Public Comment

In November 2000, a supermajority of Berkeley voters passed Measure R, a bond measure to “reconstruct, renovate, repair, and improve the warm water pool facilities at Berkeley High School (including restrooms and locker space) in order to prepare the facilities for greater community use by seniors, disabled adults and disabled children, some of whom use the pool for physical therapy” (to quote the description in the voter information pamphlet). 

Instrumental in the passage of the measure was local activist Fred Lupke, who spearheaded the campaign on its behalf, and who continued to nudge the City Council and Board of Education to move ahead with plans for the renovation in following years, up until his tragic death in September 2003, when his wheelchair was hit from behind on Ashby Avenue. As the San Francisco Chronicle described Fred in its year-end tribute to notable citizens of the Bay Area who had died in 2003: “He was, many said, cut from the same cloth as noted activists Ed Roberts and Mario Savio.” But more than that, Fred was someone who worked effectively and graciously with people from all sides of Berkeley’s political factions, winning us over with his great personal warmth and his well-reasoned commitment to ensuring that all members of our community have access to public facilities. 

Along with many Berkeley residents who offered to help following Fred’s death, I got to meet Fred’s sister for the first time when she came here to clear out his apartment and prepare for his funeral. As we pitched in with a community-spirited effort that would have made Fred proud, many of us bonded with Alice, who shares Fred’s piercing gaze and straightforward warmth. I’ve stayed in touch with Alice over the years since Fred’s untimely death, but I have to say I feel embarrassed on Berkeley’s behalf that we haven’t yet fully honored Fred’s memory by bringing to completion the project he worked so hard to realize. She no longer even brings up the subject! 

I especially wish to call upon the elected officials, past and present, who were among the overflowing crowd at Fred’s well-attended memorial held four years ago this leap year, on Feb. 29, 2004. At that emotional event, a number of our city councilmembers, along with our mayor and several school board members, pledged to guide Fred’s project to completion. I’m assuming they remember who they are! (At least it is to be hoped that in Berkeley politicians actually keep track of their very publicly made promises.) 

At this point, what it will take to get the warm water pool project moving again is bringing the matter back before the voters, since the funds passed in 2000 were never spent due to changing plans regarding the facility. I’m confident that the voters who so generously gave their overwhelming support nearly eight years ago to fund this essential service will once again rise to the occasion, presuming the City Council does its part by placing another measure on the ballot. 

I have heard some raise the question concerning whether it’s appropriate for Berkeley voters to foot the entire bill for the warm water pool since those who live outside Berkeley also use it. Well, one of the people who used the pool and happened to live just a couple of blocks over the Oakland border was Fred Lupke himself, a Berkeley citizen in all but zipcode. 

But isn’t that wonderful? Don’t we want to draw people from surrounding areas to downtown Berkeley for something important to their health, which will leave them with positive associations concerning the nearby Arts District, the library, and the wonderful shops and restaurants downtown? Maybe we’ll get lucky and some of them will even give back to us a fraction of what Fred Lupke did, with his activism on behalf of Berkeley’s schools, parks, and libraries as well as his insistence upon accessibility for all. 

With all the negative press Berkeley gets from time to time, wouldn’t we do well to emphasize the incontrovertible positives, such as our commitment to providing resources for seniors, for people with disabilities, and for people rehabilitating from injuries, who could at some point include any one of us? Besides, most of us occasionally enjoy the amenities of cities to the south and north—whose taxpayers foot the bill to provide them—whether in the form of a stroll around Oakland’s Lake Merritt or a bike ride or wheelchair roll through Albany on the Ohlone Greenway and Trail. It would indeed be a sad day if we were to hold back on providing a healthful resource to our own citizens because some of our neighbors from nearby cities may also make use of it! 

The simple solution is to let the voters decide. While there are plenty of controversial issues in Berkeley, there are some things that just about everyone can agree on. In Fred Lupke’s memory, let us at long last fulfill the promise made upon his death to bring an up-to-date, fully accessible warm water pool facility back to Berkeley. 

Nancy Carleton is a longtime community activist who coordinated the joint campaign to successfully pass five measures that funded parks, libraries, and the warm water pool facility in the November 2000 election.