Bronx News Roundup, Monday, July 18

Welcome back to the program, ladies and gentlemen. To the Bronx news!

Weather: Hot, with a high around 93 and rain possible after 4 p.m. Higher chance of rain and thunderstorms overnight. The rest of the week is expected to be similarly blazing, without as much possibility for rain.

Story of the Day: Bronx Students to Help Build School in Mali
This summer, students at the Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics, which has a heavy focus on community service, are exporting their manpower and $74,000 to build a school in the West African country of Mali. After spending the year fundraising, a dozen students from the school left for Mali yesterday to get construction off the ground. They will stay for 13 days as part of an international school building program run by the nonprofit group builOn. The scariest part for one student: "The only part that's making me nervous is the flight. I'm afraid of heights," said sophomore Raychell Velez.

Quick Hits:

BxNN Story of the Day: Mural Project Brightens Hunts Point

Bright, colorful  murals are lighting the way from some of Hunts Point's most industrial blocks to other parts of the community. The Point CDC is overseeing the project, called a "Village of Murals" to "brighten the route from residential Hunts Point to the South Bronx Greenway and Barretto Point Park."  (Photo by Alejandra Delfin)

Read more here in the Hunts Point Express.

Pool with a View

The Floating Pool Lady is drawing lots of attention to Barretto Point Park this summer: more than 900 visitors each day according to NYC Parks Department staff. This should come to no surprise considering the quality of the locker rooms, ample pool deck, ice cold water, and gorgeous view of the Manhattan skyline. This pool is the perfect spot to escape the hazy, hot, and humid days of summer.

Not lost in the excitement of the pool is the beauty and high maintenance of Barretto Point Park. Brought into being by the efforts of community residents and non profits like Sustainable South Bronx and the Point CDC, Barretto is the first step in a larger effort to create a South Bronx Greenway. The South Bronx Greenway would create bike and pedestrian paths around the Hunts Point and Port Morris waterfront.

Visit the "Floating Lady" this Holiday Weekend

The “Floating Pool Lady,” a seven-lane pool on a barge, opened on June 27 in Barretto Point Park in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx. The pool barge will be docked on a pier in the East River by this park through September 1, 2008 (Labor Day). The pool is open Monday through Sunday from 11am to 7pm. The presence of the Floating Pool Lady is a great attraction to draw residents to this beautiful park that opened in October of 2006. While the Floating Pool is operating, the MTA will run buses every 30 minutes to the park from the Prospect Avenue 2 and 5 train station and the Hunts Point Avenue 6 train stop. The freshwater pool features a pool house, locker rooms, bathrooms, and a gangplank connecting land lubbers to the pool. The entire facility is ADA compliant.

From the pool deck, visitors have beautiful views of North Brother Island (site of the sinking of the General Slocum in 1904, NYC’s worst maritime disaster, and former location of Riverside Hospital home to Typhoid Mary) and New York City’s waterfront.