Swim Center’s Closure for Repairs Is Target of Protest

Chanting slogans and waving signs such as “Open Dialogue and the Pool Now” and “My Bones are Aching for the Pool,” about 40 senior citizens and disabled people Tuesday protested the temporary closing of a swimming facility.

Many circled the picket line with help from wheelchairs or crutches.

The California Pools of Hope, which for 36 years has offered the elderly and disabled free access to 92-degree water for lap swimming or water exercise, closed for extended repairs Nov. 17.

“I couldn’t hardly walk when I came here two years ago. Now I can walk,” said Catherine Parker, 55, of Compton, who has hip problems. “I can’t afford to go nowhere else . . . but I have a lot of pain. I need this pool.”

The facility’s new director, Pat Dixon, said the facility, which has a budget of about $150,000 in annual grants and donations, will reopen in January.

For years, Dixon said, the financially struggling institution has relied on makeshift repairs. But after damage caused by the Hector Mine earthquake near Joshua Tree in October, an overhaul could no longer be postponed, she said.

Both protesters and Dixon agree that the nonprofit facility, which opened in 1963 with a donation from Evelyn Dupont, a fervent believer in the healing powers of water, is a highly prized community service. Its two pools, which are covered with cracked skylights, are used by thousands of swimmers each month, Dixon said.

The protesters blame the facility’s problems on Dixon, citing mismanagement and lack of respect for the elderly.

“These people defended the country, and built the country, and they don’t get any respect,” said Joseph Ortega, 77, a Compton lawyer and swimmer who organized the protest.

Dixon suggested that the protesters form a committee to discuss their grievances and provide advice to the pool’s board of directors.

Over screams from hecklers that she resign, Dixon attributed many of the protesters’ grievances to poor communication and misunderstandings.