WGPA

Photo by: Zach K

The New York Times reported today that the Mayor's vision for 2030 includes plans for the restoration of the McCarren Park Recreation Center. Luckily, we don't have wait that long - in fact, we might be swimming in a few short years.

What the Times did not catch is that Mayor's FY2008 (begins July, 2007) budget includes $3.85 million for planning and design development. In addition, the City has promised $46.2 million in FY2010 (begins July, 2009) for the restoration of the pool. That means that honest-to-goodness planning could start as soon as this July, and that the construction budget would be part of Bloomberg's last budget.

Word from Community Board #1's District Manager Gerry Esposito is that the plan the City is working on is to rebuild the pool as an Olympic-sized pool. We'll reserve judgement on the plan itself until we see the details, and for now applaud the fact that the McCarren Pool might soon have water.