Roberto Clemente Pools Reopen After 2 Year Hiatus

(File photo by Rebecca Chao)

 Some good news during this sweltering heat wave: the Olympic-sized swimming pool at Roberto Clemente State Park finally reopened last week, after a major renovation job kept it closed for two hot summers in a row.

Local residents--particularly those at who live at nearby River Park Towers--had been angered by the timing of the project, which started in the summer of 2009 and was originally supposed to take just one year.

When the pool still didn't open last summer, the State Parks Department said the delay was because of the how extensive the renovations were. The new facilities include a completely refurbished main pool and dive tank, new spray pad area with over 20 spray features, new wading pool with a fountain and new locker rooms.

There will be a reopening celebration tomorrow morning. For more information, call the park at (718) 299-8750.

Body Found in River Near Roberto Clemente State Park; Identified as Bronx Woman

Police officers and a helicopter survey the water near Roberto Clemente State Park.

[UPDATED: Wednesday, June 30, 11:55 AM]
The body of a young Bronx woman was found in the Harlem River on Tuesday near Roberto Clemente State Park in Morris Heights, according to police. She has been identified as 20-year-old Anjelina Wills, of Webb Avenue near Devoe Park.

Roberto Clemente State Park was swarming with police cars around 5 p.m. on Tuesday. An NYPD helicopter circled above the park and rescue boats were out on the river.

Several residents reported seeing the body. Joey Marshall, who lives in nearby housing complex Richman Plaza, says he called the police after he spotted something in the water from the window of his apartment.

"I saw the body floating," he said. "It was crazy."

Another man, who also lives in Richman Plaza and asked that his name not be used, said he was cooking dinner when he heard a police helicopter overhead. Using a pair of binoculars, he says he saw what appeared to be a young female floating.

Renovations at Roberto Clemente's Pool Still Not Finished

The pool at Roberto Clemente State Park in Morris Heights is still undergoing renovations, which started last year. (File photo, Mount Hope Monitor)

While most public pools will open at the end of this month (City-run pools are slotted to open on Tuesday) swimmers near Roberto Clemente State Park will have to find somewhere else to cool off--for the second year in a row.

Local residents were irked last year when the park's Olympic-sized swimming pool was closed for the summer to start renovations, which were supposed to take only 12 months. But construction is still going on, according to Rachel Gordon, a regional director with the State Parks Department. She had no estimates for when the project would be finished.

"It's nowhere near ready," said Leon Johnson, president of the nearby apartment complex River Park Towers, and a Community Board 5 member. "They’re talking about August, they’re talking about October. Nobody swims in October. From what I could see, it may be time to close the pool by the time it opens."

Gordon said the project was ongoing because the renovations--which include new locker rooms, a new spray park, and adding a sloping floor to the main pool to allow diving--are so extensive.

"It's a huge, huge, huge job," she said. "They did an enormous amount of work. The improvements are absolutely dramatic."

But Johnson said the new additions would do little to appease neighborhood residents looking for a place to stay cool.

"It's going to be a hot summer," he said.

Roberto Clemente's Opening Hours Could Be Slashed

Roberto Clemente State Park, pictured above, is in Morris Heights

(File photo by Rebecca Chao)

Last Friday, Governor David Paterson and State Park officials proposed closing 55 parks and historic sites across the state, and reducing services at another 24, as they look for ways to dent the state’s $8.2 billion budget deficit.

Roberto Clemente State Park, the Bronx’s only state park, wasn't among them, to the relief of Joel Marcano, the co-executive director of the non-profit New York City Metro Baseball League, a men's league that uses the park’s floodlit ball field on weekday evenings and at weekends.

But the 25-acre park, which sits on the edge of the Harlem River, could still be impacted.

If the Legislature rejects Paterson’s plan to move $5 million from the state's Environmental Protection Fund to State Parks’ operating budget, scores of additional parks, Roberto Clemente included, would be added to the governor’s list, a State Parks spokesperson said.

In fact, if the $5 million isn't reallocated, the State will propose doing exactly what Marcano had feared – close the park in the evenings. (Environmental groups have already begun lobbying legislators to make sure the money stays where it is.) 

Thousands of people would be affected if the park's hours were scaled back. Dozens of leagues, schools and colleges use the baseball field. And the picnic area, playground and basketball courts, are popular with local residents, as are the fitness classes held in the park's main building. 

In a telephone interview, State Sen. Jose M. Serrano, whose district includes Roberto Clemente, said he opposed cuts there and elsewhere.

“I’m frankly very disappointed in the governor for entertaining this,” he said. 

Earlier this month, Serrano, the chair the Senate's Committee on Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation,  sent a letter to his colleagues. He wrote:

We recognize that we are confronted by challenging fiscal realities, but even in these financially difficult times we cannot risk losing our state’s most magnificent treasure—our parks.

Marcano, for his part, has created an online petition with the aim of keeping Roberto Clemente open at night. So far, 270 people have signed it.

Paterson's recommendations, put forward in his executive budget, are just that: recommendations. The State Senate and Assembly have the final say on what receives funding and what doesn't. Legislators have until April 1st to enact the budget.

May's Mount Hope Monitor

The May edition of the Monitor is now online. This month, stories include:

In Mount Hope, a Nonprofit Collaboration
Several Bronx-based community development organizations have begun holding monthly meeting at Mount Hope Housing Company’s offices on Morris Avenue, to discuss ways they can join forces and survive the economic downturn.

'No Hitting Zone’ at St. Barnabas
At St. Barnabas Hospital’s Child Advocacy Center, the “No Hitting Zone” is not only an area where parents are asked not to swat their kids, but a larger initiative to create healthy family relationships.

Murdered Toddler Remembered
In Mott Haven, recently, 32 children lay down on a sidewalk and played dead. The “lie in,” on 141st Street at Beekman Avenue was held on April 16 to mark the second anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre in which 32 people were killed, as well as the third anniversary of a Bronx tragedy: the murder of two-year-old David Pacheco.

Roberto Clemente’s Pools Won’t Open This Summer
In summers past, when the mercury climbed to blistering highs, west Bronx residents could cool off in Roberto Clemente State Park’s Olympic-size swimming pool, beside River Park Towers at the edge of the Harlem River. From late June through Labor Day, it attracts hundreds of visitors a day. But not this year: the pool will be closed for renovations.

Opinion: Public Education at a Crossroads
Vincent Wojsnis, a Bronx middle school teacher and a UFT chapter leader, believes mayorol control of the city's public schools - which is up for review in June - has been a disaster.

Man Tried to Hire 'Hit man'
A Davidson Avenue man, languishing on Rikers Islands on a rape charge, attempted to have the woman he’s accused of raping murdered, police say.

Bronx News Roundup, April 20

The South Bronx organization Nos Quedamos is joining several parents in their fight with the Department of Education to remove toxic caulk from schools in the east Bronx.

Mayor Bloomberg was practicing his Spanish at his Bronxwood campaign office and calling voters in the Bronx on Saturday.

A woman in the Bronx, whose longtime boyfriend died suddenly on Thursday, is trying to harvest his sperm to have a baby in the future.

South Bronx residents are ticked off at guardian angel Curtis Sliwa and his new “underbelly tours.”

Archbishop Timothy Dolan visited the Catholic Charities Food Pantry in the west Bronx on Friday.

The New York Times covers Anthony Ribustello’s bid for Bronx BP.

The Roberto Clemente State Park swimming pool, which hosts thousands of children each year in Morris Heights, will be repaired and won't open this summer.

The Plummer Pavilion, a luxury senior assisted living center that was supposed to be built near Pelham Bay, may be another victim of the recession.

Not a day too soon

Roberto Clemente State Park's swimming pools - one small, one Olympic size - open for the summer today. Kids shorter than 42 inches go free (according to the park you get measured on arrival). For older kids there's a one dollar charge. For adults it's two dollars. Both pools are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a weeks. Van Cortlandt pool, in Van Cortlandt Park, also opens today, as do fifty-something other outdoor pools across the city. Perhaps those fire hydrants can finally get some peace...