New $4M pool to open in the Cut-Off
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New Orleans' West Bank is getting another pool, and it's due to open in the Cut-Off in time for summer 2025.
Why it matters: It's the first public pool to open in the traditionally Black community, said Rep. Troy Carter when announcing its funding Tuesday.
The big picture: Growing up in the Cut-Off, Carter said, he and other neighborhood kids would spend summers cooling off "in a very dangerous way" by swimming in the Mississippi River.
- But tragic headlines in recent years have highlighted the perils of that practice.
- In 2022, three children died after being swept into the river while swimming near the Crescent City Connection.
What he says: "African-American youth often cannot swim," Carter said. "Why? Because they don't have access" to safe places to learn the skill.
- "In a city surrounded by water," he continued, "this knowledge is not just beneficial, it's essential."
By the numbers: The new indoor, in-ground Cut-Off Rec Center pool (6600 Belgrade St.) will be funded by a $4 million federal appropriation through the Algiers Development District, Carter said.
Zoom out: While that pool construction gets underway, the New Orleans Recreation Department is planning to open an indoor pool with the long-awaited Morris F.X. Jeff Sr. Park renovations by August, said NORD CEO Larry Barabino.
- That facility replaces the outdoor Behrman Park pool, and will include NORD's first-ever splash pad.
- Algiers' only other pool, the NORD facility at Federal City, was due to open this summer but hit a snag when its plaster "was rising sharp enough to cut a person's feet," Barabino said.
- A $55,000 repair is underway, and residents should expect to see it open within two to three weeks, Barabino said.
