The Bronx has successfully stolen away the Floating Pool from Brooklyn.
After a hugely successful run on the Brooklyn Heights waterfront last summer, the so-called Floating Pool Lady barge will spend this summer moored alongside Baretto Point Park in the South Bronx, a Parks Department official told The Brooklyn Paper this week.
“Our intention was always to spread it around the city,” said Parks spokesman Phil Abramson.
No one was more pleased than Rep. Jose Serrano (D–Bronx), who fought to get the pool to his district.
“Our Community Board 2 is the only one in the city without a swimming pool — public or private,” Serrano said. “The Floating Pool will be a singular destination.”
The pool certainly performed that function for Brooklyn. From July 4 to Sept. 3, 49,494 people took a dunk — 72 percent of whom were from Brooklyn.
But Serrano was unmoved. “The Bronx is only a subway ride away!” the congressman crowed.
For its part, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy said it was saddened.
“While we are disappointed,” the agency said in a statement, “we’re pleased that our neighbors in the Bronx will get to enjoy The Floating Pool Lady.”
Less-polite Brooklynites offered a Bronx cheer.
“This is an abomination,” said Brooklyn patriot Ron Grossman, who was a regular pool user last summer. “For three months, there really was a Brooklyn Bridge Park. This summer, it’ll be just a bunch of old piers again. Thanks, Bronx.”
