State announces $10 million for Van Cortlandt Park renovations
While the pool was built in 1986, the New York City Park Department says it has never had a "substantial" renovation, and Daniel Martinez, a frequent pool guest from Fordham says it shows, telling News 12 "it's not in good shape to be honest, there's like holes all over the pool."
More Stories
Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced that the pool at Van Cortlandt Park will be getting $10 million from the state - helping the city pay for a more than $27 million project to completely rebuild the entire pool complex, which state Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz says "is going to make it an ultra-modern, state of the art pool that is really going to give tremendous opportunities to young people."
While the pool was built in 1986, the New York City Park Department says it has never had a "substantial" renovation, and Daniel Martinez, a frequent pool guest from Fordham says it shows, telling News 12 "it's not in good shape to be honest, there's like holes all over the pool."
Local officials hope that will change with the renovations though.
The Parks Department says the plan is for construction to start after the 2027 season, and be done in time for the start of the 2029 season, meaning the pool will be closed for all of 2028.
"It's going to hurt big, it's a big part of the community," reacted Erran Matthews. "There's no other options around here."
Janet Lucy, who lives in Riverdale and comes to the pool almost every day agreed, saying, "I don't know if I'll go to another public pool, because it might be too far, but you know, you have to sacrifice a little bit to get something that's even better."
Dinowitz and other local officials say that is the plan, hoping that a new pool will lead to more people learning how to swim, and that will mean less drownings around the city.
"Every kid should know how to swim, it's really that simple," Dinowitz said. "The Van Cortlandt Park pool has been a Mecca for that for many, many years."
While that pool is closed, the closest public pools wills will be in Crotona Park, Claremont Park and Roberto Clemente state parks.
