This website illustrates the work of policy consultants in examining the policies of cities regarding public pools and shows a comparison of Madison to three other cities of similar size and climate in varying geographic locations. Saskatoon, Canada, is the northernmost city and includes indoor and outdoor public swimming facilities. Des Moines, Iowa, like Madison, is also a capital city in the Midwestern United States. Finally, Auckland City, New Zealand is a similar city in the southern hemisphere.
As the following report shows, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, a city of 213,607 has four public outdoor pools and three indoor pool areas. Madison’s population is 208,054 and Madison has no public pools. The climate of Madison is very similar to that of Saskatoon. Both cities have universities, and while Madison has lakes, Saskatoon has a river that runs through the center of the city. City bylaws require private pools to be properly enclosed and secured, indicating that private pools are important, but serve a very different purpose than public pools. Saskatoon’s public pools are an important part of the city and efforts are made to maintain the pools to provide an excellent experience for the users. Saskatoon also has active community groups advocating the pool system. Some of the pools are sanitized with ozone instead of chlorine. This reduces harmful buildup of chloramines and reduces eye and skin irritation.
In conclusion, Saskatoon and Madison are similar cities based on size, climate, affluence, and social welfare yet Saskatoon has an extensive pool system and Madison does not.
Report
All data gathered from City of Saskatoon website.
City of Saskatoon Public Pools
|
Admission |
General |
Bulk |
|
Adults (19+) |
$4.65 |
$37.20 |
|
Youth (6-18) |
$2.80 |
$22.40 |
|
Preschool (under 6) |
FREE |
FREE |
|
Family |
$9.30 |
$74.40 |
Four Public
Outdoor Pools: George Ward: Capacity:
650
Lathey
300
Mayfair
600
Riversdale
750
Three Public Indoor Pool Areas: Lakewood Civic Centre
Lawson Civic Centre
Harry Bailey Aquatic Centre
Public swims
‘daily’ at most centers.
Types of Swims:
Public Swims - Open time for everyone.
Lane Swim - Self-directed swimming workout for fitness.
Family Swim - Time to enjoy the pool with families only.
Parent & Tot Swim - Pool time restricted to parents with children under 6.
Adult Swim - Open swim for individuals 19 and over only.
Youth SWYM - Must be 12 to 16 years old. Bring your friends, have fun and
listen to your favorite tunes.
Monthly and Family tickets available for all public areas for 1-12 months.
Location
Saskatoon is centrally located in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, in townships 36 and 37, range 5 and township 36, range 6, west of the third meridian. The city lies 780 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, a little over 520 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, and just over 300 kilometres north of the U.S. border.
Saskatoon is situated on the banks of the south Saskatchewan river which is crossed by seven bridges within the city limits. the altitude of Saskatoon is 481.5 meters above sea level. The city covers an area of 144 sq. kilometres which includes over 120 hectares of riverbank parklands.
Saskatoon is Saskatchewan’s largest city with a population of 213,607 and growing.
The Saskatoon area has been inhabited for some 6,000 years; however, it was not until the summer of 1883 that the first settlers began to arrive and subsequently in 1903 that the town charter was obtained. "Saskatoon" is derived from 'mis-sask-quah-toomina', the Cree Indian name for a local indigenous berry.
Saskatoon is one of the sunniest cities in Canada, receiving an average of 2,381 hours annually. Saskatoon experiences four distinct seasons with temperatures ranging from 30°c (86f) on the warmest summer days to -30°c (-22f) on the coldest winter days. The average annual precipitation level is 347.2mm.
Saskatchewan grows half of the entire quantity of Canada’s major export crops: wheat, oats, barley, rye, flaxseed and canola. Saskatoon is at the heart of this market, providing a variety of services and products to the farm sector. Mining is also an important part of the economy. The Saskatoon region is the world's largest exporter of uranium, and nearly two-thirds of the world's recoverable potash reserves are located in the Saskatoon region.
Value added food processing is one of the fastest growing industries in Saskatoon, which is considered the agriculture biotechnology capital of Canada. Saskatoon was named "one of the best cities in Canada for knowledge based businesses" by the Globe and Mail in 1995.
With access to excellent k-12 schools, technical schools and the University of Saskatchewan, many educational opportunities are available. The University of Saskatchewan is the only university in Canada to house all five health science colleges and a major teaching hospital on the same campus. Some of the first experiments undertaken aboard the space shuttle were a result of research conducted at the University of Saskatchewan. Innovation Place, located on the university grounds, is one of the most successful university related research parks in North America.
The Community Development branch works with Saskatoon's community associations to coordinate neighborhood activities and programs throughout the city. Community associations are non-profit organizations, which recruit and train volunteers, plan and administer recreation programs at minimal cost to residents in the fall and winter, and work to enhance the quality of life of the people within the neighborhood. An association may operate an outdoor rink in winter, assist with public meetings on neighborhood development, or organize a community cleanup and barbecue in spring. Whatever the activity, the goal is to encourage residents to get involved and build a sense of "community".
The city of Des Moines, Iowa is the capital of Iowa. It is relatively similar to the city of Madison. The climates of both cities are very closely related. The average summer temperature for Madison is 71 degrees and the average summer temperature for Des Moines is about 74 degrees. There are 200,000 people in the city limits of Des Moines. The people in both cities are relatively diverse with a large state university populous in the middle of both state capitals. The pools and aquatic centers that are in Des Moines are Nahas, Northwest and Teachout Aquatic Centers and Ashworth and Birdland Pools.
The city of Des Moines operates five outdoor pools in Des Moines. This is compared to no public pools available for people in Madison. Madison has private pools in YMCA’s and schools but they are not open to the public. The school pools are open to the public but only for a very short period of time. The average attendance for all five facilities over the last five years is 150,000 per season. The open seasons last starting from June sixth and ending on August 17th. The maximum capacity of the pools in Des Moines is between 650-800. Admissions, concessions and government subsidy are what pay the expenses that the pools build up.
The costs for people are as follows:
2 years and Under Free
3 - 7 $1.50
8 – 15 $3.50
16 and older $5.50
There are also season passes available for residents and non residents. The following rates listed here are all examples of what the residents of Des Moines need to pay. A single season pass is forty five dollars per year. A family pass for two people is eighty dollars with a max of one hundred and forty dollars. Each additional person to the family pass is thirty dollars. The city of Des Moines gives early purchase discounts also. There also do a program called the youth agency swim pass where they charge the child an amount of days per week per child. This is a good program in order to get the children of the city a place to go that would be better that if they were just hanging out on the streets of the Iowa capital.
The non residents of the city have to pay a small amount more for each category except of the youth agency swim pass. The prices are all comparable with just a small increase in price for each of the categories listed for the resident prices. The city of Des Moines also gives people the opportunity to rent out entire complexes. This usually happens during after hour’s times. A private rental is seventy five dollars an hour for fifty people. A corporate account that looks to rent out the pool has to pay three hundred dollars per hour up to one hundred people. This is where a good amount of the funding comes from for these pools upkeep and expenses. The other expenses are paid from the government subsidies. The government subsidizes approximately 40% of the entire expenses of the pools
The pools are located north, south, east, west and one centrally located in the city. The reason the pools are in these areas is for the demand of location of people and community plus availability of land. There has been no new pool added to any sight in the city of Des Moines since 1959. There has been certain pool being replaced because of old age, but they were replaces with pools on the same sight where they were located previously.
The pools of Des Moines serve as a recreational tool for the citizens of the city. They are used by a very high amount of people per year. There are 200,000 people in the city limits of Des Moines and usually 150,000 people use the pools every season. There has not been much change or additions to the pool situation in Des Moines. This shows that the pool situation was planned well and that there is the potential for it to last a very long time. The fact that Madison could have a public pool is very easy to see and it would be easily maintained. It would not be difficult for Madison to begin a public pool in the many parks that are readily available throughout the city. The pools are a very important part of the park and recreation program in Des Moines. Madison should learn from the Des Moines example and attempt to set up public pools throughout the various locations that are possible for a pool. Madison has the opportunity to only prosper from the addition of public pools.
In Madison Wisconsin, public swimming pools are essentially non-existent. All of the swimming pools in Madison are either privately owned, or are located in YMCAs or schools. Lack of government policy and community influence to construct a new public pool in Madison may be a cause of this, but with two large lakes nearby, one may also think that Madison does not need a public pool. However, in New Zealand, there is a city that is nearly the same as Madison in almost every aspect, except it has 101 pools, 13 of which are considered to public pools.
Auckland City is a New Zealand city that has many of the same characteristics as Madison, Wisconsin. The city of Auckland itself is not very large, but combined with its busy suburbs, it has roughly the same population of Dane County and Madison combined. Auckland City’s current population is currently 401,500 compared to Madison’s/Dane County’s population of 426,526. Interestingly enough, Auckland City is also located on a narrow isthmus between harbors, similar to the isthmus created by Madison’s two neighboring lakes. Auckland’s peak summer season lasts from December until March, with the average temperature of about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Compared to Madison, Auckland is about 5 degrees cooler on average. Now that we have a brief geographical comparison on the two cities, an economical and ethnic comparison is needed to help us further understand the differences in the public pool situation between the two cities.
Once again, Auckland city is very similar to Madison both culturally, and economically. Auckland has eight major ethnic groups, with Europeans and Asians making up the vast majority of the ethnic population. As seen in Madison and Dane County, ethnic groups make up a fair percentage of the population, and along with the diverse student body on campus, Madison can be considered ethnically diverse, as is Auckland City. On the economic side, both Auckland City and Madison have experienced recent economic growth, and stable levels of unemployment and inflation are predicted for both cities. One of the major contributors to the economic growth in both cities is due to the vast of construction occurring in the commercial sector. Both cities are rapidly construction condominiums and apartment buildings, and with a slight increase in the construction of office and municipal buildings. With a very similar ethnic background and economy, one must wonder why Madison’s public pool situation is very different from Auckland City’s.
As stated previously, Madison does not have a single public pool in its city limits. All of the pools in Madison are either private, or are located in local YMCA’s or schools. Neighboring communities do have public pools outside of Madison, but most are not easily reachable without a car or public transportation. Auckland city on the other hand has 10 public pools that are sponsored by Auckland City’s Council, while 3 other privately owned pools that are not sponsored by the Council, and are still recognized as public pools. The main reason why Auckland City numerous pools throughout the area is due to the support pools receive by the public, and by the Auckland City Council.
Auckland City’s Council basically has five objectives to enhance the public pools situation for its citizens. Of the five, two major objectives revolve around increasing the diversity of the community through diversification, and to enhance, and expand the “feeling of community” by creating more community activities. The other three objectives revolve around creating better personal health by providing and excelling in aquatic activities. Through this policy Auckland City has experienced an enormous amount of support from the community. Roughly 84% of people in Auckland City are aware of at least one public pool, while 25% have used a public pool in the last year. By constructing 10 public pools, Auckland City has met the demand of its citizens, and the average yearly pool attendance is roughly 2,000,000 people. Overall, Auckland City’s Council strives to serve, and meet the needs of the community by improving upon, and building new public pools for recreational use.
Looking at Madison’s situation, we know that there is not a single public pool in the community. Proposals have been made by Madison’s previous mayor, Sue Bauman, to construct a public swimming pool committee to brainstorm ideas on how, and where to construct an aquatic center in Madison. Within a very short time, Mayor Bauman’s plan had faded, and the issue of Madison public pools was once again put on hold. In general, Madison’s governing body has ignored the struggling public pool situation, and it seems the Madison Convention and Visitor Bureau, and the City of Madison itself are promoting the use of Lake Mendota, Lake Monona, and other nearby lakes as a source for aquatic recreation. Overall, a lack of attention by city officials, and a lack of outside influence to push for public pools may be hurting Madison’s chances of receiving a new public pool facility in the near future.
Compared to Madison, Auckland City is nearly a duplicate of Madison in terms of the economy, geography, climate, and culture. However, the major difference in Auckland City is the enormous support for public pools not only by the citizens of Auckland City, but by the governing officials of the city Council who strive to continually improve the public pool situation in Auckland City. If Madison officials and community members could focus some more attention to the lack of public pools in Madison, there could be a good possibility that Madison could follow in the footsteps of Auckland City and construct its first ever public pool.
Ben Yahr
Jason Theisen
Paul Sieben