The Red Hook Pool, which is 90 years old this summer, was closed for most of last summer because its old pipe infrastructure needed repairs.

As most of the city’s pools opened officially on Saturday, the Red Hook Pool did not. The Parks Department says mechanical issues are to blame.

The pool is just one of several pools citywide that are closed at the start of the pool season. 

What You Need To Know

The Red Hook Pool is closed for a second consecutive summer because of repairs

Residents are frustrated and say children in the neighborhood have nowhere to go to cool off, especially as a heat wave approaches this week

The Parks Department says mechanical issues are to blame

It’s the first week of summer break, and like many kids, Isaiah Jachero was looking forward to jumping into a pool.

“I am sad,” Jachero said. “Because the pools are closed down.”

“It’s the first week off of school, obviously, and the kids want to do some water activity, but we went to Douglas, unfortunately that was closed,” added Jasmine Melvin, who brought her daughters and nephew to the Red Hook Pool. “They told us to come here, but this pool is also closed, so now we have nowhere else to go.”

Also closed are Claremont Pool, due to a mechanical issue; Haffen Pool, due to construction; Van Cortlandt Wading Pool, due to a mechanical issue; and Douglass and DeGraw Pool, due to a water quality issue.

Residents in Red Hook are especially frustrated about the Red Hook Pool’s closure. It opened in mid-August last year after repairs were made, but now, the Parks Department says it needs repairs again.

Residents are worried about the closed pool because an oppressive heat wave is on the way.

“That’s the terrible thing, because this weekend from Wednesday to Saturday it’s gonna be the heat wave, and they need something, you know. The kids, they need to go somewhere,” said Sonia Reyes, who has lived in Red Hook for 49 years.

NY1 reached out to City Council Member Alexa Aviles, who represents Red Hook.

In a statement, she told NY1, “I’ve been in frequent communication with the Parks Department, who are working hard to repair the pool quickly and have opened a temporary spray shower for Red Hook families. In the long term, we need to look at sustainable solutions to deeper neighborhood repairs that renew old and damaged infrastructure like our neighborhood pool.”