City Park Pool plan exposes ageism

In May 2024 the Iowa City Council voted to move forward with a replacement for the City Park Pool. As a frequent pool user, I support investments in health and recreation. Unfortunately, the selection of the final pool plans represented ageism and the political power of adults rather than community needs.

Ageism occurs when the needs and desires of adults are placed ahead of the needs and desires of children. Ageism first appeared in the “engagement methods,” which emphasized access for adults. For example, open houses were held at Mercer Park (east Iowa City) and the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center (downtown), but none were held near the current City Park Pool or on the west side. Therefore, in-person attendance was easier for adults who had their own transportation or could navigate the buses. The participation numbers show the extent of the exclusion of children: out of 227 focus group invitees only three were under age 18 (1%) while 102 (45%) were age 51 or older; across all 787 “feedback touchpoints,” 61% were from people aged 30 years or older, while only 28% were from people 13 years old or younger.

Second, the feedback itself was ageist. Adult focus group participants felt “a small play area (for children’s pool activities) could be tolerated so long as it is somewhat quiet, off to one side, and the large, open pool spaces are retained.” Other feedback indicated adults “would prefer more separation between the activity pool and the lap lanes to avoid the lap lane section being overrun by children,” while one adult commented they “look for spaces not to be kicked by kids.” These views assume children are the cause of crowded spaces and kicking. Yet, the true cause of space competition and kicking incidents is insufficient pool spaces to meet recreational needs.

The final example of ageism was the selection of the pool concept options sent to a random sample of adults in Iowa City Households. All four options in the survey (93% of the respondents were not children) were adult-centric options where a majority of the budget and pool space emphasized lap swimming and deep-water diving. Option A was the only option that offered a current channel and bubble / spray features (but no play structure), while options B and C traded those for a small play structure. The results of this survey were presented to the City Council as representative of the community’s desires, rather than what it really was, which is a choice between one of four adult-focused pool designs.

Meeting varying and sometimes competing needs for recreational facilities on a limited budget is challenging. Unfortunately, the process for the next City Park pool prioritized the needs and wants of adults over the needs and wants of current and future children. While it may be too late to make any significant changes to the plans, it is important that we as a community recognize our tendency to make decisions that put adults’ needs and wants first. Going forward, we must become more intentional about including children in important decisions because this is their community too.

Jeremy Penn lives in Iowa City.