Vallejo recreation district to keep Cunningham Pool open this winter

VALLEJO – In an about-face from last year, the Greater Vallejo Recreation District Board of Directors voted unanimously at their July 9 meeting to scrap last year’s cost cutting measure and keep the Cunningham Pool open throughout fiscal year 2026-2027.

Vallejo Aquatic Club swim team and their supporters packed a Greater Vallejo Recreation District Board of Directors meeting last month to ask the board to reconsider a three-month winter closure of Cunningham Pool. Club members said that last year’s pool closure, which lasted from the last week of November through the first half of February, was extremely disruptive to their training.

Vallejo used to have two other public swimming pools. The Cunningham Pool, one of the few Olympic-sized swimming pools in the region, is now the only one. The Vallejo Plunge closed in 2017, and the Richardson Park swimming pool was closed for about a decade before the facility was bulldozed in 2016. 

GVRD board chair Thomas Judt said he was convinced by the young people who came in and spoke in favor of keeping the pool open. “As a person interested in positive youth development, I'm ecstatic about it,” Judt said. “What they demonstrated to me were the five characteristics of positive youth development.” Those five Cs are competence, confidence, connection, character and caring/compassion.

“And there's a sixth C that is called ‘contribution,’ or giving back, and all of them were really pleading for something bigger than themselves, “Judt said. “It wasn't just that they wanted to be going swimming; they wanted something that they knew affected their lives and affected the lives of others.”

Joey, a 13-year-old swimmer, started with the Vallejo Aquatic Club when she was eight years old. She is now a member of the club’s Thresher Sharks team. She said that Cunningham Pool is like her second home, and that it was a great experience to speak at the June GVRD board meeting and witness the vote to keep the pool open at the July meeting. 

“It helps you see what happens when you show up and speak up about what you care about,” she said. 

Ella is also a 13-year-old Thresher Sharks team member. She said she was stressed out during last year’s pool closure because the commute time to a remote pool cut into her homework time. She got started with the Aquatic Club Learn to Compete program when she was nine years old. She now helps coach the Learn to Compete classes and helps younger kids feel comfortable in the water.

Ella was the first person to step up to the podium on behalf of the Aquatic Club at the June meeting. “It felt like I'm making a really big impact. The winter closure doesn't just affect our team; it affects our entire community,” she said.

Andrei, a 12-year-old swimmer, joined the Aquatic Club last September. He told the board at the June meeting  that the best part of being on the swim team was making friends with his teammates and coaches, and forming relationships with people who push him to succeed. He asked the board to consider the people they serve, and to change the budget to keep Cunningham Pool open. 

Of the decision to keep the pool open this winter, he said it's going to be nice being able to swim five days a week instead of just three, and build his endurance.

Judt said that the GVRD had some money from savings, property sales and fees from the City of Vallejo. “So we didn't feel bad about the extra $160,000 to $190,000 that we would spend to keep it open for those extra three months.”

But looking forward to the future, Judt says he expects costs to keep rising. The board has hired an expert in public pools to draft a report on how to make the operation more efficient and ways to generate more revenue. In addition, he said the GVRD has entered into a relationship with the Solano Community Foundation, a grantmaking nonprofit. The organization will aid them in developing relationships with donors and philanthropists who might like to sponsor swimming programs, in order to help offset some of the costs of the pool.

“All in all, it's a very positive program,” Judt said. “I personally felt very good that the other board members agreed with me that we should at least keep it open this year while we study how to be more self-sufficient.”