So Katrina Whiteaker only wants people to serve on this group if they already swim there? That's a recipe for sure bias! How about including people who would like to swim in our city pool but don't because their needs don't fit into Sheeper's country club model? Current users are presumably people who are satisfied with the status quo -- not going to get much insight from them.

P.S. Might be nice to include a few residents of the Linfield Oaks neighborhood, many of whom feel shut out of a pool that's right across the street from us! We have a neighborhood email list if Whiteaker changes her mind and permits people who don't belong to Sheeper's club to participate.

Has something changed at Burgess? The last time I checked I spent $5.00 for a lap session, and all I had to do was show my Driver's License, to prove I lived in MP. I did not have to sign a contract, join a group, know somebody, be sponsored by somebody, or deposit a joiner's fee of $100K+.(required of most Country Clubs) I really don't understand what the problem may be, other than someone not getting what THEY specifically want, versus what the majority of us want.

How about representation from the water aerobics participants. There are 20-40 every weekday morning who should have a voice.

I am still looking for a deal somewhere in America that is as sweet as the one Tim Sheeper and Menlo Swim enjoy here in Menlo Park. I want someone to build me a $7M asset and then turn it over to me for my use as a private enterprise, without requiring any use fees or rent (don't make me laugh about the $3K included in the new contract). And now the City thinks that they can get an objective view of customer satisfaction from Tim's best customers? Puh-lease!

Menlo Swim runs a good swim school; my kids have taken lessons there. And clearly there is a useful lap swimming program at Burgess. But by other standards, it fails as a community recreational pool. There is very little available free swim time. In fact, there is no recreational pool - only an "Instructional" pool and a "Performance" pool. I don't know where kids and families are supposed to go to have fun in the water.

You hit it exactly, SweetDeal. I have never gone to the pool to swim laps, so maybe it works for those swimmers, but the facility utterly fails as a place where local families can go with their kids on hot days. I understand that Sheeper loses money on recreational swimmers vs master swimmers or students, but this is supposed to be a community pool, not a pool designed to profit an individual. Especially since taxpayer money built that facility, and it is located on public land.