Dear Mayor Siddiqui, Vice Mayor Mallon, Cambridge City Council Members, Manager DePasquale and Commissioner O'Riordan,

We were pleased to see our community pool, the Gold Star Mothers' Pool on Berkshire Street, reopen safely this past weekend for the first time in five years. We were dismayed, however, to learn that the pool will only remain open through Labor Day. 

With the delayed restart of school this fall and increasingly warm summer and fall temperatures, we would like to see the Gold Star Mothers Pool remain open through the month of September. 

Those who rely on public facilities for outdoor recreation, particularly lower income families and people of color, have had fewer options this summer. Keeping a free, community pool open for more than just two, short weeks during a time of school closures and limited team sport activities would offer tremendous health and mental health benefits for all members of the Wellington Harrington and East Cambridge neighborhoods. 

Please work with all relevant city departments to extend the season of the King Open Pool through the month of September.