CHARLESTOWN, Mass. — An aging City of Boston pool in Charlestown is slated to remain closed for the summer to address what Mayor Michelle Wu calls a “huge health and safety issue,” barring a last-minute analysis of the pool’s condition.
Mayor Wu said on Tuesday that the city is awaiting a fresh review of the pool before making a final decision.
“Were getting another analysis this week from an outside vendor of what it could take, could there be some very, very short-term fixes that would kind of hold us over one more season but the truth is that this pool needs major renovation, it needs to be in the capital plan and most of all we want to keep our residents safe.”
On Friday, the Boston Centers for Youth & Families announced it would not be opening the BCYF Clougherty Pool for the summer 2022 season, saying the condition of the Clougherty Pool facility has raised serious safety concerns. Families were told to plan on using the nearby BCYF Charlestown Community Center pool and the BCYF Mirabella Pool.
Soon after that, residents of Charletowns started an online petition to keep the Clougherty Pool open.
“We, the residents Of Charlestown call on the City of Boston and BCYF to allocate funds for the immediate repair of the Clougherty Pool, according to the petition. “We demand the long-delayed extended repairs begin after the season to make this pool viable for future generations of Charlestown residents.”
“So, I know how incredibly frustrated people are,” said Mayor Wu on Tuesday.
“This pool has been a long time of deferred maintenance. As early as almost two decades ago, it was slated for necessary repairs. It’s been kind of kicked down the line ever since then and we’re now at a point this summer where the filtration system is completely broken and hazardous and so water that would get filled up in the pool wouldn’t be able to be filtered out, it would become stagnant and that is a huge health and safety issue for residents,” said the mayor.
More than a thousand people have signed on to petition to keep it open.
“So, we will work as quickly as possible to see what the options are here,” said Mayor Wu. “It is way, way, way past the livable lifespan of a piece of infrastructure like that. It can’t just be letting things crumble to the last second when it’s incredibly expensive.”
The pool was built in 1949 and is usually open from June through Labor Day.
“A spring inspection of the pool showed deterioration of support columns holding up the pool, a broken electrical conduit exposing live wires under the pool, and corroded filtration tanks in danger of leaking, or worse, bursting,” according to BCYF.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2022 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
