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.

Bronx Crime Watch: D.A. Busts 22 Alleged Drug Dealers at River Park Towers

Last week, a grand jury indicted 22 alleged drug dealers from River Park Towers, a complex of high-rise apartment buildings at Richmond Plaza, on the Major Deegan Expressway in Morris Heights. The defendants are charged with multiple counts of selling and possessing cocaine, heroin and marijuana, according to press release from the Bronx District Attorney's Office sent out last week.

The arrests were the result of an undercover investigation launched last June in response to an increase in shootings and other violent incidents at the Towers. The 22 people being charged, who range in age from 23-years-old to 51-years-old, sold drugs to undercover detectives more than 120 times. The deals primarily took place in a public courtyard shared by several of the apartment buildings, which investigators described as a "drug bazaar."

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Bronx News Roundup, May 25

A 14-year-old girl has gone missing from her home on East 168 Street, and the police are asking for the public's help in locating her. 

The Daily News' "Best of the Borough Series" looks at Bronx food, Bronx culture, Bronx sports, and the Bronx for kids.

Mayor Bloomberg says the so-called living-wage bill is "poorly thought out and will not work."  The bill (full name: The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act ) is sponsored by council members Oliver Koppell and Annabel Palma.  It's being introduced today.

Thirty-six individuals have so far graduated from the Osborne Association's Green Career Center in Morrisania.  The center, which opened in March, provides former prisoners with the skills to land a "green" job.

On her blog, a Bronx teacher laments the lack of news coverage Sunday's double-murder in Mount Hope has received. 

This summer, several Bronx pols "will find themselves in real knockdown brawls to hang onto their seats," says the Daily News' Bob Kappstatter.

The Bronx Democratic Party has endorsed Eric Stevenson, a district leader who's running for Michael Benjamin's assembly seat.  Benjamin plans to step down and may challenge Congressman Jose Serrano. 

In an editorial at the weekend, El Diario la Prensa criticized the National Puerto Rican Day Parade Committee for giving State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. a lifetime achievement award.  Diaz is undeserving because of his opposition to gay marriage, the paper argues.  You can read Diaz's response to the editorial here. 

iPADs are banned from the Yankee Stadium. 

The Bronx Zoo's lion cubs are nameless no more.  Daily News' readers picked out Nala, Adamma and Shani.

The Bronx Halls of Justice has been open two years, but court officers' radios still don't work inside, increasing the likelihood of prisoner escapes.

The first in a two-part series about life in River Park Towers, a huge housing complex in Morris Heights on the edge of the Harlem River.  While the view is stunning, the buildings and apartments have seen better days.