When you cost $350 million to build and you haven't figured out how to pay your $16-million-a-year operating costs another $5-$10 million is just a drop in the pool, right? That seems to be the logic the Brooklyn Bridge Park is going with as it applies for a floating pool permit from the Department of Environmental Conservation.
The new pool is aiming to settle in on the north side of Pier 5 by Atlantic Avenue and hopes to harken back to the glory days of 2007 when the city's only currently-active floating pool, the so-called "Floating Pool Lady," first parked on pier 2 near the Fulton Ferry landing (she later settled down in the Bronx).
The floating pool news should make happy the many who have called for more athletic amenities at the countless hearings regarding the park. The only problem we see is paying for the damn thing.
Right now the park is still in the midst of trying to figure out how it can pay its maintenance costs without dipping into the city's pockets—a debate which has some neighbors up arms. So we look forward to finding out where this extra dough is going to come from. Maybe they can finance it with funds from a floating high-rise on the south side of the pier? Or the city could float them the cash? Wocka, wocka, wocka. We're here all night people.
But seriously, from the department of things we didn't know before: "Floating pools have existed in the city since as early as 1817. By 1890, 4 million people a year used 15 public floating pools."
