Swimming Pool Advocacy

Holly Krebs successfully led an advocacy campaign to retain the size of the Lawrence outdoor swimming pool in the fall of 2024. She gathered almost 1800 signatures on a community-wide petition and organized a coalition of supporters to lobby the City Commission to reverse their decision to significantly shrink the size of our pool.

Our coalition gave two extensive presentations before the City Commission, and below are links to YouTube videos of our public comments. If you want to watch some of our most impactful speeches, check out the two from our Oct 12 presentation about Flaws in the Surveys and the Kids video!

Don't Shrink the Pool Petition Presentation (Oct 12, 2024)

1. Introduction - Our Petition and Presentation Overview     [55:50]

2. Value of the Lawrence Outdoor Pool 
   - Pool as an Invaluable Community Resource     [59:11]
   - City Plans That Support Investing in the Pool     [1:01:50]

3. Flaws in Approved Outdoor Aquatic Center Renovation Plan
   - What Our Community Would Lose - Open Swim Space     [1:05:24]
   - What Our Community Would Lose - Exercise and Training Space     [1:08:39]
   - Why a Splash Pad, Lazy River, and More Concrete Aren’t Good Additions     [1:11:39]

4. Flaws in the Pool Renovation Planning Process 
   - Flaws in the Planning and Public Engagement Process - Lack of Analysis to Retain Current Pool     [1:14:49]
   - Flaws in the Public Engagement Process - Meetings     [1:21:00] and [1:24:12]
   - Flaws in the Surveys - Multi-Select Questions     [1:26:20]
   - Flaws in the Surveys - No Analysis of Comments     [1:29:32]

5. Pool Users
   - Kids, video of 7 kids     [1:32:30]
   - Parents and Families     [1:36:08]
   - Lap Swimmers and Water Exercisers    [1:41:01]
   - Swim Teams    [1:44:31]

6. Important Health Benefits of the Pool
   - Health Benefits of the Pool - Exercise, Swim Skills, and Community Health     [1:49:26]

7. Conclusion        
   - A New Plan     [1:52:37]
   - Our Coalition’s Requests     [1:55:50]

Analysis of Misinformation in Pool Renovation Project Presentation (Nov 19, 2024)

1. Introduction – Request for Accountability and Collaboration

2. Code of Ethics and Overview of Omissions and Errors

3. Overview of Omissions and Errors, Part 2

4. 5,749 Opinion Survey Comments Not Mentioned to the Commission

5. Survey Comments Not Qualitatively Analyzed or Presented Before Plan Approval

6. Square Footage Data Not Provided to Citizens and Misrepresented to Commission and Public

7. Stormwater Drainage Information Not Presented to the City Commission

8. Summary, Written by Christin Bowman and Read by Melea Alexander

9. Request for Citizen Oversight Committee

Petition and Letters to the Commission

Our coalition also gathered 1800 signatures on a petition, which you can visit here. We also submitted 75 letters to the City Commission for their Oct 12th presentation and another 40 for their Nov 19th presentation. Some of the best ones came from kids. Check them out!