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Warm-pool users, already reeling from the fear that their only source of exercise will be demolished without a replacement—the school district plans to remove the pool and the city may not come up with funds to build a new one—discovered Wednesday the pool had been vandalized. 

“I saw wheelchairs dumped to the bottom of the pool,” said Susie Bluestone, who arrived for her regular swim on Wednesday afternoon and found the pool closed, with clean-up underway. Bluestone told the Daily Planet she saw a whiskey bottle floating in the water and a calculator nearby; there was broken glass on the deck.  

“Who in the world would do that?” she asked, underscoring the importance of the pool in the lives of people with permanent disabilities and temporary injuries.  

“They made a mess of the place,” said Berkeley Police Spokesperson Ed Galvan, who said the vandals came in through an open window. None of the damage is permanent or costly, Galvan said. 

Pool staff declined comment saying they were not allowed to speak to the press. A sign at the pool said it will open today (Friday).