Economy/Labor/Biz

On a May evening, the Pinole Seals Swim Club hits the water for their first night of practice in the season that almost wasn’t. This is a popular pool, that Pinole resident Kiki Kaski says hundreds of people use every year.

“All the camps in the area send their kids to this pool, the YMCA, Special Olympics uses this pool,” says Kaski. “You go there and you get this feeling like, ‘It’s summer!’ And it feels good.”

That feeling of summer costs about $65,000 a year to maintain. Right now, that’s money that the city doesn’t have. So last fall, when the Pinole City Council was looking for ways to balance this year’s budget, cutting the swim center was on the list.

Next Monday on City Visions we’ll talk about the unintended effects of urban renewal in the Bay Area. For years San Francisco and Oakland have been cleaning up their blighted neighborhoods in an attempt to bring back the middle class from the suburbs. But what about the effects of gentrification on lower-income residents who never left in the first place? Is there a way to improve the neighborhood without sacrificing the neighbor? Join host Joseph Pace and guests as we discuss urban renewal and gentrification on City Visions, next Monday evening at 7.

Lew Hunter, former head of UCLA's screenwriting program, told me that he asked a cabbie, "How the book coming?" The cabbie, surprised, replied, "How did you know I was writing a book?" Hunter smiled, "Everyone is."

Indeed, so many people "have a book in them" or have written one, but which isn't selling.

On Work with Marty Nemko on Sunday July 29, my guest will be John Kremer, author of the respected book, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books.

Work with Marty Nemko is heard every Sunday from 11 am to noon on 91.7 FM, KALW, San Francisco