Manhattan to address City Park Pool damage
Dozens of swimmers could have died from weak concrete problem
6:15 p.m. Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Manhattan — Rain closes down Manhattan’s city pools. But one pool already shut down a couple weeks ago.
The Manhattan City Park Pool was closed due to weak concrete in its deep end.
If the concrete broke through these underground walls, the water would have hit a breaker and potentially killed dozens of children.
The Manhattan City Commission will address the fate of the city park pool, which has been closed for the season since the end of June. They’ve been keeping things locked up pretty tight around here.
“It’s definitely been frustrating seeing the City fall apart a little bit,” says Paul Appel, who worked at City Park Pool for five years.
During his time as a lifeguard, he says, “Anyone who has been down to the basement of City Pool realizes that if they’re going to fix it, it’s going to take a lot of time. Fixing it essentially means almost redoing the whole thing.”
The city will decide to permanently close, reconstruct or build an entire new pool.
The pool was built in 1939 and was expected to last 25 years. And it’s worst moment?
“Probably just it breaking down on us,” says Matt Ferrara, who worked at City Park Pool for a year.
He was one of a dozen lifeguards reassigned to the city’s other two pools.
“It was like, oh, man, an end of a fun summer right there. We definitely try to keep the fun here at Cico, but City Pool, I’m going to definitely miss it," Ferrara says.
The City Park Pool also was closed last year due to weak concrete.
Tonight, the City Commission will also address the $95.5-million budget for next year. That’s a 7.1-percent increase from last year. A public hearing on the budget will be on Aug. 12.
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