November 3, 2007: Vol. 30, No. 43

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November 3, 2007 / Brooklyn news / Park Slope

Pool time at 9th St. Y

By Gersh Kuntzman

The Brooklyn Paper

Everybody in the parking lot!

A coterie of local pols, community activists, kids and YMCA members broke ground on the Prospect Park Y’s new $5.7-million pool center on Monday — kicking off an 18-month construction project in the Ninth Street facility’s back lot.

Waterford on the Bay

Borough President Markowitz’s office allocated $873,000 out of its capital budget for a center that “will keep thousands of Brooklynites swimming and backstroking their way to a long and healthy life in Brooklyn,” he said.

Councilman Bill DeBlasio (who wants to replace Markowitz in 2010) cobbled together $500,000 in city funds and Assemblyman James Brennan found $250,000 from the state.

The largest private donation — $100,000 — came from Brooklyn Heights resident Wids DeLaCour.

The facility will complement the Y’s original pool, a classic (and small) natatorium built in 1927, and will feature a six-lane swimming hole that will allow the Y to double its existing pool time for kids and families.

Also, the Y plans to expand its “Second Grade Swim” classes from the current 300 kids to 1,000 by the time the pool is complete and filled by spring, 2009.

←Downtown: New group starts ‘watching’ DUMBO

→Park Slope: Jog your memory: On Marathon day, avoid the V-Z, 4th Ave

Reader Feedback

Robert from Park Slope says:

Has there been any journalistic follow up on the aquatic center at the Park Slope YMCA? It has been 6 months since a relatively high profile goundbreaking and those few shovels of dirt overturned at the ceremony are all the dirt that has been moved. I notice that inside the Y, all references to a completion date appear to have been taken off bulletin boards announcing the project. For years, the Y has shamelessly used the construction of the new pool in its membership recruiting. When I joined in 2005, I was told that construction would begin immediately and that the project would be completed in 2007. The most recent completion date I heard was Spring 2009, but that appears ambitious given that no digging has begun.

April 21, 2008, 4:19 pm

Lucy from Park Slope says:

I've been swimming in that pool since 2003, and would very much like to know if the renovation is completed. However, it would be better if the lane lengths were made longer, instead of adding more lanes horizontally. From what I remember, they are probably only about 10 meters long. A picture of the newly renovated pool is also appreciated.

Aug. 30, 2009, 12:02 pm

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