L.A. Will Reopen 27 Swimming Pools

By DEAN MURPHY

Sept. 7, 1988 12 AM PT

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Times Staff Writer

Twenty-seven of the city’s 56 public swimming pools, closed for the season on Tuesday, will reopen today because of a lingering--albeit weakening--heat wave that has choked Southern California since the weekend.

In an emergency measure, the Los Angeles City Council allocated $100,000 on Tuesday to reopen the pools until school starts next week. The 12-week pool season ended on Labor Day, when temperatures at the Civic Center topped 100 degrees for the third straight day.

The mercury will begin a gradual downward slide at Los Angeles’ Civic Center today, with the high temperature in the upper 80s as opposed to Tuesday’s high of 92, forecasters said.

Cooling Trend Forecast

“Temperatures will cool 5 to 10 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday,” said Janice Roth, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “By Thursday, Civic Center highs should be in the low to mid-80s, which is much more normal for this time of year.”

The cooling trend results from the weakening of an upper level high pressure system, Roth said. As the high pressure weakens, the normal onshore flow of breezes returns, she said.

Although temperatures are moderating, Southern California Edison Co. and Department of Water and Power customers created a record demand for electrical power Tuesday.

Electrical usage by Edison’s 3.8 million customers soared to 15,987 megawatts at 4 p.m., breaking the record of 15,616 megawatts set on July 22, a company spokeswoman said.

The DWP’s 1.3 million customers also set a record, using 4,991 megawatts and erasing the previous record of 4,922 megawatts set Sept. 2, 1987.

The 40 swimming pools operated by Los Angeles County are already scheduled to remain open through Sunday.

“There is a motion that we adjourn to a swimming pool,” joked Council President John Ferraro, who proposed the city’s extension.

But the council was not all smiles. Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, whose Watts-to-San Pedro district includes half of the city’s public housing projects, complained that the $100,000 could be better spent. Flores said none of the city’s pools serve the projects, and she accused the Department of Recreation and Parks--which runs the pools--of ignoring the recreational needs of project residents.

“I cannot vote to keep pools open an extra week when I know kids in my district all year round don’t have anything to do for recreation,” Flores said. “I am as warm as everyone else, but I just don’t think it is right. Those that have keep getting, and those that don’t keep losing.”

Flores cited as an example a request several months ago that the city revitalize a baseball field at Jordan Downs housing project in Watts. She said the Department of Recreation and Parks ignored the request, even though it was endorsed by the council. Flores had asked for an $80,000 renovation of the field and a gymnasium floor.

“We have baseball diamonds that can’t be played on,” she said. “They are just dirt. There are no backstops or anything. . . . If you don’t have money for that, why do you have money for this, which isn’t even helping those kids?”

James E. Hadaway, general manager of the Department of Recreation and Parks, said in an interview that the council approved Flores’ request but never appropriated money for it. The $100,000 for the swimming pools, by contrast, was allocated from the city’s General Fund.

“When they give me money for a project, then obviously we do it,” Hadaway said. “I cannot do things without the money.”

POOLS TO REMAIN OPEN

These are the 27 swimming pools operated by the city Department of Recreation and Parks that will be open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. through Sept. 13. Metropolitan Area

Central

Costello

Downey

El Sereno

Griffith

Hollywood

Yosemite

Echo Deep

E. G. Roberts

Roosevelt

Valley

Granada Hills