We went swimming again last night as we try to do several times per week. We swim in one of Los Angeles's 61 public pools. Many close for the winter but three within a ten-minute drive stay open year round. They are heated, large and full of activity - swimmers doing laps, classes of children learning how to swim and some days water aerobics classes. All in the same pool, at the same time.
The City of Los Angeles, Recreation and Parks Department, Aquatics Division offers families and community members many healthy, affordable and safe aquatic activities at their public pools, lakes and beaches. The Aquatics Division operates 39 seasonal swimming pools, 16 year-round swimming pools and 3 camp pools, and 3 LAUSD pools. In addition, the city operates 11 open water facilities. These open water facilities are open year-round, offering fishing, paddle boating and small craft programs.
It's inexpensive and accessible - just three or four bucks but for older folks (like us!) it's one dollar. We grab our dollar bills or scrounge for quarters and head off to the PUBLIC pool. That's certainly not enough to maintain and run the system so the rest is covered by the city's Park and Rec budget.
The chart below tells the story for the 2019-2020 Los Angeles city budget. $14.8 million out of a $6.5 billion general fund budget - .23%! Swimmers pay 11% of that and all of us together pay for the rest.
That means something worth noting and underlining. It means that all of us pay (through property taxes, sales taxes, business taxes, utility taxes, hotel taxes, licenses and fees, and miscellaneous other sources) for people to swim, to be healthy, to learn and to do it with each other.
I also use the Los Angeles Public Library - another public space we share. Stay tuned.
Music section
We found underwater headphones to listen to music while swimming. That's what I call underwater heaven. Email me if interested and I'll tell you about them.
I've been spreading the word to help the Let It Grow project in Scotland as they raise their musical voices for COP26, the global climate summit in Glasgow next month. I've shared (many times) Karine Polwart's song, Enough is Enough, that’s the musical anchor of project. The latest music video from children throughout the UK is a delight. Watch it. (check out the website to see how you can add your voice.)
