In a Louisville summer lacking swimming options for West End residents, city officials and local organizations have come together to offer a solution.
Mayor Craig Greenberg, Metro Councilwoman Tammy Hawkins and other community and business leaders announced a public-private partnership to give some western Louisville residents summer activity passes, accommodating for the closure of Algonquin Park’s public pool.
The partnership includes 200 family memberships to the Republic Bank Foundation YMCA, 800 unlimited-access passes to Kentucky Kingdom and Hurricane Bay and free rides via the Transit Authority of River City buses to get anywhere in the city this summer.
In a preceding May 30 press conference discussing the pool’s closure, Hawkins, who represents the area, accused the city of racism in its slowness to repair western Louisville’s only public option.
“Moving forward, I promise wholeheartedly that pools – not just like Algonquin, but any other pool, any other park – will no longer be overlooked,” Hawkins said Thursday.
The full-family memberships to the West Louisville YMCA, located at 1720 W. Broadway, will give passholders all of the access of a typical membership, including amenities such as fitness classes and access to other sports facilities.
The partnership with TARC will allow kids ages 6-19 to ride free through Aug. 31 as well as an accompanying adult legal guardian. Children need a reloadable MyTARC student ID, and adults need a regular MyTARC card to be eligible. Both are attainable at TARC Union Station at 1000 W. Broadway.
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Families can also ride TARC express routes for $1 with the pass, down from the $2.75 regular fare. Anyone who already purchased the previously $30 Summer Youth Pass will be given the same value in credit to be used beginning in September.
Greenberg cited “persistent leaks” and other issues as the city’s rationale for keeping the pool closed for the summer. It would have taken approximately $800,000, mainly in one-time equipment costs, to get the pool ready to open.
“People who love to come here and swim, who count on it and who deserve a first-class swimming pool that’s on par with any pool in this city, right now, they don’t have that.” Greenberg said to a crowd of about 50 at the press conference. “They will. It’s not right. We must and we will fix it.”
Last year, Metro Council voted to allocate $6 million in renovation funding to Algonquin’s pool as well as Camp Taylor Memorial Park’s Norton Pool, which is also closed. The city is in the planning phase for reconstruction with renderings expected in the next couple of months.
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Three local nonprofits — The ACE Project, Algonquin Community United and Central Adult Learn to Swim ― will work in collaboration with Hawkins and city officials on the specifics of distributing the passes. Hawkins said further details will be shared in a press conference Tuesday.
Nicole Banks, 48, learned to swim at age 43 with programming at Central Adult Learn to Swim. The program has graduated 500 adults with 1,700 more on a wait list.
She advocated for the importance of an indoor pool built in Algonquin to continue that instruction year-round, also noting the pathways to jobs like lifeguarding for kids who learn to swim at young ages.
Hawkins, who took office in January as a fellow Democrat with Greenberg, has also advocated for the renovated Algonquin pool to be indoors. Kevin Trager, a spokesman for the mayor, said in a statement May 31 that the city plans to start work on major renovations at the pool by Labor Day.
“I’ve committed privately to Councilwoman Hawkins. I’m committing publicly that this is a top priority to get it going,” Greenberg said.
The pool, opened in the 1960s, has never undergone a major renovation. Greenberg recommended for any remaining American Rescue Plan funding to be “fully invested into parks.”
The pools at Nelson Hornbeck Park in Fairdale, Sun Valley Park in Valley Station and the indoor Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center in Crescent Hill stand as the three public pools open in Louisville this summer.
Algonquin residents interested in a pass can call Hawkins’ office at (502) 574-1101.
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Reach reporter Caleb Wiegandt at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @CalebWiegandt.