Friday June 23rd… but this year the Department of Parks and Recreation has actually posted opening info in the most accessible place I’ve ever seen them do so (nice work!!!!) and says the pools will open on a staggered schedule from June 22^nd-July 1^st.

Four indoor pools stay open year-round, but the start of the season involves waking all 70 of the others from their winter slumber: cleaning them, repairing them, filling them with water. This is no small task and is why the pools don’t all open the same day. For a sense of what this year’s opening schedule might look like, check out how they rolled out in 2015 and 2014.

For the full listing and map of pools, click here.

For a beginner’s guide to using them once they open, see this.

Why don’t the pools open sooner?

I have no inside information on this question, which – trust me – I’m asking the universe daily this time of year. That said, I suspect the answer involves:

• That the pools cost a fair bit of money to operate.
• That we’ve got a shortage of lifeguards as it is. (If you know people who’d make good ones, send them here!)
• That it’d involve shifting established patterns of how things are done.
• That pool season is already a huge lift for (and not always well loved by) the people charged with making it happen.
• And that there’s not always enough consistent demand.

There is a lot more that could be said about all of the above. For now, though, I’ll just note that while some of these factors are more complex than others, they all have their roots in the heartbreaking levels of under-funding that have plagued our recreation infrastructure for years. As would answers to other frequently asked questions like: “Why are the pools not open longer hours?” and infinite variations on “Why are the pools not better maintained?”

If our pools – and the larger recreation, parks and library system that they are part of – are important to you (and, I suspect if you are reading this, they are), please take five minutes today to let our City Councilpeople know. For the first time in recent memory, a Philadelphia mayor is proposing investing in our rec centers! The mechanism would be a 3 cent per ounce tax on soda and other sugary drinks, which would bring in $95 million/year for Pre-K, Community Schools, and rebuilding our parks, rec centers and libraries. This proposal has garnered fierce, multi-multi-multi-million-dollar opposition from the beverage industry (and various counter-proposals, all of which would bring in less of the needed funds). For more info on all of this, check out Philadelphians for a Fair Future.

Over the next week and a half – starting with a vote this coming Wednesday, June 8^th – the 17 members of City Council will decide what the future of our parks and pools will look like. They are getting tons of visits, calls and postcards sponsored by the beverage industry. We need to make sure they also hear from those of us who want to see the maximum amount of new revenue generated to rebuild our glorious, but crumbling, recreation infrastructure.

Here is their contact info:

Pool season is a week longer this year! I don’t know why this is, but I suspect that it’s more likely to happen again in future years if we take advantage of it now.

These nine pools (listed in rough order of how much I love them) will be open for splashing, floating, lolling, swimming, and other water-based wonderfulness through the end of the day next Thursday, August 27th (all other pools are closed or closing today):

Kelly (in Fairmount Park, next to the Please Touch Museum): The biggest, not to mention the only pool in the system with grass, inside the pool deck, that you may lie on. Weekend hours: Lap swimming 12-4:45pm; open swim Sat 12-4:45pm; family swim Sun 12-4:45pm. Weekday hours: Lap swimming 11am-6:45pm; open swim 1-4pm; adult swim Mon, Wed, Fri 5-6:45pm; family swim Tue, Thu 5-6:45pm.

Mander (on the edge of East Fairmount Park, at 33rd and Diamond): I was in lifeguard training with longtime guard Reina and would trust any member of my family’s life in her hands. She may have gone back to school at this point, but her mother, head lifeguard Nancy, runs a tight ship as well — and leads water aerobics during adult swim.
Vare (at 26th and Morris in South Philly): If you love to swim and live South, it’s wise to familiarize yourself with Vare, which is usually the area’s first pool to open and last to close. Its spirit harkens back to the early days of public pools, when working-class boys turned reformers’ baths into joyful, raucous playgrounds.

Max Myers (at Hellerman and Horrocks, just north of the Boulevard off Bustleton in the Northeast): Representing the opposite end of the rules spectrum from Vare. As long as you expect to shuttle back outside of the pool gate every 45 minutes, this large, T-shaped pool is a lovely place to spend a day — especially if you snag some deck space next to the veggie garden.

Waterloo (at Cumberland and Waterloo in Kensington): A true neighborhood pool. Small and hemmed in, but somehow here that feels cozy rather than cramped. Ask the staff about their rec leader, Anthony Washington, if you want to inspire yourself to be a better person.

Awbury (at Ardleigh and Haynes, by the Awbury Arboretum in Germantown): It’s cooler up here in the trees, and there are benches to sit on. I’ve had more experiences arriving at this pool to find it closed than I wish to remember, so if you’re coming from another part of the city, maybe call first.

Feltonville (off Wyoming between A and B, a few blocks south of the Boulevard): I’m excited this pool will be open, as I haven’t swum here since 2013 and am looking forward to making it back. Feltonville (which rumor has it is an especially well-run rec center) is generally the pool with the longest season up this way.

Vogt (at Unruh and Cottage, in the Tacony section of the Northeast): Another large, T-shaped pool in the Northeast. Vogt’s schedule has something for everyone. And it’s sort of charming how the staff climb through a hole in the rec center wall to get out to the pool.

Christy (at 56th and Christian in West Philly): Extremely easy to find, right there on the corner. Where Mayor Nutter swam as a kid.

So this is the time of year that I could update this site and people would actually read it. But who wants to be futzing around on a computer when you could be in the water?

I do take pictures of the pools I go to, if you’d like to check them out on Instagram. (I try to include info on special hours, features and events there too.) And if you really, really like looking at Philly pool pictures (I’m with you!), the Pop-Up Pool Project and #phillypooltour15 are also very exciting.

Here’s to enjoying pool season while we have the chance. And here’s a link to Parks and Rec’s pool listing and map if you need it.

From: West Philadelphia

Age: 25 (when interviewed in 2014)

First pool experience: Cobbs Creek, at 12

Work with the pools: As a lifeguard at James Finnegan since 2013

“My uncle taught me how to swim, and ever since it’s one of my passions. I love the pool. I love swimming. I think everybody should learn how to swim. That’s what we do at our pool. We try to get all the kids, we try to get the adults, we try to get everybody interactive with swimming, learning how to swim. Because a lot of people don’t know how to swim in the city, in the inner city. So it’s good to learn how to swim.

I’m in the pool every day. Some people wouldn’t know that swimming is one of my passions. I don’t talk about it a lot. Growing up, I played football; I ran track. A lot of people don’t know that I love swimming.

I tell everybody, “Get the fear out you.” A lot of people that we have swim lessons with, they say, “I’m scared!” You know. I just try to get the fear out of them. That’s the biggest thing with my swim lessons. Get the fear out. I’m here to teach you, as much as possible.

When I heard a couple years back that the mayor wanted to shut the pools down, I disliked that. I was like, wow. Me growing up – when I was growing up, that was our fun in the summertime, swimming. I want the pools to open. I wish they opened all year-round. (We have some – but there’s only a few.) I like the fact that all the public pools are open. Everybody should go out and at least get a swim in the summertime.”

Southwest Philly’s first public pool — built at 63rd and Woodland in 1915 — has been gone a long time.

Of all City residents these days, Southwest Philadelphians have the least access to recreational facilities. In 2010, only 28.7% of Southwest Philly adults reported regular use of neighborhood rec sites (including public pools), as opposed to 41.8% citywide and 58.9% in some parts of the Northwest (the area with the most access).

Is it unrelated that nearly 57% of adults in the Southwest have high blood pressure (the highest of any neighborhood)? INTO THE POOL, PEOPLE!!

If only it was that easy. Southwest Philly also has a poverty rate of 36%. And that’s the official poverty rate ($24,250 for a family of four). How many families are living on just a little more?

In this context, Southwest’s three free swim spots could not be more essential. Rollicking Kingsessing. Family-friendly Myers. Far, far away Finnegan.

Here’s the Department of Parks and Recreation’s listing. (They include Christy at 56th and Christian — I’ll cover that along with West Philly pools.)

Here’s a map from PlanPhilly.

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Source for the unattributed stats above: Philadelphia Department of Public Health Community Health Assessment 2014.

The pools start closing a week from today. They will all be closed by the following Friday. Now is the time to go swimming!

Last week, a woman went to Hunting Park Pool in North Philly. The pool staff thought the swimsuit she was wearing was underwear and told her she couldn’t swim in a public pool in her underwear. When she proved to them that it was, in fact, a swimsuit (by showing them the tag), they let her in the pool, but one of the lifeguards publically ridiculed her until she left. Later in the week, the same woman went to Sacks Pool in South Philly, where a different pool staff also thought her swimsuit was underwear. They, too, told her she couldn’t swim in a public pool in her underwear, and showing them the swimsuit tag did not change their minds.

Philadelphia Magazine wrote about it. And now the story’s made international headlines.

There are many reasons why I’d love to see our pools make headlines. Here are just a few: Because there are more of them (outdoor ones at least) than in any other city in the country. Because they provide relief and recreation to hundreds of thousands of hot and sweaty human beings stuck in the city all summer. Because they employ 800 Philadelphia summer workers. Because the majority of those workers do an excellent job the majority of the time: teaching people to swim, making sure that those who can’t swim don’t drown, cleaning the pools and checking the chlorine levels and making sure the PH balance in the water is safe for swimming.

I’d love to see our pools make international headlines because Philadelphia’s parks and recreation system manages to do all of this EVEN THOUGH our city spends less on our parks per capita than 43 other of the 60 largest U.S. cities. (Philadelphia spends $61 per resident per year; Minneapolis, $214; New York, $171; New Orleans, $104.)

And I guess I just have a hard time believing that Philadelphia Magazine (they of the cover story on how hard it is to be a white person in Philadelphia, among other gems of race and class awareness) actually cares very much about the experiences of most swimmers or staff at Philadelphia’s public pools. Is it funny to them to stir up arguments between people who want to shame pool staffers for not recognizing a name-brand swimsuit, and people who want to shame a woman for her choice of swimsuit? Does lifting up the inappropriate and unacceptable actions of a knucklehead lifeguard help build consensus toward someday getting rid of our pools, or at least shrinking their numbers? Or am I totally off? Because if I am, I would love to see their pages run a piece on, say, the need for Comcast (among other entities profiting off our populace) to pay their fair share so that Philadelphia has enough money to fully fund our schools, our fire services, our parks and our pools.