By Jon Haber
Special to the Daily Press

DOWNTOWN Swimmers and coaches formerly of Edge Swim Club merged with Team Santa Monica last week following a decision by the Culver City City Council to terminate its agreement with the club owner.

The council’s action in November 2007 ended the city’s agreement with Edge owner Patrick Moran at The Plunge, Culver City’s public swimming pool.

Mayor Alan Corlin said the council’s decision was a result of the Moran’s behavior around The Plunge.

“A lot of it had to do with actions and interactions between Mr. Moran and our staff that we came to see as inappropriate,” the mayor said. “If it wasn’t for the interaction with some of the staff at Edge and Mr. Moran in particular, it wouldn’t have come to my attention at all.”

Several attempts to reach Moran were unsuccessful.

Edge, which was founded in 2001, provided swimming lessons and offered students opportunities to participate in competitions, according to www.clubswim.com

When Team Santa Monica (TSM) head coach Jon Carroll heard the news, he immediately spoke to Edge head coach Monique Shelton.

“We felt in Santa Monica it would be a great opportunity to create the biggest team in West Los Angeles,” Carroll said. “So we made the offer to the head coach [to join teams].”

Carroll invited all Edge swimmers and coaches to TSM to help provide stability to his program.

“[Edge swimmers’ families] made it clear they didn’t want to get rid of all their coaches,” Carroll said. “In our experiences, when you have quality coaches, you really don’t want to break that up.”

Councilman Steven Rose, who also serves as president of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce, added that the decision to part ways with Moran was the result of an unsatisfactory landlord-tenant mix.

“All the city was doing was renting the pool’s time and space to the Edge swim team, and it wasn’t working out for the city,” Rose said.

“Mr. Moran’s Edge swim team is a private company,” the council member said. “He was renting space from us. If that agreement didn’t work out for either side then he, as a private business person, needed to find his own space.”

Originally, the council’s vote left Edge parents in a difficult position. Many didn’t know whether they should remain with Edge and find a new pool or leave Edge altogether.

“The vast majority of us voted that it was in the best interests of our children to place them with a stable organization and we have enthusiastically opted to merge with Team Santa Monica,” said parent David Walley in a Feb. 4 press release. “A handful of other parents had the ambition to form a brand new team and we wish them nothing but the best.”

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