City keeping Salvador Perez closed until virus recedes

Newly renovated facility, two other pools shuttered; GCCC open by appointment only Our first and foremost priority is the safety of residents and employees.” John Muñoz, city recreation director

For Santa Fe swimmers, it was welcome news to hear city officials had planned to open the city-owned Salvador Perez Recreation Center and pool in October following a renovation project.

But rising COVID-19 case counts, which reached record levels in November, halted that plan. While daily case numbers have declined in the past few weeks, they remain far higher than in earlier months of the pandemic, and increased hospitalizations have strained the state’s health care system.

The surging pandemic prompted city officials to keep Salvador Perez — one of four city pools — closed.

The Fort Marcy Recreation Complex and pool and the outdoor Bicentennial Pool remain closed as well.

Meanwhile, the Genoveva Chavez Community Center partially opened Dec. 7 on an appointment-only basis. That includes the facility’s lap pool, fitness center and ice rink, restricted to 10 people per hour, according to the city.

John Muñoz, the city’s recreation director, said the decision to keep Salvador Perez was closed unrelated to the $2.48 million in recently completed renovations.

“Salvador Perez is ready to go,” Muñoz said.

But, he added, “We’re going to hope for the best and do our part in controlling or minimizing or stopping the COVID spread so we can get to a yellow status.”

Muñoz was referring to the state’s three-tiered, county-based system for determining pandemic-related business restrictions.

“Our first and foremost priority is the safety of residents and employees,” Muñoz said. “... We know that movement is very important for physical and mental well-being. Residents, people, want to recreate. And whether it’s ice skating, swimming or exercising, it’s important that we provide a safe environment for them and [that] they can safely go home to their families.”

In addition to the Chavez Center, the city also reopened parks, playgrounds, tennis courts and the golf course this month with limitations meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Due to the popularity of the Chavez Center’s lap pool, many Santa Fe swimmers have had difficulty reserving a slot, according to a news release.

The city is asking people trying to reserve a spot to offer several possible time slots

and to provide two good phone numbers and an email address to make scheduling easier.

“Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary solutions,” the city said in a statement. “For instance, currently scheduled swimmers may be asked to sacrifice some of their time slots to those who did not get any. If there are some swimmers who do not get pool time this month, and current restrictions remain in effect, it is possible that, in fairness, those swimmers will be prioritized to get time in January.”

Some swimmers are not happy with city’s decision to open only one pool this winter.

“There was no public announcement about how swimming would work, and as a result a few lucky patrons get to swim twice a week while the rest of us do not,” Pippa Amick, a Santa Fe resident, wrote in an email to Muñoz last week.

“There needs to be a fair way of allocating slots,” Amick added, “and until the City figures out a way to do this, it seems that the daily call-in is a more fair way to compete for slots.”