Our neighborhood pool may be no more.

[Gaspar]

Sherry Helms has devoted her life to the kids in our neighborhood.  She knows everyone by name, and many of the adults who own houses here now, used to be kids playing at her pool 25 or 30 years ago.

I've only lived there for about 5 years but the creek has gotten higher and faster every year.  The pool is not the only thing at risk.  Back yards, fences and even trees are being destroyed by the moving water.  we've watched one of our large trees slowly angle to the west as the river sucks the soil out from under it, and several lay in the riverbed.

With this recent rain the river sounded like a class 4 rapids.  Soothing sound, but that sound means power.  Last year the city had to go through and clear sediment down stream using heavy equipment.  That sediment used to be part of our park and backyards.   

I hope they can find a solution because that pool and park holds some magical memories for our family.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090518_16_A1_Sherry959030&rss_lnk=11

[Conan71]

That pool was a part of my life growing up as well when it was still new.  We moved to Brookwood in the Summer of 1977.  Mom lived there until 1993.  It was saddening to read this in the paper, and it seems to be catching.  There was doubt about the Lortondale pool opening this year as well, but it looks as if it will happen after-all. 

I'm still trying to figure out how a retention pond up-stream has caused more aggressive erosion along Vensel Creek, unless tied more surface drainage into the creek than was originally there, or is it simply the high volume of rain we've had the last two years?

[Gaspar]

That creek gets violent during and after heavy rain.  Most of the rip wrap around the inlets and bridges has been washed away or buried over the years with sediment.

You can't blame nature, but you can control it (most of the time).  I don't know if the detention is at fault, or not, but that creek is moving a great deal of earth (ultimately into the Arkansas river).  It used to be fun to watch the creek after a rain, but now it's a bit scary.

[dbacks fan]

Looking at it on google earth I found that from the retention pond going down stream part of it is in a concrete system underground. I'm not an expert on hydrology but if you fill the retention above the outlet to the creek, it's going to make the water run faster when it finally opens up into the creek. It's probably a combination of all the rain, and the silt and debris under the bridges, as well as a greater amount of runoff into the retention pond than originally designed for.

[Steve]

Neighborhood pools all over town are facing the same issues.

I live in the Lortondale subdivision, at 26th & Yale.  Our pool, which was the very first private neighborhood pool in Tulsa and has been in continutous operation since the summer of 1956, actually floated out of the ground and cracked in half in 1991.  Thanks to the dedicated efforts of die-hard residents at the time, we have managed to keep our pool open and operating.  It takes selfless, dedicated volunteers willing to spend their time and $.

IMO, the biggest drawback we have to our pool survival is lack of a mandatory HOA maintenance assessment on each lot in the subdivision.  So far, our pool has managed to survive for 54 years, strictly on volunteer efforts and membership fees.  This year may be its last.