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: askmarty@brooklynbp.nyc.gov
Stephen Levin, council member for the area: slevin@council.nyc.gov
Find your local council member: http://council.nyc.gov/html/members/members.shtml