Jarboe Park pool on KC’s West Side is too far gone to save. So let’s build a new one | Opinion

In its current condition, Jarboe Park pool on Kansas City’s West Side is not worth the nearly $1 million price tag it would take to restore it, city officials told us. The hard truth: Years of deferred maintenance mean the dilapidated pool near 17th and Summit streets cannot be fixed.

And that is a sobering reality for residents who organized and fought for years to save the their community’s place to swim outdoors.

Could a new $3 million aquatics center replace the shuttered facility? Yes, the possibility exists. More details could be available within a week, according to the city officials we spoke with.

If approved by the City Council, the money would be pulled from bonds voters approved last November dedicated to improving the city’s parks, pools and community centers. About $2 million could potentially come from 4th District Councilman Eric Bunch’s office, and the remaining $1 million would come from citywide bond money, according to officials.

We’re more than hopeful this new pool comes to pass. Actions speak loudly, though. Kansas City can no longer ignore the needs of families in an area that has gone years without an operable pool.

Disinvestment in facilities needed to deal with climate change is all too common in minority or impoverished communities, studies show. Hispanic and other Latino residents on the West Side are routinely forgotten by City Hall, said Kansas City attorney Stacy Lake, a supporter of the movement to save the pool.

“Jarboe pool is a cooling center,” Lake said. “It is a place for people who don’t have A/C to go to cool down. That will be critical as time progresses.”

She added: “The pool shouldn’t be in the shape it is now.”

We doubt this sort of neglect and afterthought would take place in the Northland. Could you imagine the outrage if families north of the Missouri River went multiple summers without a pool to take a dive in? We can.

We will continue to monitor developments at City Hall. But the prospect of a state-of-the-art aquatics center at Jarboe Park is promising. City leaders must follow through on a project that would fulfill what some West Side residents call broken promises.

People in the neighborhood have been fed lip service way too many times, according to Charles Lona, chair of the Westside Central Neighborhood Association, a group advocating to restore the pool. It’s time for Kansas City to follow through, he said. We can’t disagree.

Resolutions to renovate the pool have been passed, but for several summers, West Side residents have been left on the outside looking in as the pool sat idle during swim season.

Jarboe Park pool is a priority, according to the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department. It’d better be. A citywide aquatics study plan is moving ahead and a new Jarboe Park pool is a major component, city officials insist.

Some of the reasons leaders gave for why the pool must be replaced in its entirety make sense. Why spend $1 million to repair an aging pool, when a new one can be built from the ground up for an additional $2 million?

Other options to swim exist on the West Side. After extensive repairs, the indoor pool at Tony Aguirre Community Center finally works. But the hours are limited, according to residents we spoke with.

The children of the West Side need an outdoor pool, Lona said. How could anyone disagree?