Bicentennial Pool is ready to open now

While it seems everyone in Santa Fe continues to debate about the Genoveva Chavez Community Center, its potential opening and the possible closure of its ice rink, our elected and appointed officials continue to ignore the fact that there is an outdoor single-use sports facility that could be opened right now: Bicentennial Pool.

As a lifelong competitive swimmer and a physically active person in general, I have been training at the Bicentennial in the summers since 1985. In terms of sports centers in Santa Fe, the Bicentennial Pool is small but highly important as the only outdoor regulation 25-yard-long pool in Santa Fe. Being in the water is as essential as breathing air for competitive swimmers. We are a dedicated group of athletes who maintain our mental and physical health by working out in the water. These health benefits are precisely the same for noncompetitive swimmers, who are no less committed to their physical and mental fitness.

Swimming has been proved to maintain physical and mental fitness by keeping one’s heart rate up with less impact stress on the body, building endurance, muscle strength, cardiovascular fitness and helping to maintain healthy body weight and lungs. Swimming is one of the best forms of physical therapy in recovering from injuries due to its low-impact nature, and for the disabled helps with asthma, improves symptoms of multiple sclerosis and, as important as anything at the moment, manages stress. And it is scientifically/ medically proven that chlorinated pool water effectively kills and deactivates viruses.

I was invited to Bicentennial a couple weeks ago by Liz Roybal, manager of Fort Marcy, Perez and Bicentennial pools, for a conversation about the pool. Bicentennial has been ready to open since June 10. Despite the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pool has lifeguards in place, has passed city Health Department inspections, has chemicals for maintaining the pool, a plan for lane reservations in hourly intervals — one swimmer per lane for 45 minutes with a 15-minute exchange for the next session — a system for reserving and paying for lane use, entry/exit protocols where no one has to touch anything inside the building, and she will forgo the “Doggie Dip” (usually taking place after the Bicentennial closes early September) so the pool can stay open through September and October, as weather permits.

I am fully aware of Santa Fe’s budget shortfalls and employee furloughs, but here is an interesting fact no one at City Hall seems to consider. Despite being a small, single-sport facility, Bicentennial Pool could pay for itself by charging swimmers for lane reservations. The Chavez Center charges $7 to swim if you are not a member. In the past, Bicentennial has charged $2 to swim — but it could charge more. The pool has seven lanes — being open weekdays for 12 hours (6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.) and weekends for nine hours (8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) results in 546 time slots per week. (That’s roughly 182 people working out 3 times a week — which will easily be achieved.) If Bicentennial charged $5 a lane, the revenue from swimmers would be $2,730 a week or $10,920 a month!

Bottom line, frustration is high for many Santa Fe residents who are physically active swimmers, as well as the pool manager and her staff. Bicentennial Pool is the logical, obvious and best option in terms of public safety and maintaining healthy conditions in a public sports facility — because it is outdoors! Every physically active person I have spoken with would rather train outside.

To wait for an assessment after the Chavez Center opens is ludicrous — they are two exceedingly distinct venues, and the Bicentennial Pool is ready to open now.

Lawrence Fodor is an artist, photographer and physical fitness advocate and has been a resident of Santa Fe for over 30 years.