Saving Coach O’Brien: Letter writing campaign to keep the city paying for Masters Swim coach position

The City Council will continue its discussion about which programs to keep—and which to ax—as it tries to balance the budget.  Members of the city’s nationally recognized Masters Swim Team continue to voice their hope that their beloved coach, Kerry O’Brien, keeps his job.

Masters Team swim members pleaded their cause at the City Council meeting two weeks ago. Now they have flooded the council—sorry, couldn’t avoid this verb—with letters, presenting their reasons for why the team isn’t just good for the team’s some 500 swimmers, but for the city, too. 

The city proposes to discontinue funding for O’Brien and the assistant coaches. The team has more than 300 members, adults of all abilities from their 20s to seniors. They joined the team to swim for fitness and for competition. Many rise early to make their daily practices at Clarke Memorial Swim Center at Heather Farm. O’Brien has been coaching the team since 1980 and is himself an accomplished butterflier who competes in the 45-49 age group.

“The Walnut Creek Masters Team plays a vital role in making Walnut Creek the top desired location in the Bay Area for new residents and visotrs. The number one reason why people love Walnut Creek is because of its healthy, competitive sports and outdoor recreation lifestyle.

If the city does not fund the coaches, WCM may need to let them go because our dues cannot cover the cost of their employment,” write brothers Jon and Ben Luchesse

Many on the team reside right here in the city, there are some who travel great distances.

Walnut Creek business also directly benefit from a strong, robust [masters swim team]. We patronize the city’s swim and sporting goods stores. We regularly gather after practice. …

It is well known that most residents and visitors to our city are drawn here for our unmatched outdoor, recreational and sporting activities. Some may think it’s the shopping, but really many of the stores in Broadway Plaza are the same ones you can find at nearby malls. What really makes Walnut Creek unique is that it is the perfect place for competitive and recreational athletes.  Where else can one get top-notch swim instruction, in a beautiful swim facility, under the sentinel of Mt. Diablo?”

Rob Butcher, executive director of U.S. Masters Swimming writes: “More than 30 years ago, the city pioneered a partnership with Walnut Creek Masters that today is being modeled across the country. Your partnership included empoying Kerry O’Brien as a masters swimming coach. You partnership signaled a commitment tot he citizens of WC to offer and adult swimming lifestyle program that would be accessible and make a difference in the quality of their lives.”

One team member said she moved to Walnut Creek for the sole purpose of swimming on the masters team. She also made important friends on the team. “Best of all, I found a partner and we have been married for 15 years. My husband and I have two children who are swimmers as well—this has all been a direct result of the masters!”

The council is set to finalize its budget by June 15. 

Measure A passing

With all 37 precincts reporting, more than 68 percent of  voters said "yes" to Measure A, a $112-per-parcel tax to help high schools in the state-budget-stricken Acalanes Union High School District save teachers' jobs and core academic and elective programs.

A few hours after polls closed, the Contra Costa County Elections office reports that 68.5 percent of voters said yes in the special mail-in ballot. The measure needs a two-thirds majority to pass.

County election officials told the Contra Costa Times that ballots counted as of 8 p.m. Tuesday did not reflect ballots that had been delivered to the office Tuesday. Elections officials said they would begin counting uncounted ballots Wedesday and come up with the final tally Friday.

Measure A would bring in to the school district about $3.8 million a year over the next five years. The district is facing a $4.8 million shortfall. The district already has a $189 parcel tax that voters decided to extend indefinitely in November. 

NOTE: Well, it looks like my Crazy poll, which you can still see at left, was pretty close and a pretty good crystal ball. When I finally, with the help of a reader, did the calculations correct, my poll said that Measure A would pass with 69.5 percent of the vote.  That's just a point off what the yes vote was, calculated by the county Elections Department.

Would you vote yes to new parcel taxes to support local public school districts?

So, once again, the state is in a financial crisis, and the budget numbers don't look good for local governments, including local school districts. Millions of dollars in shortfalls are being reported by school districts that serve Walnut Creek. The board for the Acalanes Union High School District, which includes Las Lomas and Acalanes high schools, has just approved putting another parcel tax measure on the ballot May 4.

Faced with a shortfall of nearly $5 million, the district is seeking a temporary $112-per parcel tax. But, just in November, the district won an extension of its $189-per parcel tax. District officials didn’t ask property owners for more money on the November ballot because they didn’t know how severe cuts would be in the coming year.

With things looking disastrous in Sacramento, the district faces cutting 57 teaching, counseling and staff positions. The temporary parcel tax would go on a May 4 mail-in ballot. Another $800,000, the district hopes, would come from parent club donations.

By the way, parcel taxes need two-thirds voter approval to pass, not just a simple majority. Many parents in this district, which has some of the Bay Area's top-ranked schools, are well off, and the high school and elementary school districts enjoy a long history of community fundraising and parent support.

If you would be affected by this parcel tax election, how would you vote? If you live in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, would you support a parcel tax to help that district dig its way out of the financial hole it is in? Last spring, the majority of voters in the Mt. Diablo district said yes to a parcel tax, but the measure failed to get a third-thirds approval.

As for the Walnut Creek School District, it already has an $82-per-parcel tax, which voters approved to extend in November. That tax will bring in about $1.2 million annually. However, this district faces a $1 million shortfall. To get input from teachers, parents, and the rest of the community, it has been holding a series of "Budget 101" meetings. Some meetings have already been held, but here are dates for future ones: 

--Tuesday, March 16, 7 p.m. Murwood Elementary
--Wednesday, March 17, 7 p.m. Walnut Creek Intermediate
--Thursday, April 1, Walnut Heights Elementary