Don’t Close the Double D Pool!
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One of Brooklyn’s best loved swimming pools, the Douglass-Degraw pool in Gowanus, is slated to be closed this summer due to budget cuts. The pool is loved for both the kiddie and adult pools, both of which were included on our select list of where to take swimming lessons. It is the only Brooklyn pool that will be closed by the city, though there are 3 in Manhattan. The Brooklyn Paper reported that closing the pools will save the city $1.4 million. “It was a difficult decision but the immediate area surrounding the pool is industrial — not residential, whereas many other pools in Brooklyn are directly adjacent to public housing,” said Parks Department spokesman Philip Abramson.
The pool may not be actually adjacent to public housing, but it is very close to a couple of public housing developments that love the pool as well as many residents of BoCoCa (Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens), Gowanus, North Park Slope and downtown Brooklyn.
According to the Brooklyn Paper , the Parks Department said that the controversial decision was also a result of attendance figures, though the agency did not release those numbers.
The pool is located between Douglas and Degraw Streets near Nevins Street and the only other pool in close vicinity is the Red Hook pool. Unfortunately, due to the cancellation of the B77 bus, the pool is nearly inaccessible to the Double D swimmers. There is also a public pool in Sunset Park, which is quite a distance.
Public pools will open for the season on June 29, and people are hoping that the Double D will open with them. There is a facebook group here: Don’t Close the Double D Pool that you can join with links to write public officials to protest the pool’s closing.
There is a petition to be signed here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stopclosureofddpool/
The mayor can be emailed from here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
Parks Department: http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildpr.html.
Public Advocate: http://pubadvocate.nyc.gov/contact-us
Brooklyn Borough President: [email protected]
Stephen Levin, council member for the area: [email protected]
Find your local council member: http://council.nyc.gov/html/members/members.shtml
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Why these people are closing public pools which are actually useful for the community? Why don’t they do some effort to get more fund? This is insane.
What Council Members Steve Leven and Dan Halloran and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz are not telling you (because to do so would be political suicide):
Let Them Eat Cake !
City pools are closing in poor neighborhoods (The Douglas and DeGraw pool in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn; Fort Totten’s pool near Bayside, Queens; The West Brighton pool on Staten Island; and Wagner pool in East Harlem) because politicians are diverting NYC park funds to wealthy neighborhoods to renovate and add features to already existing and practically brand new parks. An example is Pavilion Park located in the tony Upper East Side of Manhattan at 61st Street overlooking the East River. Tiny but chic the 12,000 square foot (slightly less than ¼ acre) Pavilion Park was built in 1995 –only 15 years ago– at a cost of $2.1 million dollars (a price tag that does not include the cost of the Alice Aycock rooftop sculpture).
On June 9, 2010 I attended a Manhattan Community Board 8 meeting where I learned that plans are underway to completely revamp Pavilion Park WITH $1 million dollars of City park funds. Existing practically brand new fencing and benches will be replaced as will the $600,000 hex tile patterned paved surface. Why? Because wealthy Upper East Side residents have decided they now want a raised lawn for a more up-to-date green look. They may be wealthy, but they certainly do not want to spend their own money which is why the City will pick up the $1 million dollar tab! When I objected, I was informed that it wasn’t costing “that much” money. Imagine. Only $1 million dollars. Chump change in this hood. (Especially when it comes with money saved by closing your pool!)
Hey, I know what. Come use our pool. Yes, believe it or not, we too have a public pool here on the Upper East Side. It is located in John Jay Park on East 77th Street and guess what? Our pool won’t be closing this summer. And you know why I am inviting you to swim in our pool? Because we won’t be using it, that’s why. Like the rest of my wealthy neighbors, we’re gonna be out in the Hamptons. Hey, suckers. Have a nice summer!
(A big round of thanks to our elected and appointed officials who put wealthy white Upper East Side residents first. (UES: 88% white, $88,000 per capita income. Brooklyn census tracts closest to D&D pool (71, 125 & 127): 15% white, 80% black and Hispanic; median household – not per capita income is approximately $23,000.)
Special thanks to Mayor Bloomberg (who lives in the Upper East Side, of course) Parks Commissioner William Castro, Manhattan Parks Commission Adrian Benepe, Manhattan Community Board 8, Council members Jessica Lappin and Daniel Garodnick) for keeping the money (and the open pools) where they should be – in the hands of wealthy white folks!
Does this sound fair to you?
Please keep the pool open.