According to PCC, $350,000 of that bond paid for repairs to the Sylvania dive pool. Most recently, some of the money from a 2017 Multnomah County bond went toward pool upkeep. He noted that the residents in Portland and surrounding areas have supported PCC in the past through bond measures funded by taxpayers. Traweek said the pools have been a great source of connecting the college to the Portland community. Traweek said when he heard about the pools closing, he wasn’t surprised, “because it’s an expensive facility to run, as is any aquatic facility.” He started working at the college in 1981. She’s signed up to take two classes in the Sylvania pools this upcoming term, but that will be the first and last time she’s able to experience the pools.Īs of Friday, more than 650 people have signed an online petition pushing administrators to keep the aquatics facility open.ĭave Traweek retired from PCC after working about 26 years managing the Sylvania pools. Backus said her plan is to eventually instruct older adults in aquatic fitness. Katie Backus is an exercise science and gerontology student at PCC. She went to the Sylvania pools about three times a week since then, she said. Schroeder’s first swim class was in 1999.
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When he died, she was prompted to learn how to swim as an adult to keep up with her daughter. Schroeder said her young daughter loved going swimming with her husband at the time. Teressa Schroeder, a part-time instructor at PCC who teaches English language courses, had been swimming at PCC’s aquatic facility for about 20 years before she started teaching at the college. He said he probably went to the pool four or five times a week before the pandemic. He’s 82 years old and has had both his knees replaced. Guthrie said the pool has always served a diverse range of people.Ĭharles Shibue, who is a longtime community member, told OPB he had been taking classes and swimming at the PCC aquatics facility since the 1990s. Clubs, organizations and local swim teams also sometimes rent the facility. Guthrie noted the pools also provide community education courses - offering swim lessons to kids and adults, lifeguard training and water safety instruction. The PCC aquatics facility is not just for college students and employees. “I think there’s time to revisit and bring in those stakeholders … Bring them in to the table to revisit, and to help come up with some informed, collaborative and equitable decisions regarding this,” Guthrie said. Still, Guthrie and others are hoping the college might reconsider. “It would have been disingenuous to engage the community in discussion about whether or not to close the pools when the College reviewed the cost of their replacement and knew it was beyond the scope of PCC’s budget,” Hill said. In comparison to before the pandemic, the school has about 21% fewer students than in 2019. PCC reported a 2.6% drop in enrollment last fall. Hill said falling enrollment during the pandemic exacerbated the financial situation with the pools. Guthrie said he and other PCC faculty and staff who work in and around the pools did not get a chance to give adequate input on the closure decision. He says he’s taught more than 1,500 students in the Sylvania pools.
Mike Guthrie has taught swimming and water safety at PCC since 1999. Many acknowledged the hefty costs of maintaining an aquatic facility but noted the importance to the wider community. OPB spoke with a wide range of people familiar with the pools, including current employees and people who worked at the facilities roughly 50 years ago. The annual costs to operate and maintain the pools are more than $300,000, and annual revenue usually hits about half of that amount, Hill said. That would cost an estimated $25-30 million. Hill said due to the age of the pools, short-term fixes would not have mitigated more significant repairs in the future, and the ultimate recommendation was to replace both pools. “None of the options were inexpensive,” Hill told OPB in a statement. The dive and lap pools in PCC Sylvania’s Health Technology building were built in the 1970s and have been used by PCC students and employees as well as community members up until the start of the pandemic roughly two years ago.Īccording to PCC spokesperson James Hill, the college conducted a feasibility study of the pools. PCC administrators said the decision was made due to the costs associated with repairs and the replacement of aging infrastructure.įaculty, students and other community members are questioning the decision to close the facilities.
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